The California water model: Resilience through failure

No earth resource is more abundant than water, but no other resources is more oversubscribed or a source of greater controversy. California, for example, generates an average run-off of 100 km³/year, but the state’s ecosystems and parts of its economy have been limited for decades with drought punctuated by years of exceptional rain or snowmelt and flooding. California has nonetheless managed to thrive, with 40 million people, agricultural production exceeding $45 billion/year, and the world’s largest economy. Through droughts, floods, and constant tension between environmental protection and economic growth, California has evolved a diverse toolkit for managing its water. But … is California’s model of water management one of the world’s greatest successes or instead a history of dismal failures?