(Los Angeles) A devastating drought exacerbated by more than two decades of climate change will require California to collect, treat and desalinate more water, the US state’s governor said Thursday.
Published at 4:50 pm yesterday.
Unveiling an “aggressive” new strategy to fix dwindling water supplies, Gavin Newsom said he wants to strengthen and modernize aging infrastructure to adapt to a changing environment.
“Climate change means that record droughts are not just going to happen two years at a time,” he said in a statement.
“Drought is a permanent feature here in the American West, and California will adapt to this new reality.”
The plan, released Thursday, calls for above-ground storage and better ways to capture the billions of liters of rain that would normally flow into the ocean.
It also plans to desalinate seawater by purifying a lot of water.
For more than two decades, the American West has been experiencing its worst drought in more than a millennium.
Scientists predict that California’s already-stressed water supply could shrink another 10% over the next few decades, as the current drought is part of the region’s longest drought. A process accelerated by climate change caused by human activities.
“Whether drought or flood, water will become less available in this altered climate,” the state’s 16-page plan says.
“California needs to capture, recycle, desalinize and store more water […] Use water that would otherwise be unusable, spread the supply more efficiently, and expand the capacity to store water from large storms for dry weather.
