Water Resources Dept: Climate Change Could Reduce Water Supply

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 29, 2008 at 1:40 PM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

A state agency says California faces an uncertain water future. A report shows that part of San Diego's water supply could be reduced because of climate change and other factors. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyc

A state agency says California faces an uncertain water future. A report shows that part of San Diego's water supply could be reduced because of climate change and other factors. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The state Department of Water Resources report says there are two key factors that could reduce water deliveries from the state water project - pumping restrictions on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and climate change.

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Katherine Kelly is with the Department of Water Resources. She says sea level rise due to climate change would use up more of the precious supply.

The higher the sea level the more salinity intrusion comes into the Delta and that would mean that we would need to release more water to meet our water standards in the Delta -- to keep that salinity back.

She says using more water to reduce the salinity means less water would be available for California's growing demand. The analysis says pumping restrictions combined with the potential effects of climate change, could reduce future water project deliveries by up to 20 percent some years.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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