PPIC’s new environment survey is good news and bad news for California water supply issues.
Good news:
→ 73% of likely voters back November’s CEQA streamlining measure — which covers water projects. Storage, conveyance, recycling, and desal routinely lose years to environmental review. That barrier just got smaller.
→ 85% say a candidate’s environmental stance matters to their vote. Water resilience is still winning political territory.
Bad news:
→ Water supply has slipped to a third-tier concern (14%), behind wildfires (19%) and climate change (16%).
→ The cost fatigue is the real warning. 6 in 10 Californians won’t pay extra for renewable energy. 63% say energy costs are already a big problem. Water is among the most energy-intensive systems in the state — the same rate fatigue souring voters on clean energy can hit water agencies asking ratepayers to fund resilience.
The nexus:
Wildfires ARE a water issue — burned watersheds degrade source water and storage. Climate change IS a water issue — snowpack decline is the supply story of the next 30 years. Voters support protection in principle but balk when it raises their bills.
The CEQA reform window is open. The ratepayer patience window is closing based on the current posture by water suppliers with regards to “Affordability.”
To pencil out politically, water project proposals are wedged between delivering supply AND a notion of affordability that’s not real when it comes to water rates. That’s the design constraint for the next decade unless we in the water supplier community are smarter in working through the “penny paradox” when it comes to water rates.