Peak water or enduring thirst? California water, virtual water, and growth

As Cal­i­for­nia faces an his­toric statewide drought, we must also rec­og­nize the role of global water resources in sus­tain­ing California's pop­u­la­tion and econ­omy. In this talk I will out­line the con­tours and trends of California's water foot­print, that is, the water required to sup­port our con­sump­tion of every­day prod­ucts, from food and fiber to energy and indus­trial prod­ucts (there will be an empha­sis on energy). My work looks at recent pat­terns of pro­duc­tion, trade, and con­sump­tion, show­ing that Cal­i­for­ni­ans increas­ingly depend on water resources out­side the state, in effect import­ing vir­tual water. I argue that this sit­u­a­tion has simul­ta­ne­ously offered a solu­tion to local resource lim­its and con­fronted us with real, global water chal­lenges. Acknowl­edg­ing the envi­ron­men­tal and sociopo­lit­i­cal dimen­sions to these chal­lenges, I will offer thoughts on pol­icy and research in sup­port of a shift­ing par­a­digm in water man­age­ment in Cal­i­for­nia and elsewhere.

Speaker: Julian Fulton, UC Berkeley