The American West has always been a region of water extremes – from droughts that parch the landscape one year to extreme wet weather and flooding the next – but scientists warn the climate of California and the American West is becoming even more extreme. Just recently California had the driest 4-year period on record from 2011 to 2015, and then 2016 to 2017 produced the wettest year on record for the state.

Water scarcity, groundwater depletion and frequent flooding threaten both the environment and society, and as those problems become more extreme so too will the conflicts between groups who want access to the water. In an attempt to resolve these problems, Stanford’s Water in the West program is integrating science and policy to find solutions for water users, resource managers and other stakeholders.

Leon Szeptycki, executive director of Water in the West and an environmental lawyer, discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the West and its water and explained why he’s optimistic about the future.

What are the most significant challenges to a sustainable water future for the West in the long term?

In the West, 80 to 90 percent of water gets used by agriculture and 10 to 20 percent gets used by municipalities. In a normal year, everyone does fine, but in a dry year, we aren’t very nimble and that really causes more hardship than it should. We need to create more flexible ways for agriculture to adapt to drought so that farmers can keep making money and producing food in times of scarcity without seeing major drops in income, employment or productivity.

But the real challenge and the backdrop for all of this is climate change.

When a community puts together its long-term water plan, the decisions have been based on the assumption that the next 100 years will be the same as the past 100 years. That approach will no longer work in the era of climate change. The last 10 to 15 years have already been significantly different – warmer, with more extremes – and that will only get worse as the climate changes more. So we have to figure out how to keep agriculture sustainable, reduce our overall water footprint, and make smart planning decisions, all with the backdrop of a changing climate.

The other major challenge is allowing for the protection and restoration of aquatic ecosystems. Water infrastructure and water withdrawals have dramatically impaired the resiliency of those ecosystems. The added stress of climate change will place acute pressure on aquatic species and on our efforts to protect them.

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