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86 Part i california Water <br />Pharmaceuticals and a host of other chemicals—often referred to as emerging <br />contaminants—also are causing increasing concern in California (Chapters 3, 6). <br />Establishing a better system for protecting water sources from contamination <br />is a major unresolved water policy challenge for California. <br />Uses and Value of Water <br />Water has many uses in California. Households, businesses, industries, and <br />institutions use water in urban areas. Farms use water for crop irrigation and <br />livestock. Water is used to generate power, both directly (hydroelectric genera- <br />tion from falling water) and indirectly (to cool thermal power plants). And, of <br />course, water is essential for healthy aquatic and riparian environments, as well <br />as human recreation. <br />Estimating water use is problematic in California because of a lack of moni- <br />toring and reporting requirements. Table 2.2 summarizes DWR’s estimates <br />of the major water supply uses in the agricultural, urban, and environmental <br />sectors for the same eight-year period as Table 2.1. <br />Table 2.2 <br />Average annual water use by sector, 1998–2005 <br />Hydrologic <br />region <br />Irrigated <br />Landa <br />(1,000s of <br />acres) <br />Agriculture Urban Environmental <br />Gross <br />(maf) <br />Net <br />(maf) <br />Net/ <br />gross <br />(%) <br />Gross <br />(maf) <br />Net <br />(maf) <br />Net/ <br />gross <br />(%) <br />Gross <br />(maf) <br />Net <br />(maf) <br />Net/ <br />gross <br />(%) <br />North Coast 330 0.8 0.6 77 0.2 0.1 74 21.0 21.0 100 <br />San Francisco Bay 81 0.1 0.1 96 1.2 1.0 84 0.6 0.6 100 <br />Central Coast 430 1.0 0.8 74 0.3 0.2 67 0.1 0.1 100 <br />South Coast 250 0.8 0.7 87 4.1 3.5 85 0.2 0.1 50 <br />Sacramento River 2,000 8.3 6.6 79 0.9 0.7 79 14.0 7.6 54 <br />San Joaquin River 1,900 7.0 6.0 85 0.6 0.4 59 3.7 1.0 27 <br />Tulare Lake 3,000 10.0 7.7 74 0.7 0.3 36 1.6 0.1 6 <br />North Lahontan 130 0.5 0.4 80 0.0 0.0 50 0.4 0.2 50 <br />South Lahontan 64 0.4 0.3 81 0.3 0.1 52 0.1 0.1 100 <br />Colorado River 610 3.9 3.7 93 0.7 0.5 70 0.0 0.0 – <br />California 8,800 33.0 27.0 82 8.7 6.6 76 41.0 31.0 76 <br />sOURcE: Authors’ calculations using regional portfolio data from california department of Water Resources (2009). <br />NOTE: Urban uses include 0.1 maf/year of gross water use (and no net water use) for cooling thermoelectric power generation. <br />a some land is cropped more than once during the year, so irrigated crop acreage exceeds irrigated land area. statewide irrigated crop acre- <br />age is about 9.2 million acres.