what percentage of californias developed water goes to agriculture?

• Water in California is shared across iii main sectors.
  Statewide, average h2o utilise is roughly 50% environmental, twoscore% agronomical, and x% urban, although the percentage of water use by sector varies dramatically across regions and between wet and dry years. Some of the water used past each of these sectors returns to rivers and groundwater basins where it tin can exist used again.
• Environmental water provides multiple benefits.
  Environmental h2o use falls into 4 categories: h2o in rivers protected as "wild and scenic" under federal and state laws, water required for maintaining habitat within streams, water that supports wetlands within wild fauna preserves, and water needed to maintain water quality for agronomical and urban use. Half of California's environmental h2o use occurs in rivers along the state's north coast. These waters are largely isolated from major agricultural and urban areas, and their wild and scenic condition protects them from significant future evolution. In dry years, the share of water that goes to the surround decreases dramatically every bit flows diminish in rivers and streams. At the height of the 2012‒xvi drought, the country likewise reduced h2o allocations for the environment to reserve some supplies for farms and cities.

SOURCE: Department of Water Resources, California H2o Plan Update 2018 (Public Review Typhoon).

NOTES: The figure shows applied water use. The statewide average for 1998‒2015 was 77.ii maf. Environment (38.three maf boilerplate) includes water for "wild and scenic" rivers, required Delta outflow, instream flows, and managed wetlands. Urban (7.9 maf) includes residential, commercial, and industrial uses; and large landscapes. Agriculture (31 maf) includes water for crop product. Net water use—i.e., the volume consumed by people or plants, embodied in manufactured appurtenances, evaporated, or discharged to saline waters—is lower. The figure excludes water used to actively recharge groundwater basins (3% for urban and one% for agronomics on boilerplate), conveyance losses (3% for urban and 8% for agriculture), and h2o used for energy product (less than 2% of urban use).

• Agricultural water utilise is falling, while the economic value of farm production is growing.
  More than ix million acres of farmland in California are irrigated, representing roughly 80% of all water used for businesses and homes. College-revenue perennial crops—nuts, grapes, and other fruit—take increased as a share of irrigated acreage (from 16% in 1980 to 33% in 2015 statewide, and from 21% to 45% in the southern Central Valley). This shift, plus rising crop yields, has increased the economic return on water used for agriculture. Agricultural production generated 38% more gross state product in 2015 than in 1980, even though subcontract water use was nigh 14% lower. Just even as the agronomical economic system is growing, the residuum of the economy is growing faster. Today, subcontract product and food processing generate about 2% of California'due south gross country product, down from about v% in the early 1960s.
• Despite population growth, total urban water use has as well fallen.
  The San Francisco Bay and South Coast regions business relationship for most urban water use in California. Both rely heavily on h2o imported from other parts of the state. Full urban h2o use has been falling fifty-fifty as the population grows. Even before the latest drought, per capita h2o use had declined significantly—from 231 gallons per 24-hour interval in 1990 to 180 gallons per day in 2010—reflecting substantial efforts to reduce water use through pricing incentives and mandatory installation of water-saving technologies like depression-flow toilets and shower heads. In 2015, per capita use fell to 146 gallons per day in response to drought-related conservation requirements. Much of the recent savings came from reducing landscape watering, which makes upwards roughly half of all urban h2o use. Per capita employ has since rebounded slightly, but a new state law will require further long-term reductions.

SOURCES: Water apply: California Water Plan Updates (Department of H2o Resources, various years). Population: Department of Finance.

NOTES: Except for 2015 (a severe drought year), the figure reports estimates for normal rainfall years. Pre-2000 estimates are adjusted to levels that would have been used in a year of normal rainfall. Estimates are for water years (October to September).

• Drought will pose major water use challenges.
  California needs to suit to increasing drought intensity. Agriculture relies heavily on groundwater during droughts—especially in the Central Valley—but more sustainable groundwater management is needed to maintain this primal drought reserve. An increase in tree and vine crops—which need to exist watered every year—is making farming more than vulnerable to water shortages. State law now requires h2o users to bring their groundwater basins into long-term rest by the early 2040s. This will likely require farm water use to fall in regions that have been over-pumping, including the southern Central Valley and the Central Coast. In urban areas, the greatest potential for further water savings lies in long-term reductions in mural irrigation—a shift requiring changes in plantings and watering habits. Finally, state and federal regulators volition need new approaches to reduce harm to fish and wildlife during increasingly intense droughts. This will require better drought planning, investments in new habitat, and setting aside h2o during wet years for ecosystem uses in dry years.

Sources: Department of Water Resources (water use and population for 1998–2015), Country H2o Resources Control Lath (mail-2015 urban water utilise), US Bureau of Economic Assay (gross state production), and National Agronomical Statistics Service (crop acreage).

Topics

Drought Freshwater Ecosystems Water Supply H2o, Land & Air

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Source: https://www.ppic.org/publication/water-use-in-california/

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