California is epicenter of change

State plans to deal with climate emergencies before it's too late

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California has the worst of both worlds of climate change problems – flooding and drought.

From 1,100 miles of new sea walls and other flood protections that are needed at an initial cost of $14 billion, to possibly more desalination plants to combat less rain and droughts, the state is in for a full dose of the effects of climate change.

Pacific Institute
Downloadable PDF maps show the coastal flood and erosion hazard zones from the Pacific Institute study. Data are overlayed on aerial photographs and show major roads. More stories on rising sea levels: Read the Pacific Institute study S.F. Bay vulnerable to rising waters Ocean may rise 5 feet along coastlines Northeast to suffer most from rising seas

Rising seas caused by a warming climate could cost California an estimated $100 billion in property loss by the end of the century, according to a new study by the Pacific Institute. The study is one of 40 reports to be presented to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on the financial and environmental impacts of global warming. The report estimates that 3,500 miles of roads, 30 power plants, 29 wastewater treatment plants and San Francisco and Oakland international airports are at risk of being under water. The state will lose 41 square miles of coastline by 2100.

Someday, a seawall will have to be built near the East Bay Municipal Water District’s wastewater treatment plant in Oakland, said Doug Wallace, environmental affairs officer for EBMUD.

And then there’s the drought.

EBMUD is in the third year of a drought and was criticized last year for being one of the first water agencies in California to declare a drought so early — May 13 — and institute mandatory rationing.
Since 2008, EBMUD has incorporated climate change into its strategic plan to deal with its effects on water resources. According to its Web site, the agency’s response to climate change includes focusing on assessing potential effects on its watersheds, reducing the district’s greenhouse gas emissions, and integrating climate change in its budgeting decisions.

“We like to think that we are doing as much or more as any other water agency,” Wallace said.
Half of EBMUD’s water comes from snowpack. More storage is needed in February when its reservoirs are already full because the snow is melting earlier, said Katy Foulkes, an EBMUD board member for 14 years.

“The worst part of climate change for anybody who has a water reservoir is we count on snowpack to be our second reservoir,” Foulkes said.

The California Department of Water Resources estimates that a 5 degree rise in temperature could reduce EBMUD’s watershed snowpack in the Sierra Nevada by up to 60 percent.

But even the state’s executive manager for climate change, John Andrew, says that although water problems are becoming worse for water managers, change has been a problem they’ve had to deal with for a long time.

“It’s definitely something that’s becoming mainstream in our business,” Andrew said of climate change talk, but as with many outlooks, it’s difficult to get firm assessments of the future of climate change.

With less snowpack and more rain, it’s more a matter of when the water shows up than that whether it will at all, he said. “Overall, we’re uncertain if we’re going to see less water,” he said.

In the 1960s, the idea of towing glaciers to California was looked at and found to be too expensive. Now, EBMUD has joined other Northern California water agencies in looking into desalination again. EBMUD studied desalination in the early 1990s, but the high cost and environmental impacts of disposing of brine, the waste product of desalination, didn’t make it feasible. New technology now makes it worthy of looking into.

The agencies are exploring the development of desalination facilities that would serve more than 5.4 million San Francisco Bay Area residents and businesses, and would have an ultimate total capacity of 71 million gallons per day. The water would be used during emergencies, as a supplemental source during extended droughts, allow major facilities to shut down for repairs, and increase reliability.

EBMUD also is working to lessen its carbon footprint, most of which comes from transportation fuels and electricity for pumping water, Wallace said. The idea is that if the water district does its part by cleaning up its act, then rate increases can be justified more easily, he said. Although the district hasn’t had big rate increases yet related to climate change, it eventually will, Wallace said.

“The much better bet is to start planning for emergency” instead of waiting for climate change to force it upon agencies, he said. Water agencies are capital heavy, and work can take decades to plan.

With climate change affecting floods and drought, water agencies may not have that luxury.