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Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe prepare to taste wastewater that was treated at the Antioch Water Treatment Plant.

Water treated by desalination is poured into a glass for Governor Gavin Newsom and other government officials to taste during a visit at the construction site of a new desalination plant in Antioch, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022.(AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

With California facing a hotter, drier future — and up to 10% less water by 2040 — Gov. Gavin Newsom released a new state water plan Thursday that calls for increasing water storage, stepping up water recycling, capturing stormwater runoff and building more desalination plants.

Speaking at the site of a desalination project being built in Antioch, the governor’s message was one of urgency. With climate change boosting temperatures, California will see more of its water supply evaporate, he said, necessitating prompt action.

“The hydrology in this state has begun to change pretty significantly,” Newsom said, adding: “We have a renewed sense of urgency to address this head-on.”

The focus, Newsom said, is increasing supply through innovative measures. California’s once-heralded state water system, built in the 1960s, needs to be expanded and modernized, he said.

“We can’t do the same damn thing anymore,” the governor said.

Governor Gavin Newsom talks to reporters during a press conference at the construction site of a water desalination plant in Antioch, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

He lauded the Antioch plant, one of 37 desalination plants in the state, as an example of the innovation the state needs to implement. The $110 million plant, scheduled for completion next year, will use brackish water from the Delta to produce up to 6 million gallons of water a day — about 30% of Antioch’s water supply. The plan calls for more desalination plants using both seawater and brackish water.

Losing 10% of California’s water, even during wet years, would mean a reduction in 6 to 9 million acre-feet of water — more than the amount in the state’s biggest reservoir, Lake Shasta.

ANTIOCH, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 11: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (L) walks with Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe (R) as they tour a desalination plant that is under construction at the Antioch Water Treatment Plant on August 11, 2022 in Antioch, California. California Gov. Gavine Newsom visited a desalination plant that is under construction at the Antioch Water Treatment Plant where he announced water supply actions that the state is taking to adapt to hotter, drier conditions caused by climate change. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The new measures will help compensate for the loss of water to hotter, drier conditions and should supply enough water for 8.4 million households, according to the 19-page plan.

“We are in a race against these climate impacts,” Wade Crowfoot, California’s secretary of natural resources, said at the news conference.

Newsom said the plan capitalizes on existing resources, including expanding supply by 4 million acre-feet to create room to capture more water that now flows out to sea in large storms. The plan calls for expanding the capacities of 120 reservoirs throughout the state. But it also counts on underground water storage to replenish depleted groundwater supplies, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley, where so much water has been taken from the aquifers that the ground is sinking.

The plan also calls for eliminating water waste by 500,000 acre-feet in urban areas and modernizing water management and forecasting plans, including reforming water rights.

Ellen Hanak, a water policy expert at the Public Policy Institute of California, said she was encouraged by the plan, particularly with reforms to make projects such as recharging groundwater during large storms easier and faster to implement.

“With water, nothing happens overnight,” she said. “This package has a lot of meat in it” in terms of coordinating and streamlining approval and permiting processes among state agencies and improving water forecasting and management.

“These are hard things to do,” she said.

And while Newsom likely has a little more than four years in office and his plan has mileposts 10 to 20 years out. Hanak said his plan establishes needed changes and puts them in motion.

“It’s important to start now,” she said.

It’s not clear how much the program would cost — though Newsom said that money is not the main obstacle — or how long it would take to implement. None of the actions in the plan require voter funding or approval, he said, though the governor did announce that former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be his new “infrastructure czar” and will be tasked with finding money, particularly federal infrastructure funds, to help pay for water and other infrastructure projects.

While Newsom’s plan sets statewide goals, some including dates and dollar figures, the Bay Area Council, a business advocacy group, voiced its support.

“Expanding California’s water supply is absolutely the right move,” said Jim Wunderman, the group’s president and CEO. “Conservation alone won’t save us — we need to manufacture more drought-resilient freshwater supplies. By setting ambitious targets for expanding water recycling, desalination, stormwater capture, and by expanding storage above and below ground, Gov. Newsom’s plan is achievable and essential for ensuring water remains plentiful in the decades ahead. Now we just need the funding.”

Wunderman called on the state Legislature to include another $1.3 billion in the state budget for water recycling and storage projects, an effort supported by business groups, water agencies and labor organizations.

But not everyone supported the governor’s plan. An environmental group, Food & Water Watch, called desalination “a wasteful boondoggle” that harms marine life and called on Newsom to instead focus on the oil and agriculture industries, which it called the state’s biggest “water abusers.”

“It’s time Newsom treated water like a human right, not a commodity to be traded for corporate profit,” said Tomás Rebecchi, the group’s California organizing manager.

While the governor’s plan includes long-term conservation, he said he has no plans to order statewide mandatory water use restrictions for consumers, saying that’s largely the province of local water districts. At least 450 districts have imposed local restrictions, he said.

Newsom called for a 15% reduction in the amount of water Californians use in July 2021. But the state has come nowhere close to meeting that goal. Newsom said last month’s reduction was 7.5% and hinted that this month’s will be higher.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” he said. “And they (water districts) are eager to do so, so we won’t impose a top-down mandate.”

Michael Cabanatuan (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan

Michael Cabanatuan is a general assignment and breaking news reporter who's covered everything from wildfires and sports fans to protests and COVID masking requirements. He's also written extensively about transportation and covered Contra Costa County for The Chronicle. He's ridden high-speed trains in Japan, walked in the Transbay Tube, been tear-gassed in Oakland and exposed to nude protesters in the Castro. Cabanatuan worked at the Paradise Post (long before anyone heard of the town), the former West County Times (in Richmond) and the Modesto Bee before joining The Chronicle. He is a two-time graduate of UC Berkeley.