The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) published a fact sheet in October 2019 about the need for updating aging infrastructure in California due to changing climate and weather patterns and population changes. The ACWA notes that with overall average global temperatures on the steady rise, various adaptation and mitigation measures are necessary in order to “meet both human and ecological needs.” Climate change is expected to affect precipitation patterns, sea level rise, and the Sierra Nevada snowpack, all of which “will fundamentally change both water supply and flood management” in California. Other factors such as population growth, outdated distribution systems, and lack of funding are also contributing to the need to update infrastructure.
The current reservoirs that capture winter precipitation may prove insufficient if snowpack and snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Mountains is affected by climate change. Snowpack serves as natural water storage, and with 48 to 65% projected loss in snowpack expected by the year 2100, “its reduction has significant implications for California’s water management system.” Additionally, with increased average temperature comes more intense precipitation, less snowfall, and more rain. Water management becomes increasingly difficult with a growing population, rise in wildfire intensity and frequency, and extended droughts. Sea level rise can increase salinity in systems like the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as well as “increase threat of levee failure.”
The solutions to these encroaching issues will be complex, expensive, extensive, and multilateral, but they are necessary to update the infrastructure to adjust for current and upcoming effects of climate change.