Climate Change Is Unveiling Disastrous Consequences, and California Has Not Adapted

A brushfire burns in La Tuna Canyon Park, north of Los Angeles, in September 2017. Photo courtesy of Ryan Babroff.

California’s Amplified Weather Conditions 

From 2021 to 2022, California went from water shortages to record rainfall. Experts quickly pinpointed the cause: atmospheric rivers. As defined by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), atmospheric rivers are narrow regions in the atmosphere that transport most of the water vapor outside the tropics, releasing massive amounts of rain and snow. According to a 2013 review by hydrologist Michael Dettinger, global warming will cause the average precipitation delivered to California to increase by 10% by the year 2100, as the atmosphere’s vapor capacity rises. In California, these climate phenomena brought on devastating flash floods, flipping the Golden State’s pattern of prolonged drought to extreme flood risk. This extreme weather whiplash, and the stagnation in climate change mitigation, foreshadows a future of devastating weather events. 

Even amid worsening weather conditions, California has not updated its water infrastructure, which is rapidly aging and designed for weather patterns of the past. Accordingly, it is time for California to brace for extreme drought and flooding by developing and refurbishing its water infrastructure. Specifically, California must rapidly research, design, and build new reservoirs, groundwater basins, rainwater collection systems, and flood-control systems because these technologies will help divert excess rainwater that accumulates within cities and towns, as well as drastically increase the maximum amount of water California can store to combat intensifying droughts. Additionally, California must also invest in upgrading and redesigning existing water infrastructure, so they can withstand the harsher weather trends of the future.

California’s Need to Upgrade Its Water Infrastructure

The lack of attention paid to California’s existing water infrastructure reveals dire consequences in the form of intensifying severity of droughts and rainstorms. California must invest in and develop additional reservoirs, groundwater basins, rainwater collection systems, and flood-control systems to combat and mitigate the dangerous effects of climate change. These different projects will help increase the efficiency of California’s water infrastructure to prevent flooding and drastically increase California’s ability to store water during dry spells, allowing for California to stay drought free for longer periods of time. Much of the state’s water infrastructure is old and in poor condition. 42 of California’s 1,540 dams operate at reduced capacity due to safety deficiencies from inadequate maintenance and repairs. For example, the Haiwee Dam in Central California, which was built in 1913 and supplies 70% of LA’s drinking water, has been operating at restricted capacity since 2002, losing at least 83% of its maximum capacity due to its aging design and seismic safety concerns. These outdated dams are just a small testament to the poor condition of California’s water infrastructure.

The reduced capacity of California’s dams has cost the state at least 350,000 acre-feet of water per year. By refurbishing aging infrastructure and investing in new infrastructure, California can ensure that flood risks are reduced during wet winters and that water is not wasted because of infrastructural deficiencies. These measures can help maximize California’s ability to collect and store water for longer periods of time in light of increasingly intense droughts and rainstorms in the state.

Developing Climate Projects

California has already initiated new water infrastructure projects. The Sites Reservoir, planned in the western Sacramento valley for at least 40 years, could store up to an additional 1.5 million acre-feet of water per year. The project, although commendable, faces continued delays due to acquisition of water rights, environmental reviews, and funding issues, exemplifying California’s slowness in developing additional water infrastructure. Additional infrastructure projects, such as those being developed in San Bernardino County like the Magnolia Storm Drain, allocate funding to complete repairs on aging pipes and reservoirs or build new drains to reduce flood risks. These initiatives show the steps California is taking to upgrade its water infrastructure. 

Though these projects are a step in the right direction, California is not moving quickly enough. Its water infrastructure is rapidly aging, and much of the infrastructure was designed before research emphasized the dangerous effects of weather whiplash. As a result, much of the state’s infrastructure is designed for outdated weather patterns of the 20th century. Most of these aforementioned projects are designed to repair, upgrade, or complete existing infrastructure. Although these projects will help California bolster existing systems, these improvements are constantly delayed, limited in scale, and do not effectively counter the effects of weather whiplash. These limitations are largely the result of fiscal challenges California faces on the state and federal levels.

Fiscal Challenges to Developing California’s Water Infrastructure

On the state level, California faced a $23 billion deficit in fiscal year 2023, a $55 billion deficit in fiscal year 2024, and is projected to tackle a $2 billion deficit in fiscal year 2025. As a result, California’s legislative analyst’s office noted that there would be limited to no capacity for new or ongoing commitments. The fiscal crisis has moved Governor Gavin Newsom to propose cutting $50 million in funding for a state water dam grant program. On the federal level, increasing polarization in Congress has limited funding for water infrastructure projects nationwide. Infrastructure projects that pass typically dedicate only a small percentage of funding to water collection and management systems. The most recent infrastructure bill, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in 2021, which allocates $1 trillion to existing and new infrastructure projects, sets aside just a mere $50 billion for water infrastructure across the country due to other interests such as roads, broadband, and transportation. California is set to receive just $500 million from this law for water infrastructure developments, significantly less than what the American Society of Civil Engineers says is necessary to improve our water infrastructure across the US, which they value at over $1 trillion. With funding to climate projects being cut, and more cuts in consideration, it is clear that California must increase the amount of funding to water infrastructure projects. California lawmakers on both the state and federal level must fiercely advocate for additional funding to water infrastructure.

The consequences of climate change are dangerous for human lives and development. In California, wildfires cost the state $432 billion in health expenses between 2008 and 2018 and led to over 50,000 premature deaths. Moreover, the last two years of rainstorms dealt the state at least $34 billion in damages. The lack of action from the federal and state governments to mitigate the effects of climate change through eco-friendly policies leaves California exposed to more extreme weather whiplash. Thus, it is imperative that Californians brace for the worst outcomes by actively refurbishing and constructing new water infrastructure to offset worsening rainstorms and droughts caused by rising average temperatures from climate change. It is also necessary for Californians to vocalize support for necessary funding for the development of the state’s water infrastructure to officials and lawmakers. With advocacy leading to action, California can be prepared to reduce the risks of flooding during increasingly wet winters, and be ready to stand strong in the face of intensifying dry spells by having greater capacities to store and manage the available water in the state. Otherwise, the Golden State may find itself ill-prepared for the wrath of nature from storms and droughts.

Allen Cai (CC ’27) is a staff writer for CPR from California. He is interested in studying biology and political science with a focus in international relations and American politics.