DROUGHT & Flood

Since the 1800s, Santa Barbara, Montecito, and Goleta have been home to the wealthy and a destination for tourists, drawn to this picturesque coastline by the mountain views and its temperate climate. But unfortunately the natural resources of this idyllic portion of central California have never been capable of supporting a population that doubled every few decades. Water shortages, described in the 1800s as “water famines,” are common occurrences. The problem is that the vast majority of Santa Barbara’s rainfall occurs in a scant 6 months, with most local streams drying up during the summer months. Virtually all streams and springs dry up during drought.

Droughts 6 years to 16 years in duration have impacted Santa Barbara and Goleta over the 151 years of recorded rainfall. Santa Barbara, Montecito, and Goleta responded to these water shortages by constructing dams, pipelines, and tunnels which linked the populated coastal areas to a distant watershed, and with much the same legal and environmental consequences that Los Angeles encountered when diverting water from the Owens Valley to Southern California. Lawsuits pitting Santa Barbara and Montecito against the landowners living downstream of the dams on the Santa Ynez River raged for decades, ending only when the California Supreme Court rendered its final decision.

Legal controversy continues today concerning a third dam built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the benefit of Santa Barbara and other South Coast communities. But this time, the advocates for the endangered species have taken a seat at the table, along with the downstream landowners. The waterworks constructed for the benefit of Santa Barbara and Montecito are modern-day engineering marvels, including a recently constructed 200-mile-long pipeline that connects a river in Northern California to Santa Barbara County, yet Santa Barbara and Montecito had to declare another water short emergency during the most recent drought.

While the mountains that make up the picturesque backdrop of Santa Barbara and Montecito typically disgorge winter rains in the form of springs and gentle streamflow, cyclic drought led to eight large fires in the mountain watersheds over the last 60 years, each of which denuded the steep hillsides. When severe rainfall events follow the brush fires, the normally quiescent streams become torrents of water that mobilize the topsoil and become what geologists call mudflows or debris flows.

In the early hours of January 9, 2018, dense mudflows developed into debris flows, pushing boulders and vegetation down the steep mountain watersheds of Montecito, destroying over 100 residences, damaging many others and causing the largest single loss of life event in the history of Santa Barbara County. Geologists examining Montecito’s geologic history knew that events like those that occurred on January 9th had occurred on numerous occasions in the geologic past, but it was not possible for them to predict when the next event would occur.

Compounding the problems of flood and drought is the environmental community’s desire to keep more water in what is called the “watersheds of origin.” What this means is that over time less water will be available to Santa Barbara and Montecito, which have historically imported water from distant watersheds. In order to address future water shortages, Santa Barbara developed a new water supply in the form of desalination. The City’s desalination plant uses state of the art technology, and takes advantage of the surplus of energy that exists in California, resulting in a drought-proof supply of water that is expected to address Santa Barbara and Montecito’s water needs for the foreseeable future.