You are now in California and the U.S. category.

The need to find new water sources is critical, according to Stan Williams, vice president of project development for Poseidon Water in Carlsbad.

“Global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, and all accessible fresh-water resources are already allocated,” Williams told the Rotary Club of Los Altos Jan. 28.

Williams, who moved to the private sector after 13 years as CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, mentioned desalination of seawater as a solution to the state’s pressing water needs.

Despite a wet winter, California’s historic drought continues to spark fierce — even bitter — debate over how the state’s water needs should be met in the future.

The core issue is whether we should primarily rely on conservation of what may be a permanently diminished water supply, or make more energetic efforts to increase the supply with new dams and reservoirs, desalination plants, etc.

This winter’s El Niño has delivered monumental precipitation to the West … up until now. Dry, unseasonably warm weather is blanketing California—Oakland hit a record high of 81 degrees Monday—raising fears the infernal drought might escape with hardly a dent in its hide.

Whether that happens is anybody’s guess. The Climate Prediction Center sees below-average chances of Western rains in the next couple weeks, but there’s always the possibility late-season storms could deliver a soaking. Gamblers wanting to bet on the coming weather might find this NOAA graphic handy, as it illustrates the winter rainfalls that’ve occurred during El Niños back to 1950.

A handful of topics were on the table when candidates for political offices ranging from Congress to county supervisor appealed for support at the San Joaquin County Republican Party’s Candidate Forum.
But one was integral to nearly every stump speech heard Monday at Chez Shari’s at the Manteca Golf Course. Water.

While the current El Nino weather system is expected to improve California’s water outlook for the upcoming year, the four consecutive years of drought has taken its toll on the most integral of natural resources, especially in the agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley.

Spurning dams for research in water technology, President Obama laid out a striking contrast Tuesday to the strategies adopted by California lawmakers in both parties on how to remedy Western water shortages.

In a final budget plan that was dead even before its arrival on Capitol Hill, the administration’s vision of investing $269 million in research on water desalination, recycling and efficiency will find little traction in the Republican-controlled Congress. But it does lay out an alternative to the dams, water tunnels and other giant building projects that Gov. Jerry Brown, Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Central Valley House Republicans have embraced to varying degrees.