Drought-crippled California seeks to capture more water with an 'audacious' plan for small water-capture projects

Trees submerged in the Los Angeles River during flooding in Long
Beach on Tuesday. (Photo by Mette Lampcov, The New York Times)

California has water problems that began with a three-year drought followed by massive storms and flooding. In Los Angeles, "some 8.4 billion gallons were impounded behind 14 large dams, easing floods and building up valuable stores of water for the drier summer months ahead," reports Ralph Vartabedian of The New York Times. "But in a state that is weathering a crippling, multiyear drought, much larger streams of water — estimated at tens of billions of gallons — have been rushing in recent days straight into the Pacific Ocean, a devastating conundrum for a state whose future depends on holding on to any drop it can."

To slurp up every bit of moisture, L.A. County is "embarking on a radical and risky experiment to see if it can increase supply in a different way: a $300 million-per-year program that would build hundreds of small water-capture projects over the next 30 to 50 years that could eventually retain as much water as the mountain dams," Vartabedian writes. Mark Pestrella, executive director of Los Angeles County Public Works, told Vartabedian, "It is audacious what we are proposing, and it’s gigantic.”

Vartabedian reports: "The urgency of the situation has become apparent with the series of atmospheric rivers that have killed at least 18 people since late December. . . . Some hydrological experts say the new green approach to capturing more of Southern California’s rainfall will be expensive and may deliver less than expected. . . . The program is a reflection of the desperate need for new sources of water in a state that tapped most of its easy supplies long ago, leaving tough choices that will affect future lifestyles, landscapes, the economy and public health."

There are critics of the ambitious plan. Bruce Reznik, executive director of the environmental group Los Angeles Waterkeeper and chairman of the capture program’s scoring committee, "said the goal of capturing 300,000 acre-feet of water per year (the same amount currently captured by dams) has to work or Los Angeles will face more critical water shortages," Vartabedian reports. "The county’s 30- to 50-year timeline for completing the program is too slow, he added."

California is seeking multiple options to capture water that is now being lost: "After years of deadly drought, images of floodwaters rushing into the ocean as people watch helplessly has been a cruel irony," Vartabedian notes. Pestrella told Vartabedian, "The program is the largest and most technically advanced effort to undertake small water capture in the world, involving the most difficult terrain."