In what could be a fourth year of drought, virtually all Californians say the state’s water situation is serious — but the majority still favors voluntary rather than mandatory restrictions, a new Field Poll released Thursday found.
They are concerned about water storage and supply, the poll found, an opinion reflected in passage of last November’s Proposition 1, a $7.5 billion bond measure for new water projects.
“There are certain trade-offs that voters support — and some they are reluctant to support, such as mandatory rationing,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. “What they support is trying to expand the water storage and supply facilities on government property.”
About half of voters polled supported the idea of relaxing government restrictions on projects in state parks and forests. Voters are also evenly divided about the idea of allowing the state to relax environmental regulations protecting fish and the San Francisco Bay and Delta.
The findings are part of a report released Thursday by the Field Research Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan firm based in San Francisco. The survey questioned 1,241 registered California voters in six languages.
“One silver lining of this severe drought is that it has raised Californians’ awareness of the importance of our water supplies,” said Ellen Hanak of the Public Policy Institute of California. Passage of the state bond measure means that “funds will support more conservation, more use of treated wastewater and stormwater, and more effective storage both above and below ground. We can make these investments in ways that protect California’s economy, society, and environment.”
Bay Area voters were most likely to view the drought as serious, with 73 percent serious, compared to 63 percent in Los Angeles County.
But nowhere in the state does a majority support mandatory restrictions on water use. Bay Area residents are the most willing — 39 percent of those polled supported the idea — but 55 percent preferred voluntary steps. Southern Californians generally reject mandated restrictions, with support ranging from 31 percent to 35 percent in Los Angeles County and other parts of Southern California and the Central Valley.
“For some, it means government intrusion in everyday life,” said DeCamillo. “It is interesting that even here in the Bay Area, which is more Democratic and liberal, voluntary cutbacks are still the preferred method.”
The number of voters who consider state water storage and supply facilities inadequate has nearly doubled since the past two times The Field Poll posed this question in the 1980s. More than four times as many voters (43 percent) think they are inadequate, and 38 percent describe them as just barely adequate.
“California is a dry place, and the people of California get this,” said Jay R. Lund, Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis.
“As illustrated by the Proposition 1 vote in November, they are willing to spend money to improve the state’s infrastructure and management,” he said. “The drought has helped bring state and local water agencies together to improve water management statewide, but there remains a long way to go. Voters are clearly paying attention.”
Big geographic differences highlight voter opinions on bypassing environmental regulations. In the Central Valley, 61 percent favors allowing the state to bypass laws that protect fish and the Bay-Delta region in serious shortages for farmers and residents. But San Francisco Bay Area voters’ support drops to 33 percent.
The poll, conducted between Jan. 26 and Feb. 16, comes as California suffers through another dry midwinter, with vegetation showing signs of growth and flowering typically not seen until well into the spring. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
And it looks as though an anomalous high pressure system — dubbed the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge — has returned, according to Daniel Swain of Stanford University’s Department of Environmental Earth System Science. This is forcing Pacific storm systems to veer sharply northward, directing warm, moist air toward Canada and Alaska.
But because the ridge is slightly further east than last winter, California has occasionally benefited from the constant northward stream of moisture, he said.
Clouds are expected to move into the Bay Area late Thursday, with a chance of showers on Friday and Saturday. Skies will clear on Sunday, before clouds return on Monday. But the region still has a long way to go to climb out of the drought. Reservoirs are only 67 percent of average and streamflow in most of California’s creeks, streams, and rivers is also well below average for this time of year. The Sierra Nevada snowpack, already low, shrank more during a mid-February heat wave.
The Field Poll shows that voters recognize the drought is an emergency and want solutions, said Josué Medellín-Azuara, research scientist with the Center for Watershed Sciences.
But he cautioned: “There is a pervasive belief that surface water is one way to cope with drought — yet surface reservoirs are useless if there is not water to fill them.”
Contact Lisa M. Krieger at 650-492-4098.
