California Water Policy This paper will examine

California's climate varies greatly, depending upon geographic location and annual weather patterns. The Northern section of the state receives much more precipitation than the Southern section, although in both regions annual rainfall totals are rarely consistent from year to year. The most historically prominent agricultural region in the state, the Central Valley, is crossed by two major rivers, the Sacramento River in the North and the San Joaquin River in the South. Draining the northern section of the Valley, the Sacramento River flows a larger volume of water than the San Joaquin River, although the San Joaquin drains a larger portion of the Valley. Prior to the development of the Central Valley by European settlers, the flood plains of both rivers encompassed virtually the entire floor of the Valley. Plant, animal, and human life in the Valley were sustained by the runoff from annual rainfall an

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y the most. Moreover, water prices did not reflect the real value of water in the state; instead the state subsidized water prices through various taxes. As will be discussed below, these policies discouraged water conservation by users and forced the continuing development of new sources and methods of transporting water to where it was needed the most (Gottlieb, 1988, 254-56). Throughout the West, a "postage stamp" pricing system was used. Under this system, a water utility which increased the cost of water (such as developing new sources, building new facilities, or serving new hookups) would average the new costs with all of the previous costs to determine the new rate. Thus, the users responsible for the need to develop the new sources and incur the new costs did not have to pay the full amount for the new costs while continuing users were forced to a pay a little bit more, even thought they had not changed their usage. This reflected the philosophy which encouraged new development in the region in the form of industry and residential suburbs. It also encouraged the profligate use of water in a region where water was relatively scarce. In metropolitan areas, the rate structure was either a flat or declining block rat
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Approximate Word count = 2865
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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