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Podcasts Take Two
Study: California allocates more surface water than it owns
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Aug 20, 2014
Listen • 5:21
Study: California allocates more surface water than it owns
California has given away rights to five times more surface water than the state actually has. UC researchers found that the disparity between the amount of water allocated and the actual water supply is enough to fill Lake Tahoe 2.5 times.
A third of Southern California's water comes from the Bay Delta, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers merge, and where water from the north of the state mixes with water that meets in the San Francisco Bay.
A third of Southern California's water comes from the Bay Delta, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers merge, and where water from the north of the state mixes with water that meets in the San Francisco Bay.
(
Mae Ryan/KPCC
)

California has given away rights to five times more surface water than the state actually has. UC researchers found that the disparity between the amount of water allocated and the actual water supply is enough to fill Lake Tahoe 2.5 times.

California has given away rights to five times more surface water than the state actually has. How much water is that? Just about enough to fill Lake Tahoe 2 1/2 times.

That's according to a new study from University of California researchers that is the first comprehensive review of how much water the state has allocated, relative to the actual supply.

Ted Grantham, a USGS research biologist who led the study, offers recommendations for what needs to be done to fix California's broken water-rights allocation system.