Signal Booster: Santa Cruz Water Agencies Seek Ambitious Solutions

On CaliforniaLocal.com, we're always looking for stories about water usage (see related articles, bottom right), so a recent cover story by Good Times reporter Erin Malsbury on proposed local water solutions caught our eye.

Drought-ridden Santa Cruz gets most of its water from the Loch Lomond reservoir, currently at 60 percent capacity; it’s off the grid of the state’s canals. Locals have to figure out how to endure a future in a climate scenario where the only predictable factor is the variability of rain levels to come. Malsbury reports that the usual advisories to save water aren’t going to be enough, and neither are the common ideas of stopping farming or slamming the door on new arrivals to Santa Cruz. Interim water manager for the county Sierra Ryan tells Good Times, “This isn’t something that we can conserve our way out of. ... We have some of the lowest water use in the state.”

And the dangers of more drought are worsened by necessary infrastructure repairs that one official likens to “fixing the bicycle while riding it.” One scheme is to refill aquifers that store water underground—though the closer one comes to the shore, the more likely that these aquifers can become contaminated with seawater.

Read more: “As Drought Worsens, Local Agencies Seek Ambitious Water Solutions”