Managing Water Avoiding Crisis in California [Paperback]

Water in California is controlled, stored, delivered, and managed within a complex network of interlocking and cooperating districts and agencies. Unraveling and understanding this system is not easy. This book describes how the current system works (or doesn't work) and discusses the issues that face elected officials, water and resource managers, and the general public. Using the Los Angeles area as a microcosm of the state, environmental activist Dorothy Green gathers detailed information on its water systems and applies the lessons learned from this data statewide. A useful primer on watershed and water policy issues, this book provides reasoned, thoughtful, and insightful arguments about sustainability.

Dorothy Greenis founding president of Heal the Bay and among the founders of the Los Angeles & San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council, of which she is also president emeritus. She has chaired the California Water Policy (POWER) conference for the past 17 years and has helped to found the only non-profit in the state, the California Water Impact Network (c-win.org), totally devoted to water supply issues.

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
A Land and Water Overview 4
Climate 6
Our Rivers Today 9

1. Los Angeles Area Water Supplies 14
Local Surface Water: Rivers, Streams, Lakes,
and Reservoirs 14
Groundwater 22
Imported Water 33
Conclusion 50

2. Water Management: Whos in Charge? 53
Water SuppliersWholesale 55
Water SuppliersRetail 70
Groundwater Management Agencies 82
Wastewater Management Agencies 92
Stormwater Management Agencies 96
Water Quality Regulatory Agencies 100
Associations of Water Agencies 104
Water Management Accountability 105
The CALFED Process 109
Conclusion 111

3. Water Use Efficiency 113
ConservationCurrent Practices 114
Reclamation and Reuse 132
Conjunctive Use 151
Wal#Ç