Panel: California water losses are huge
By Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times
A panel of water experts on Sunday mapped out the challenges California faces in meeting future demands for water at a time when water sources are under stress and future supplies appear uncertain.
The panel, speaking at the Los Angeles Times book club, agreed the problems are serious and multifaceted: groundwater reserves underneath California’s Central Valley are estimated to have been depleted by 125 million acre-feet since the first wells were drilled more than a century ago and as water demand is forecast to outstrip supply coming from the Colorado River in the coming decades.
“What we’re really looking at is about a 20 percent problem of our supply being lost to climate change and over demand, and that’s huge,” said Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, at a discussion of the book “Cadillac Desert,” by Marc Reisner.