Drought: Earthquake risks force Silicon Valley to cut water use

California is notorious for its history of natural disasters, and in Silicon Valley, two potential disasters — drought and earthquake risk — are converging to dry up water supplies at the hub of the state’s tech economy.

At a meeting on Wednesday, members of the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors voted unanimously to declare a water shortage emergency — in part because a major reservoir in the county must be drained to reduce earthquake risk highlighted by federal regulators.

County officials warned last year that draining the Anderson Reservoir would put the area in a precarious position, but they had to drain the lake anyway, because the reservoir and dam lie atop the Calaveras Fault, which could trigger a powerful earthquake.

In order to conserve supplies, the region is calling for a mandatory 33% reduction in water use compared to 2013 and planning to rely almost entirely on groundwater, said Tony Estremera, chairman of the Valley Water District. But if too much groundwater is tapped, the land will likely sink, he said, challenging the structural integrity of roads, bridges and buildings.

“This is really unacceptable in a place where we have some of the largest companies in the world,” Estremera said, referring to tech giants Apple and Google, which have campuses in Silicon Valley.

To prevent land receding, the Water District wants local governments to implement restrictions, including reducing lawn irrigation to three days a week, banning the filling of swimming pools, and ending the use of drinking water to wash buildings.

This will hurt some homeowners and businesses, but East Palo Alto’s landscaper David Gurula says it might help. Some customers are expected to start pulling the lawn, replacing it with cacti, succulents, bark and gravel, and adding highly efficient drip irrigation systems.

“That’s what they did during the last drought,” said the owner of E&D Landscaping, referring to the drought years between 2012 and 2016. “There is no reason to abandon your yard or garden.”

While Southern California has so far avoided emergency drought restrictions, Santa Clara County — which includes San Jose, the state’s third largest city — is scrambling, and the rest of the Bay Area is not far behind.

The U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday that four out of six San Francisco Bay Area counties have moved to an “exceptional” drought — the most severe drought classification, reflecting the potential for widespread crop and pasture loss, as well as the potential for emergencies. in the water.

San Mateo and Santa Clara counties continue to experience “severe” drought.

The dry conditions are the result of two years of abnormally low rainfall and high temperatures across the region, including in wine country and Marin County, which declared a drought emergency in May. While San Francisco and the East Bay operate reservoirs in the High Sierra that can help them get through the summer, they can’t count on these supplies if winter is likewise coming.

Water experts note that the Gulf region has experience with water shortages, which will help it adapt to the current challenge.

“Drought is not unusual,” said Elaine Hank, vice president and director of the Institute for Public Policy at the California Water Policy Center. “Water districts know how to prepare.”

Jonas Minton, senior water policy advisor for the Planning and Conservation Association, agreed, noting that only two of the six counties had the restrictions in place.

However, both Hanak and Minton said water managers have to contend with the changes that have left the state falling as rain instead of snow. In addition, rising temperatures evaporate much of the remaining snowfall and runoff, leaving less reservoirs downstream.

“California has relied on a water storage system that is quickly disappearing,” Hank said. “This is snow.”

Unlike Southern California, the Bay Area does not have a dominant water agency that provides supplies across multiple counties. In Santa Clara, the Valley Water District serves 15 cities and about 2 million residents, and relies on a “strong water portfolio” from reservoirs, groundwater supplies and contracts with state and federal water projects, said Minton, the former deputy state administration deputy director. water resources.

But starting last year, the region has lost a significant portion of that portfolio.

In February 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered an immediate seismic adjustment to the dam, which was built on sand and gravel in 1950, leaving it vulnerable to large earthquakes. Scientists say that if the dam collapsed due to an earthquake, the floodwaters could destroy parts of Morgan Hill and even San Jose downstream.

Estremera said that has forced the area to drain its largest reservoir, which when full, holds just over 91,000 acres of water, and undertake a reconstruction program that will likely take until at least 2034 to complete.

An aerial view shows the drought-stricken Stevens Creek Reservoir, at 18% capacity, in Cupertino, California, on May 20.

(Josh Edelson/The Associated Press)

Some of the area’s other water basins are also low, including Stevens Creek Reservoir, which was down to 18% of capacity by May.

Adding to the pain that month, the federal government announced it would cut urban water allocations from the Central Valley Project by half. Roughly a quarter of the Santa Clara Valley’s water area supply comes from the Federal Water Project, which is fed largely by runoff from the Sierra ice massif. As of April 1, that snow mass was 59% of normal.

Estremera said the area is investing heavily in water recycling and conservation, as well as planning new reservoirs — such as the potential $2.5 billion Pacheco Reservoir, which will hold 140,000 acres of water, more than half the size of Anderson Reservoir. While San Jose Mayor Sam Licardo has voiced opposition to the reservoir, saying it is too expensive, Estremera said the area needs every option.

“You can’t create more water,” he said. “You need to conserve, preserve and recycle.”

Lessons from the 2012 and 2016 droughts should also help the region weather the current emergency, said Adrian Covent, vice president of public policy for the Bay Area Council, a regional industry group.

“Back then, companies started doing things like changing the lawn in favor of drought-resistant plants and raising water efficiency,” he said, describing the Bay Area as “the most water-efficient area in California.”

His group’s biggest concern is Marin County—the only other Bay County with water restrictions.

Unlike other counties, Marin is 75% dependent on supplies from the local catchment, which has not been adequately replenished in more than two years, and 25% from the Sonoma County Water Agency, which the government has declared in a state of emergency due to the drought. Gavin Newsom in April.

“Lack of drought-resistant supplies may stop new connections and housing construction,” he said, noting the housing shortage in the Gulf region and the need for new and affordable housing.

Hank said state water planners and engineers will need to design and build new infrastructure to adapt to climate change, while also preparing for the unpredictable.

She noted that wildfires can wreak havoc on water systems – reducing water quality in surface reservoirs, destroying infrastructure and polluting drinking supplies. This is especially true in the Gulf region, with its Byzantine network of water agencies.

“California is an extreme case,” Hank said. We will never make these problems go away. What we need to do is find strategies for flexibility and realize that there is no one size fits all.”

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