Today Californians face increased risks from flooding, water
shortages, unhealthy water quality, ecosystem decline and
infrastructure degradation. Many federal and state legislative
acts address ways to improve water resource management, ecosystem
restoration, as well as water rights settlements and strategies
to oversee groundwater and surface water.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., convened his first hearing as
chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee
on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, on Wednesday. Sen. Padilla
appeared on the KCRA News morning show on My58 and said the
hearing will focus on how rising water rates, aging
infrastructure and extreme weather events have affected access
and affordability of clean water across the country.
… According to a state audit in 2022, California
required an estimated $64.7 billion to upgrade its water
infrastructure. In April, the EPA awarded a fraction of that,
$391 million. To hear more about the subcommittee’s
initiatives, watch the attached video.
The federal government is putting $160 million in public lands
— including over $19 million to two sites in Utah — to restore
the landscapes, restore wildlife habitats and improve water on
public lands. The effort is part of President Joe Biden’s
Investing in America agenda. In a news conference Wednesday,
Bureau of Land Management leaders announced a total of 21 sites
would receive funding for restoration. Among those sites were
two in the Beehive State — the Upper Bear River in northeastern
Utah and for Color Country in southwestern Utah. The Upper Bear
will receive $9.6 million in funding, while Color Country will
receive $9.73 million. … Southwest Utah’s booming
population is in large part why the BLM chose to focus part of
the funding on that region of the country, said BLM Senior
Policy Advisor Tomer Hasson during the news conference.
California will send $95 million to flood victims in a
long-awaited program to assist undocumented residents suffering
hardship and damage from the recent months of storms. The money
will be available in many affected counties starting in June,
according to the state’s Department of Social Services.
The announcement comes two months after Gov. Gavin Newsom
promised flood victims that help would come from the state’s
Rapid Response Fund. Since then his office provided few details
despite repeated queries and criticism. Alex Stack, a
spokesperson for Newsom, said state officials were trying to
ensure the program would be accessible to a population that is
often hard to reach, while also protecting taxpayer funds from
fraud.
Senior water rights holders have arguably the sweetest deal in
California water. They often have ironclad deals and some even
get access to substantial water during the worst of
drought. But three new bills in the state legislature are
taking aim at senior water rights in an attempt to level the
playing field. The bills propose expanding the authority
of the state Water Resources Control Board. Senior water rights
date back to before 1914, when there was no permitting or state
water authority yet. For years, advocacy groups have
decried the water rights system and demanded changes. Some of
those changes could become reality if legislators and the
governor approve the current bills.
When’s the last time you thought about where your water comes
from? If you aren’t steeped in water policy, it’s fair to
assume you may not appreciate the complexities of managing our
water systems. But what’s vital to know is that water is the
essential building block to ensure prosperous, healthy
communities. This resource ensures housing gets built, people
can afford groceries and local businesses can offer good jobs.
Legislation introduced in Sacramento creates uncertainty that
threatens these underpinnings of our economy. As a former
legislator, I trust that my former colleagues had the best
intentions in putting these policies forward, but residents
should be aware that these bills are far reaching and will
create dramatic changes that increase costs. -Written by Jerry Hill, a former state senator
and assemblyman 19th District who represented San Mateo and
Santa Clara County residents in the California
Legislature.
At the turn of the century, the plight of coho salmon on the
Russian River was severe — so severe that the Russian River
Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program was initiated in 2001 to
prevent extirpation (or localized extinction) of coho in the
river. Scientists at the Broodstock Program at Don Clausen Fish
Hatchery in Sonoma County have worked to pull the fish back
from the brink in the decades since, with the eventual goal of
re-establishing self-sustaining salmon runs in the
watershed. A new study published in Conservation
Letters offers genetic rescue — a captive breeding
intervention that crosses an at-risk species’ population with
the same species from another geographic area — as a viable
method to keep Russian River coho salmon from
disappearing.
Last week, Rep. John Duarte (R – Modesto) introduced the
bipartisan Water Infrastructure Modernization Act to create
federal grant programs aimed at increasing the use of smart
water technologies. Duarte teamed up with Arizona
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego to author the bill. The big
picture: The Water Infrastructure Modernization Act would
provide $50 million in new EPA funding for grants which water
utilities can use to purchase and implement new
technology. Such technology includes identifying water
loss, examining pipe integrity, detecting leaks, preparing for
severe weather and innovating water storage systems, among
others. The grants would be dished out in two programs
over a five-year period.
Dealing a blow to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democratic legislators
today (Thursday) shot down his ambitious attempt to reform
state environmental law and make it easier to build big
infrastructure projects in California. In a 3-0 vote, a
Senate budget committee found Newsom’s package was too complex
for last-minute consideration under legislative deadlines. The
cutoff for bills to pass out of their house of origin is June
2, just two weeks after the governor rolled out his proposal to
adjust the landmark California Environmental Quality Act. The
10 bills include measures to streamline water, transportation
and clean energy projects with an eye toward helping the state
meet its climate goals.
For the first time in several decades, policy makers in
Sacramento seem poised to actually do something about
California’s dysfunctional water rights systems. There are
three promising policies winding their way through the
Legislature this session. All three bills just made it out of
the committee review process, and are slated to be voted on by
June 2. These incremental changes are a long-overdue start
toward addressing California’s outdated and unjust water rights
system.
Ventura, Calif., is moving forward with its VenturaWaterPure
plan to increase the resilience of the city’s water supply
against drought, thanks to a pair of Water Infrastructure
Finance and Innovation Act loans totaling $173 million,
announced May 23 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The WIFIA loans will fund several projects, including an
advanced water purification plant.
The Water Education Foundation’s annual Water
Summit has been set for Oct. 25 in Sacramento. The
day-long summit is the Foundation’s premier event of the year
and features engaging conversations about critical issues
affecting water statewide and across the West. Keynote
speakers in recent years have included Wade Crowfoot,
California Natural Resources secretary; Erica Gies,
science journalist and author; and Daniel Swain, a climate
scientist at UCLA. The 2023 event will be held at the Kimpton Sawyer
Hotel in downtown Sacramento. More information
coming soon!
California’s long-discussed “Delta tunnels” project is on the
front-burner again. Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom
announced sweeping legislation that would fast-track
infrastructure projects across the state. That announcement
included the latest version of a tunnel project in the Delta,
which would divert Sacramento River water and ultimately send
it to Southern California. Congressman Josh Harder, who
represents the Stockton area and has been opposed to the Delta
tunnels project for five years, is speaking out against the
governor’s move. Harder and other advocacy groups say the
project could negatively impact the ecosystem of the Delta in
the San Joaquin Valley.
In the world of water utility finance, it’s widely known that
ratepayers like residents and businesses represent the primary
source of revenue for local water and sewer systems. Therefore,
when regulatory mandates come down from the federal government
with the potential to increase costs for water systems, even
with federal support, it’s generally the local ratepayer who is
left to foot the bill. This is one of the main concerns the
sector is figuring out how to navigate after a big regulatory
announcement in the spring. In March, following much
anticipation, the US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
released its first-ever proposed National Primary Drinking
Water Regulation for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom is slowly becoming more emboldened to go
toe-to-toe with some of his closest allies in pursuit of
advancing critical infrastructure forward. The battle centers
on circumventing environmental rules frequently relied upon by
activists to sue and block massive projects. Driving the
News: Governor Gavin Newsom has pledged to fast-track
hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of construction projects
throughout the state, including a pair of large water endeavors
that have been delayed for years. California officials
have pursued the water projects in the drought-prone state. One
would construct a giant tunnel to carry large amounts of water
beneath the natural channels of the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta to drier and more populous Southern California.
California lawmakers advanced a bill that would prohibit
hedge funds and other institutional investors from buying and
selling agricultural water resources for financial
gain. Under the measure, which passed the State
Assembly by a 46 to 17 vote on Monday afternoon,
speculation or profiteering by investment funds in the sale,
transfer or lease of water rights on agricultural land would be
considered a waste or unreasonable use of water.
As water system managers across California devise strategies to
help secure their water supply, they often face a major
obstacle to implementing those measures: a lack of interest or
will to act among community members. … Because popular
support is essential for realizing many water-related
adaptations – from changing the rate structure to approving
bonds for new infrastructure – Dobbin and her colleagues
recently published a paper looking deeper at residents’
experiences of, and concern about, climate impacts to household
water supply. Through a drinking water-focused portion of a
long-term panel survey administered by California State
University, Sacramento, scholars in the Household Water
Insecurity Experiences research network had the opportunity to
query Californians on how they are experiencing the climate
crisis at their taps.
In 2021, at a Colorado River conference in Las Vegas, the
Southern Nevada Water Authority laid out an ambitious and
detailed plan to lower per capita water use through
conservation. The presentation quantified why deep municipal
conservation — limits on decorative grass, pool sizes, golf
courses, septic tanks and landscaping — was necessary to
adapt to a far drier future. It was a signal that Las
Vegas planned to go all-in on conservation. Part of this was
necessity. Of the seven states that rely on the Colorado River,
Nevada has by far the smallest allocation. It is also one of
the urban centers most reliant on the river, the source of 90
percent of its water supply. Part of the plan was to shore up
water for more growth.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday pledged to fast-track
hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of construction projects
throughout the state, including a pair of large water endeavors
that have languished for years amid permitting delays and
opposition from environmental groups. For the past decade,
California officials have pursued the water projects in the
drought-prone state. One would construct a giant
tunnel to carry large amounts of water beneath the natural
channels of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to drier and more
populous Southern California. The other would be a massive
new reservoir near the tiny community of Sites in Northern
California that could store more water during deluges.
… Newsom is seeking a slew of changes to make it much
faster for these projects to gain the required permits and
approvals.
Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to unveil a sweeping package of
legislation and sign an executive order Friday to make it
easier to build transportation, clean energy, water and other
infrastructure across California, a move intended to capitalize
on an infusion of money from the Biden administration to boost
climate-friendly construction projects. The proposal aims to
shorten the contracting process for bridge and water projects,
limit timelines for environmental litigation and simplify
permitting for complicated developments in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta and elsewhere.
To help empower local communities and address impacts caused by
climate change, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) has
awarded $143.7 million to implement 115 projects that support
groundwater recharge, strengthen flood management, increase
water conservation and improve water quality through the
Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM)
program. … Proposition 1 funding totaling $143.7
million will be allocated to projects in the funding areas of
Central Coast, Colorado River, Los Angeles, Mountain Counties,
North Coast, North/South Lahontan, Sacramento River, Santa Ana,
San Diego and San Francisco Bay Area.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is ramping up his pressure campaign against
Republicans as a slow-moving natural disaster hits a
conservative-leaning region of California. And the Democrat is
using a perennial Republican calling card — water funding — to
drive home his message. Newsom, who has grown increasingly
frustrated over the lack of federal action, is casting
Republicans as unwilling to fund critical flood protection in
the Central Valley, where record snowmelt has already submerged
farms and will continue to threaten communities into the
summer, while California steps up to front the money.
The Sacramento region can expect to see big changes related to
how wastewater is treated and reused with the completion of
Regional San’s $1.7 billion, decade-long expansion. Named the
EchoWater Project, the immense upgrade was completed in spring
2023—on schedule and under budget. The result is a safe and
reliable supply of treated water for discharge to the
Sacramento River, which will also be used for recycled water
purposes—like irrigating local agriculture and supporting
habitat conservation land. The expanded tertiary treatment
facility is now the second largest treatment plant of its kind
in the nation, and the expansion project was among the largest
public works projects in the Sacramento region’s history.
Regional San treats an average of 135 million gallons of
wastewater each day from 1.6 million people throughout
Sacramento County and West Sacramento.
If safe water is a human right, why does it remain out of reach
for so many? A Stanford-led project, supported by the
Sustainability Accelerator of the Stanford Doerr School of
Sustainability, is focused on the broad goal of achieving the
human right to water (HR2W) in California. Cindy Weng, a
PhD candidate in environmental engineering, is leading the
project’s data analytics for assessing equity in urban water
access during droughts. Recently, she discussed the project,
water equity issues, and potential solutions for California and
the rest of the country.
If you’ve never visited the Elkhorn Slough, you should. It’s
one of the most incredible places on the Central Coast to view
wildlife—especially birds—and is home to the most extensive
salt marshes in California south of the San Francisco Bay. It’s
a haven for the natural world amidst our built environment, one
that was nearly transformed into an industrial wasteland
decades ago but for the efforts of environmental activists. But
that’s another story—sort of. David Schmalz here, with
news to share about the Elkhorn Slough that will help this
ecological treasure weather the effects of climate change,
which is something I think about a lot, as it represents an
existential threat to human civilization. I would argue most
humans don’t think about it enough.
An uproar over a bill requiring residents with septic systems
to connect to municipal sewer systems is causing a major pivot
in the effort to conserve water in Southern Nevada. An
amendment is changing a requirement into an option. That’s the
latest move to accommodate residents who repeatedly told
lawmakers they just couldn’t afford to pay for the conversions
themselves. Not 50%. Not 20%. Not 15%. Assembly Bill 220
(AB220) was heard Tuesday by the Senate Natural Resources
Committee. The current language in the bill gives residents the
chance to take advantage of an offer to cover 100% of the costs
of connecting to a municipal sewer system as long as funds are
available.
Today, in conjunction with Infrastructure Week, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $128 million
Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to
the City of Santa Cruz, California to upgrade their drinking
water system to be more resilient to drought and climate
change. With this WIFIA loan, EPA is helping the City of Santa
Cruz protect its water supply and deliver safe, reliable
drinking water to nearly 100,000 residents.
A sweeping water conservation bill that would give Las Vegas
Valley water managers the unprecedented ability to limit how
much water single-family residential homes in Southern Nevada
could use continues to make its way through the state
Legislature. Assembly Bill 220 would give the Southern Nevada
Water Authority the power to limit residential water use to 0.5
acre-feet per home per year in Clark County during times when
the federal government has declared a water shortage along the
drought-stricken Colorado River that supplies about 90 percent
of Southern Nevada’s water. If approved, Nevada would be the
first state to give a water agency the power to cap the amount
of water that flows into individual homes.
Everyone has heard about the water crises in cities like Flint,
Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi, but America’s rural
communities are facing equally dire problems with toxic taps
and outdated infrastructure, and they typically have even less
to spend on fixes. That may change soon. In addition to the
historic water funding included in recent infrastructure bills,
the farm bill that is currently being negotiated in Congress
could support real progress in small towns across the country,
thanks to the billions it includes for construction of rural
water and sewer systems. We know firsthand what a huge impact
those dollars can make on the ground. In California, people in
an estimated 300 communities can’t drink from the tap. -Written by Michael Prado, President of Sultana
Community Services District; and Celina
Mahabir, Federal Policy Advocate with Community Water
Center.
Eureka’s halcyon days as the “timber capital” of California are
long gone, but the deepwater port city 270 miles north of San
Francisco may see its fortunes turn as the hub of the state’s
first foray in offshore wind energy. Located on Humboldt Bay at
a particularly windy corner of the Northern California coast,
Eureka sits across two of the five swaths of Pacific Ocean
along the California coast that the federal government
auctioned off to offshore wind developers this past December
for a total of $757 million. The three other leases are on the
Central Coast across from Morro Bay. California is a late entry
in the race to explore offshore wind as a source of renewable
energy because until recently it wasn’t feasible to deploy wind
turbines on the steep ocean bottom off the Pacific Coast.
For climate advocates, the growing state deficit unveiled in
the revised 2023-24 state budget offers some bad news, some
good news and a great deal of uncertainty. The bad news in the
budget presented Friday morning by Gov. Gavin Newsom is that,
despite lobbying efforts and environmentalists pitching at
least two alternative proposals, the $6 billion in cuts to
climate spending that Newsom proposed in January are still
included. If those multi-year cuts stand it will mean
significant hits to funding that previously was pledged to help
speed California’s transition to non-polluting cars, clean up
the water supply, decarbonize buildings and protect residents
against the increasingly dire effects of extreme heat.
… The storms also prompted Newsom in this revised budget
to allocate $290 million to pay for flood prevention programs
needed as record snowpack melts in the summer.
Four months ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom yanked $40 million in
funding to restore San Joaquin Valley floodplains from his
proposed budget, angering legislators from both parties and
conservationists. Today, he gave all of the money back as part
of a $290-million package to increase flood protection funding
statewide. The funding comes in addition to $202 million
already included in Newsom’s 2023-24 budget proposal in
January. That makes a total of $452 million in investments that
Newsom is proposing to protect Californians from flooding in
the wake of winter storms that inundated towns in the San
Joaquin Valley and the Central Coast.
Flooding is the costliest type of natural disaster in the U.S.,
responsible for about 90% of the damage from natural disasters
each year. It happens almost every day somewhere in the
country. Yet, much of the aging infrastructure meant to protect
U.S. communities is in bad shape and, in some cases, failing.
… The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the
most significant U.S. infrastructure law in recent years,
includes $55 billion in new spending for water
infrastructure – money that is making its way to
communities. But that’s barely an eighth of what the American
Society of Civil Engineers estimates is needed for drinking
water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure
improvements.
The Los Gatos Creek Watershed Collaborative received one of the
largest awards last week in CAL FIRE’s latest round of Forest
Health Grants. The $6.3 million grant will go toward expanding
the collaborative’s project area by 841 acres to include
Aldercroft Heights and Lupin Lodge, residential neighborhoods
in the Santa Cruz Mountains, bringing overall coverage to 2,700
acres. Aldercroft Heights and Lupin Lodge have a handful of
areas that are at a high fire risk. Residents have to travel
one-lane roads during evacuations, which can cause traffic and
congestion, said Seth Schalet, chief executive officer of the
Saratoga-based Santa Clara County FireSafe Council.
A Valley legislator has reworked a bill to stop foreign powers
from owning ag land and having rights to water and food
production. But concessions made to the bill could have little
impact on what lawmakers hope to solve. Senate Bill 224 from
state Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield) will ban foreign
governments and state-backed enterprises from owning
agricultural land in California and create an inventory account
of who has water rights on what land. … Saudi
Arabian companies have leased land from the Arizona State Land
Department to grow alfalfa and ship it back home to feed
cattle. In 2016, drought-stricken Saudi Arabia banned alfalfa
farming.
The 2023 Colorado lawmaking session was one of “incremental
steps” on water issues, which means Coloradans have to wait
until next year to see if legislators can find policy solutions
to key water security questions. Colorado, like the six
other Western states in the Colorado River Basin, is facing an
uncertain water future as a two-decade drought and overuse
threaten the basin’s water supply. This year, state officials
started the 120-day lawmaking session saying water was going to
be the “centerpiece” of Democratic environmental policy. …
Fewer than 20 bills specifically addressed water issues,
although several other bills could have indirectly
impacted the state’s water system.
EPA is moving forward with plans to clarify how states can take
control of federally administered wetlands permitting, in a
move that opponents worry will empower deregulation
enthusiasts. At least two Republican-led states, Alaska and
Nebraska, and one led by a Democrat, Minnesota, are on a quest
to oversee a dredge-and-fill permitting program that influences
construction projects with implications for federally protected
waters. Their push coincides with EPA’s plans to advance a
Trump-era rule revising Clean Water Act requirements around
that program, with the agency intending to issue a proposal by
September. EPA is currently having discussions with the trio of
states about the possibility of shifting primacy over the
permitting program, the agency confirmed to E&E News.
This week is Drinking Water Week, but not everyone in America
has the same access to safe, reliable running water, or a
system for removing and treating wastewater when flushing
toilets. Rural communities and communities of color are more at
risk of unsafe water and inadequate sanitation due to
historical disinvestment, regulatory failures, and structural
racism. This is the rural water gap, and while new federal
funding is meant to address this gap, a study released
today demonstrates that federal agencies need clearer
metrics and milestones to ensure they reach the communities
that need it most. Doing so would contribute to the Biden
Administration’s commitment to Justice40 and environmental
justice for all.
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced
proposed federal baseline water quality standards for
waterbodies on Indian reservations that do not have Clean Water
Act standards, ensuring protections for over half a million
people living on Indian reservations as well as critical
aquatic ecosystems. Fifty years ago, Congress established a
goal in the Clean Water Act (CWA) that waters should support
fishing and swimming wherever attainable. All states and 47
Tribes have established standards consistent with that goal.
However, the majority of U.S. Tribes with Indian reservations
lack such water quality standards. This proposal would extend
the same framework of water quality protection that currently
exists for most other waters of the United States to waters of
over 250 Tribes and is the result of decades of coordination
and partnership with Tribes.
Nevada is the nation’s driest state, and it’s hard not to argue
water is one of its most valuable resources. Water supports
communities and ecosystems in countless ways — every day.
Yet the state agency most responsible for managing water rights
is underfunded. At a meeting Tuesday morning, a bipartisan
group of lawmakers agreed to do something about it. During
the Tuesday hearing on the agency’s budget, Assemblyman Howard
Watts (D-Las Vegas) made a motion to increase the governor’s
recommended budget for the Division of Water Resources by
about $3.1 million over the next two years to address backlogs
and gaps in staffing. The motion was unanimously approved by
the budget committee.
California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon has appointed Maria
Mehranian to the Delta Stewardship Council, effective May 5,
2023. This is her second appointment to the Council. Mehranian
served as a Senate-appointed Council member from 2018 to 2022.
“Maria’s understanding of the issues at hand and strategic
approach in responding to them make her an asset to the
Council,” says Chair Virginia Madueño.” I couldn’t be happier
to lead a fully-staffed membership of leaders from across our
state whose unique areas of expertise diversify and strengthen
our ability to advance the coequal goals.” Of the Council’s
seven members, four are appointed by the Governor, one each by
the State Senate and Assembly, and the seventh is the chair of
the Delta Protection Commission.
In 2022, California took a bold step to address plastic
pollution by enacting the Plastic Pollution Prevention and
Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (Senate Bill (SB) 54),
which dramatically overhauls how single-use packaging and
single-use plastic foodware will be offered for sale, sold,
distributed, and imported in the state, and tackles plastic
pollution at the source. The problem with plastic An
estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the marine
environment each year with devastating consequences for the
ocean ecosystem. Everywhere we look, we find plastic; it is in
our land, water, air, food, and even in our bodies. And the
problem is expected to get worse as the production and use of
single-use plastic has skyrocketed over the last decade.
Few chemicals have attracted as intense public and regulatory
scrutiny as PFAS, but even as the highly toxic and ubiquitous
compounds’ dangers come into sharper focus, industry influence
has crippled congressional attempts to pass meaningful consumer
protections. Federal bills designed to address some of the most
significant sources of exposure – food packaging, cosmetics,
personal care products, clothing, textiles, cookware and
firefighting foam – have all failed in recent
sessions. However, a patchwork of state laws enacted over
the last three years is generating fresh hope by prohibiting
the use of PFAS in those and other uses.
A sweeping overhaul of California’s water policy, specifically
the rules that govern water throughout the Central Valley, took
one step closer to becoming reality. Last week, the House
Committee on Natural Resources passed the Working to Advance
Tangible and Effective Reforms (WATER) for California Act,
which was introduced by Rep. David Valadao (R–Hanford).
The backstory: Valadao initially introduced the WATER for
California Act last December and brought it back for the new
Republican-controlled House in January. … Part of the
legislation centers on the 2019 biological opinions that govern
the state’s water usage. President Joe Biden’s administration
has been working to throw out the Trump-era rules and revert
back to the previous biological opinions administered in 2008
and 2009.
California water experts and environmental justice advocates
are calling for state leaders to mandate that new levees be
built with double the federal required protection to withstand
the increasingly severe storms caused, in part, by human-caused
climate change. California’s levee protection regulations are
not uniform; the state’s seemingly endless dikes and causeways
are overseen by a patchwork of widely varying rules. Some
communities like Pajaro in Monterey County, which was swamped
by floodwaters this year, are protected only against smaller
storms that happen every eight years, while levees protecting
urban areas of the Central Valley are bolstered against much
more powerful storms.
This month’s swirling flow in the Dolores River is mostly
snowmelt from the Disappointment Creek basin that drains almost
350 square miles of the western San Juans before joining the
meandering Dolores through miles of dramatic Wingate Sandstone
canyon. … Hard times are common for the Dolores River,
where dwindling water supplies in a warming climate offer only
feeble leftovers for almost 200 miles of river canyon below
McPhee Reservoir. But this winter’s bountiful snowpack is
expected to float thousands of boats on the river that rarely
sees navigable flows. … There are two pieces of
legislation from Colorado’s federal lawmakers — an unlikely
pairing of Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and
Democratic U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John
Hickenlooper — vying to establish a new conservation area
on the upper section of the river.
The City of Santa Barbara has received a $1.26 million grant to
research microplastic pollution prevention, with the goal of
providing clean streets, clean air and clean seas. The city’s
Sustainability & Resilience Department announced Friday that
its Creeks Restoration and Water Quality Improvement Division,
in partnership with the University of Southern California (USC)
Sea Grant Program, was awarded the grant. Microplastics are
small plastic pieces or fibers smaller than 5mm in size (about
the size of a pencil eraser). They are found on our streets, in
our creeks and ocean, the water we drink, the food we eat and
the air we breathe. Microplastics can absorb and carry
pollutants, leach harmful chemicals into water and are often
mistaken for food by wildlife.
Massive flooding in California’s central valley that has
wreaked havoc and resurrected the long-dormant Tulare Lake has
lawmakers contemplating multi-billion-dollar bond measures to
stem further damage. Assembly Bill 305 — introduced by
Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua, D-Stockton —would place a
$4.5 billion flood protection bond measure on the Nov. 5, 2024,
ballot, while Senate Bill 638 —authored by Sen. Susan
Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, and Sen. Roger Niello — R-Fair
Oaks, would ask voters to approve $6 billion of bonds to fund
climate resiliency and flood protection.
Californians could be voting on a major flood protection bond
next November. State lawmakers are pushing a $4.5 billion bond
measure which would help fund water infrastructure projects
across the state. The bill’s author, San Joaquin Valley
Democratic Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua, said the language
is not yet set in stone, but that funds from the bond would go
to the Department of Water Resources (DWR). According to the
bill, $1 billion would be allocated to “multibenefit flood
protection projects” under the Central Valley Flood Protection
Board as well as other projects in the San Joaquin Valley.
Sticker shock at the grocery store has become the norm for many
American families, with food prices increasing by 11.4
percent in 2022. According to the USDA, an average family
of four is paying $131 more per month this year, and groceries
now account for 20 percent of an average household’s income.
Since 1959 the U.S. has been a net food exporter of
agricultural goods, but for the second time in the last three
years, the U.S. will be a net agricultural food importer.
The ongoing war in Ukraine, China’s
growing influence on the U.S. agriculture industry,
and supply chain backlogs should all serve as warning signs
that the security of our domestic food supply is at risk. -Written by David Valadao, a dairy farmer from
the Central Valley and the representative for California’s 22nd
District; and Cliff Bentz, now representing Oregon’s 2nd
District, specialized in ranch reorganization and water law as
an attorney in Eastern Oregon.
Controversy over the Clean Water Act definition of “waters of
the United States” persists as the Biden Administration’s new
rule goes into effect in 24 states, but is enjoined in the
remaining 26 states, continuing the trend of regulatory
uncertainty that has characterized the issue for decades. The
Biden Administration’s definition of “waters of the United
States” (2023 Rule) comes after definitions adopted by the
Obama Administration in 2015 (the 2015 Clean Water Rule) and
the Trump Administration in 2020 (the Navigable Waters
Protection Rule). However, neither the 2015 Clean Water Rule
nor the Navigable Waters Protection Rule were valid at the time
President Biden assumed office.
Since “every drop” of water counts a $2 million grant awarded
to the Lower Tule River and Pixley Irrigation Districts will
help those districts preserve as much of their water as
possible. On Friday the Bureau of Reclamation announced the
districts were awarded the $2 million grant. The funding was
part of $140 million announced by President Joe Biden’s
administration. The Department of the Interior is providing the
funding for water conservation and efficiency projects. There
were 84 projects in 15 western states that received the funding
from the Infrastructure Bill. In addition the Tule
Hydroelectric Rehabilitation Project for a facility above
Springville was awarded a $500,000 grant as part of the $140
million awarded.
The Nevada Assembly on Monday approved a wide-ranging water
conservation bill that would allow the Southern Nevada Water
Authority to limit residential water use in Las Vegas if Lake
Mead’s levels plummet. But it was a provision in the bill that
would require some septic tank users in Las Vegas to convert to
the municipal sewer system within the next 30 years that has
drawn the most criticism thus far. … The water
authority has said the legislation is needed in case the
federal government imposes steep cuts to Nevada’s share of the
Colorado River in the next few years.
After its first committee hearing, Assembly Bill 1337 was
amended last week, which could be the opening salvo of a
monumental political and legal war over who controls access to
water in California – an issue that stretches back to the
state’s founding in 1850. If enacted as now proposed, AB 1337
would overturn a key state appellate court decision and give
the state Water Resources Control Board the legal authority to
curtail diversions from rivers – even by those who now hold the
most senior water rights, those gained prior to the state
asserting authority over water in 1914. The legislation,
carried by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, a Democrat who represents
East Bay suburbs, would bolster a years-long drive by
environmental groups to enhance natural river flows by reducing
agricultural diversions during periodic droughts. -Written by CalMatters columnist Dan Walters.
Sea level rise lapping over and pushing up groundwater under
the California shoreline is the next climate threat in a state
already thrashed around by wildlife, drought and deluge. State
and federal scientists are preparing a comprehensive assessment
of the threat that rising seas pose to California, updating a
highly scientific and complicated document from 2018 (PDF) with
the latest science in user-friendly guidance for local
leaders. The new sea level rise plan will
incorporate federal climate models from last year and
attempts to compel cities and counties to take ownership of the
issue, coordinate and move rapidly to prepare for rising tides
at the local level.
The series of atmospheric river storms that brought
record-breaking amounts of rain and snow this year has many
Californians asking if our existing water infrastructure is
able to capture and store flows from these extreme weather
events. With climate change resulting in stronger storms
carrying more water and creating major flooding, the answer is
more complicated than one might think. … Whether it
falls as rain or snow, the majority of that water flows through
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – the center of California’s
water distribution system – on its way to the San Francisco
Bay.
Westlands Water District received a state grant to support
desalination and on-farm recycling. Westlands, which
serves western Fresno and Kings Counties, views the grant as
strengthening its ability to improve the water supply for local
communities and farmers. The
backstory: California voters approved 2014’s
Proposition 1, the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure
Improvement Act, which made grants available for various water
projects throughout the state. The big
picture: The grant will work with Westlands’
pilot project for the desalination of groundwater. Westlands is
able to process and treat 1,460 acre-feet of groundwater per
year that were previously unsuitable due to high salt
contents.
The Department of the Interior today announced a $140 million
investment for water conservation and efficiency projects as
part of the President’s Investing in America agenda to enhance
the resilience of the West to drought and climate change.
Funding for 84 projects in 15 western states, provided through
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and annual appropriations,
will go to irrigation and water districts, states, Tribes and
other entities and are expected to conserve over 230,000
acre-feet of water when completed. … In the Colorado
River Basin, 12 projects will receive more than $20 million in
federal funding from today’s announcement, resulting in more
than $44.7 million in infrastructure investments.
Supporting ongoing storm response and recovery
efforts, Governor Gavin Newsom today proclaimed a state of
emergency in the counties of Contra Costa, Riverside, San
Diego, and Yolo, which join the 47 counties for which the
Governor has previously proclaimed a state of emergency since
the start of severe winter storms in late February. At Governor
Newsom’s request, President Biden has issued a Presidential
Emergency Declaration and a Presidential Major
Disaster Declaration, which has since been expanded to
include additional counties, to bolster state and local
storm response efforts. The text of today’s emergency
proclamation can be found here.
At the end of March, representatives from the Klamath Water
Users Association (KWUA) traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet
with congressional representatives and officials in the Biden
Administration. With 15 meetings and a congressional oversight
hearing scheduled over the course of three and half days, water
users pursued a host of issues related to the Klamath Project.
Luckily, this was a crew well-seasoned to arduous meetings over
water policy. Topping water users’ agenda was addressing the
current dysfunction in the Project’s operations. During the
last three years, farmers and ranchers have been limited to
approximately 16% of the inflow to Upper Klamath Lake (in
comparison to the 83% allocated to river flows), leading to
widespread, economic, social, and environmental hardships.
Two California legislators are urging Governor Newsom to lift
the drought restrictions on farmers and ranchers in Siskiyou
County. Senator Brian Dahle and Assemblywoman Megan Dahle sent
a letter to the Governor on April 19th, stating, “There is no
longer a drought in the Klamath Basin. There certainly isn’t an
emergency that justifies continuing the Water Board’s strict
measures and the costs they’ve imposed on agriculture in the
region.” They noted that snowpack in the Scott River watershed
is 163% of the historical average, and the drought designation
is “likely” to be removed soon by the U.S. Drought Monitor. …
Scott Valley farmers are required to reduce their water use by
30% in order to avoid 100% curtailment this summer.
This tour traveled along the San Joaquin River to learn firsthand
about one of the nation’s largest and most expensive river
restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
Hampton Inn & Suites Fresno
327 E Fir Ave
Fresno, CA 93720
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Groundwater provides about 40
percent of the water in California for urban, rural and
agricultural needs in typical years, and as much as 60 percent in
dry years when surface water supplies are low. But in many areas
of the state, groundwater is being extracted faster than it can
be replenished through natural or artificial means.
The bill is coming due, literally,
to protect and restore groundwater in California.
Local agencies in the most depleted groundwater basins in
California spent months putting together plans to show how they
will achieve balance in about 20 years.
Our Water 101 Workshop, one of our most popular events, offered attendees the opportunity to deepen their understanding of California’s water history, laws, geography and politics.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the state, the workshop was held as an engaging online event on the afternoons of Thursday, April 22 and Friday, April 23.
California is chock full of rivers and creeks, yet the state’s network of stream gauges has significant gaps that limit real-time tracking of how much water is flowing downstream, information that is vital for flood protection, forecasting water supplies and knowing what the future might bring.
That network of stream gauges got a big boost Sept. 30 with the signing of SB 19. Authored by Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), the law requires the state to develop a stream gauge deployment plan, focusing on reactivating existing gauges that have been offline for lack of funding and other reasons. Nearly half of California’s stream gauges are dormant.
The Water Education Foundation’s Water 101 Workshop, one of our most popular events, offered attendees the opportunity to deepen their understanding of California’s water history, laws, geography and politics.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the state, the one-day workshop held on Feb. 20, 2020 covered the latest on the most compelling issues in California water.
McGeorge School of Law
3327 5th Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona
governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful,
provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most
high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including
groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of
California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former
California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to
work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
the Delta tunnels plan.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
Low-income Californians can get help with their phone bills, their natural gas bills and their electric bills. But there’s only limited help available when it comes to water bills.
That could change if the recommendations of a new report are implemented into law. Drafted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the report outlines the possible components of a program to assist low-income households facing rising water bills.
One of our most popular events, our annual Water 101 Workshop
details the history, geography, legal and political facets
of water in California as well as hot topics currently facing the
state.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the
state, the one-day workshop on Feb. 7 gave attendees a
deeper understanding of the state’s most precious natural
resources.
Optional Groundwater Tour
On Feb. 8, we jumped aboard a bus to explore groundwater, a key
resource in California. Led by Foundation staff and groundwater
experts Thomas
Harter and Carl Hauge, retired DWR chief hydrogeologist, the
tour visited cities and farms using groundwater, examined a
subsidence measuring station and provided the latest updates
on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
McGeorge School of Law
3327 5th Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95817
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
Spurred by drought and a major
policy shift, groundwater management has assumed an unprecedented
mantle of importance in California. Local agencies in the
hardest-hit areas of groundwater depletion are drawing plans to
halt overdraft and bring stressed aquifers to the road of
recovery.
Along the way, an army of experts has been enlisted to help
characterize the extent of the problem and how the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act of 2014 is implemented in a manner
that reflects its original intent.
California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.
Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.
One of our most popular events, Water 101 details the history,
geography, legal and political facets of water in California
as well as hot topics currently facing the state.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the
state, the one-day workshop gives attendees a deeper
understanding of the state’s most precious natural resource.
McGeorge School of Law
3285 5th Ave, Classroom C
Sacramento, CA 95817
Participants of this tour snaked along the San Joaquin River to
learn firsthand about one of the nation’s largest and most
expensive river restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
A new era of groundwater management
began in 2014 with the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA), which aims for local and regional agencies
to develop and implement sustainable groundwater management
plans with the state as the backstop.
SGMA defines “sustainable groundwater management” as the
“management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be
maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without
causing undesirable results.”
This handbook provides crucial
background information on the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act, signed into law in 2014 by Gov. Jerry Brown. The handbook
also includes a section on options for new governance.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act sets standards for drinking
water quality in the United States.
Launched in 1974 and administered by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the Safe Drinking Water Act oversees states,
communities, and water suppliers who implement the drinking water
standards at the local level.
The act’s regulations apply to every public water system in the
United States but do not include private wells serving less than
25 people.
According to the EPA, there are more than 160,000 public water
systems in the United States.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at some of
the pieces of the 2009 water legislation, including the Delta
Stewardship Council, the new requirements for groundwater
monitoring and the proposed water bond.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at California
groundwater and whether its sustainability can be assured by
local, regional and state management. For more background
information on groundwater please refer to the Foundation’s
Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” in California. Much of the information
in the article was presented at a conference hosted by the
Groundwater Resources Association of California.
This issue of Western Water looks at the political
landscape in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento as it relates to
water issues in 2007. Several issues are under consideration,
including the means to deal with impending climate change, the
fate of the San Joaquin River, the prospects for new surface
storage in California and the Delta.
This printed issue of Western Water examines water
infrastructure – its costs and the quest to augment traditional
brick-and-mortar facilities with sleeker, “green” features.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
financing of water infrastructure, both at the local level and
from the statewide perspective, and some of the factors that
influence how people receive their water, the price they pay for
it and how much they might have to pay in the future.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at the energy
requirements associated with water use and the means by which
state and local agencies are working to increase their knowledge
and improve the management of both resources.
This printed issue of Western Water discusses low
impact development and stormwater capture – two areas of emerging
interest that are viewed as important components of California’s
future water supply and management scenario.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and what its
finding might mean for the future of the lifeblood of the
Southwest.
20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A
Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues related to complex water management
disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances
Fisher.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this 24×36
inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson River, and
its link to the Truckee River. The map includes Lahontan Dam and
Reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming areas in the basin.
Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and geography, the
Newlands Project, land and water use within the basin and
wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan Basin
Area Office.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to
Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of
California water rights law available to non-lawyers, traces the
authority for water flowing in a stream or reservoir, from a
faucet or into an irrigation ditch through the complex web of
California water rights.
As the state’s population continues to grow and traditional water
supplies grow tighter, there is increased interest in reusing
treated wastewater for a variety of activities, including
irrigation of crops, parks and golf courses, groundwater recharge
and industrial uses.
The 20-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing provides
background information on water rights, types of transfers and
critical policy issues surrounding this topic. First published in
1996, the 2005 version offers expanded information on
groundwater banking and conjunctive use, Colorado River
transfers and the role of private companies in California’s
developing water market.
Order in bulk (25 or more copies of the same guide) for a reduced
fee. Contact the Foundation, 916-444-6240, for details.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Flood Management explains the
physical flood control system, including levees; discusses
previous flood events (including the 1997 flooding); explores
issues of floodplain management and development; provides an
overview of flood forecasting; and outlines ongoing flood control
projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various CVP facilities, CVP operations, the benefits the CVP
brought to the state and the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
For more than 30 years, the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta has been embroiled in continuing controversy over the
struggle to restore the faltering ecosystem while maintaining its
role as the hub of the state’s water supply.
Lawsuits and counter lawsuits have been filed, while
environmentalists and water users continue to clash over
the amount of water that can be safely exported from the region.
Passed in 1970, the federal National Environmental Policy Act
requires lead public agencies to prepare and submit for public
review environmental impact reports and statements on major
federal projects under their purview with potentially significant
environmental effects.
According to the Department of Energy, administrator of NEPA:
California has considered, but not implemented, a comprehensive
groundwater strategy many
times over the last century.
One hundred years ago, the California Conservation Commission
considered adding groundwater regulation into the Water
Commission Act of 1913. After hearings were held, it was
decided to leave groundwater rights out of the Water Code.
Federal reserved rights were created when the United States
reserved land from the public domain for uses such as Indian
reservations, military bases and national parks, forests and
monuments. [See also Pueblo Rights].
The federal government passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973,
following earlier legislation. The first, the Endangered
Species Preservation Act of 1966, authorized land acquisition to
conserve select species. The Endangered Species Conservation Act
of 1969 then expanded on the 1966 act, and authorized “the
compilation of a list of animals “threatened with worldwide
extinction” and prohibits their importation without a permit.”
California’s Legislature passed the
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1972, following the passage of the
federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act by Congress in 1968. Under
California law, “[c]ertain rivers which possess extraordinary
scenic, recreational, fishery, or wildlife values shall be
preserved in their free-flowing state, together with their
immediate environments, for the benefit and enjoyment of the
people of the state.”
The legal term “area-of-origin” dates back to 1931 in California.
At that time, concerns over water transfers prompted enactment of
four “area-of-origin” statutes. With water transfers from
Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley to supply water for San Francisco
and from Owens Valley to Los Angeles fresh in mind, the statutes
were intended to protect local areas against export of water.
In particular, counties in Northern California had concerns about
the state tapping their water to develop California’s supply.
It would be a vast understatement to say the package of water
bills approved by the California Legislature and signed by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger last November was anything but a
significant achievement. During a time of fierce partisan battles
and the state’s long-standing political gridlock with virtually
all water policy, pundits at the beginning of 2009 would have
given little chance to lawmakers being able to reach compromise
on water legislation.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most
significant environmental laws in American history, the Clean
Water Act (CWA). The law that emerged from the consensus and
compromise that characterizes the legislative process has had
remarkable success, reversing years of neglect and outright abuse
of the nation’s waters.
In January, Mary Nichols joined the cabinet of the new Davis
administration. With her appointment by Gov. Gray Davis as
Secretary for Resources, Ms. Nichols, 53, took on the role of
overseeing the state of California’s activities for the
management, preservation and enhancement of its natural
resources, including land, wildlife, water and minerals. As head
of the Resources Agency, she directs the activities of 19
departments, conservancies, boards and commissions, serving as
the governor’s representative on these boards and commissions.
Two days before our annual Executive Briefing, I picked up my
phone to hear “The White House calling… .” Vice President Al
Gore had accepted the foundation’s invitation to speak at our
March 13 briefing on California water issues. That was the start
of a new experience for us. For in addition to conducting a
briefing for about 250 people, we were now dealing with Secret
Service agents, bomb sniffing dogs and government sharpshooters,
speech writers, print and TV reporters, school children and
public relations people.
