California had a watershed climate year, but time is running out
California made historic investments in climate measures this year, as state leaders warned of current and escalating climate risks. … California is experiencing the driest 22 years in more than a millennium, fueled by warmer, drier conditions that have exposed critical weaknesses in the way the state stores and manages water. … Meanwhile, close to 1,500 wells ran dry this year. And though California became the first state in the nation to recognize the “human right” to water a decade ago, roughly 1 million people, mostly in isolated rural communities, lack access to reliable supplies of safe drinking water. Legislators passed a bill in September to help low-income Californians pay their water bill, but [Gov.] Newsom vetoed it, citing a lack of sustainable, ongoing funding.