Noah writes*
Napa valley, California, is home to the country’s largest viticulture industry, and one of the wealthiest places in the United States. But, as the state’s droughts are becoming harsher, and the region is growing, Napa will soon begin to more seriously allow vineyard development.
The Napa watershed is primarily supplied by the water division of the municipal utilities department, who has become especially reliant on the drying Lake Hennesey. In recent years, the local governance has come into question due to over-lenient permitting of large scale developments. Large scale projects like the 2,300 acre Walt Ranch have paved the way for further abuse of the weakly enforced conservation regulations. Most notable about the Walt Ranch approval is the example it sets for further developments that plan for the destruction of oak trees, a key element of the watershed, as they allow for the percolation of water into deeper soil.
As mentioned, local reservoirs are storing less water and — with decreasing downstream flow from Lake Hennessey — Napa needs the State Water Project (SWP). What’s troubling is that Napa is unlikely to get its SWP entitlement of 21,900 acre-feet of water. In 2020, Napa was allocated 0% of its entitlement.
Napa has increased investment in recycled water to reduce its scarcity risk, but their ability to help has been underpinned by farmers stockpiling municipal water during non-peak seasons. Recycled water can serve as a great boon with huge access to wealth willingness to buy at a higher cost of production, but it does not bode well for decreasing long term demand. Similar to the implementation of drip irrigation systems, many farmers like the Walt’s have used the enhanced efficiency of high cost technologies to expand crop areas, which threatens biodiversity and watershed stability.
Bottom Line: The response to the Napa River watershed’s growing water scarcity has not yet adapted to the loss of state entitlements. The continued expansion of vineyards has reduced oak tree populations, which are key to holding groundwater.
* Please help my Water Scarcity students by commenting on unclear analysis, alternative perspectives, better data sources, or maybe just saying something nice 🙂
Wow, a very intriguing post! The attitude of the farmers who continue expanding the vineyards even though it threatens the resources of water, biodiversity, watershed stability and reduces oak tree population on such a scale seems alarming.
I was wondering, how exactly do the SWPs work and why Napa cannot get it?
It also looks like a perfect example of the problem with cooperation on a common problem- even though the water recycling system has been implemented, it is not sufficient to make the water scarcity situation better because of the farmers overusing it during the non-peak season. Did I get it right?
Good job and good luck with your further research:)
Thank you for the comment Marta :). The SWP is a management project that’s been around for about 60 years, and extends across all of California, providing electricity and water to major metropolitan areas and farms. But, most areas get only a fraction of what they are entitled to and I would like to clarify something as the use of the 0% entitlement statistic can be a bit misleading. The 0% allocation is additionally a result of development of the project which planned to have much more capacity, but the project under-delivered.
But adding onto this, statewide there have been growing water shortages and all areas have had their entitlements limited. Especially in the case of Napa, they do not need it as bad as other regions, but in the next couple years as their local supplies dry up more I worry about where they will be able to sustainably get water.
To your second point I think you got it about 80% right, there are not enough motivation for recycled water in particular due to non-recycled water being stored in the off season. Potentially with a model which holds more consistent water pricing, and does not gain most of its revenue during peaks there would be a realized reduction in water usage!