Urban Drought in the San Francisco Bay Area: A Study of Institutional and Social Resiliency

摘要

This study reports on how, why, and to what effect eight agencies supplying water to over 3 million customers in the San Francisco Bay Area responded to a two-year drought. The study had four objectives: to identify the ways in which urban districts defined and then responded to the drought, together with the information used in these tasks; to describe the policymaking process whereby urban water districts choose from among alternative strategies to cope with drought and how their initial responses may change; to assess the effectiveness, cost, equity, and administrative feasibility of different drought policies, especially supply augmentation policies as compared with demand reduction policies; and to identify which traditional urban water management practices might undergo fundamental change as a result of the drought experience, and why. Based on the findings, recommendations are offered to reinforce the public's perception of a water shortage crisis.