Dear Western Water readers:

Each day, people living on the streets and camping along waterways across California face the same struggle – finding clean drinking water and a place to wash and go to the bathroom.

It is a challenge that is increasingly being recognized by water managers and communities as they work to protect water quality in rivers and waterways, and as they strive to meet the spirit of the state’s landmark 2012 human right to water law.

Western Water’s Gary Pitzer examines the challenges for people who are homeless as they try to meet basic water and sanitation needs, the efforts of advocates working to meet those needs, and the concerns of water managers charged with protecting the state’s water quality. Read the full story here. 

Water Around the West

Here are five don’t-miss articles from the last week:

PG&E owns land across California. What will happen to it? The San Francisco Chronicle’s Spencer Silva takes a look at what’s become of Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s agreement, in exchange for financial relief stemming from its 2001 bankruptcy, to protect or donate more than 140,000 acres of its land holdings, many of which encompass California’s key forests and watersheds. 

A run through Colorado’s Yampa whitewater reveals the wildness that remains. But will the West’s rivers survive urban demands? The Denver Post’s Bruce Finley examines how Colorado’s booming Front Range economy is driving those cities to pursue siphoning more water from the Colorado River as residents of the Colorado River Basin are pressed to use less.

A time of reckoning in the Central Valley. Mark Schapiro, writing in Bay Nature magazine, explores efforts in the Central Valley to adapt to climate change and answer a question bedeviling farmers across the valley: what to plant today that can thrive and bear fruit over the next quarter century or more? 

The environmental downside of cannabis cultivation. Jodi Helmer, writing for JSTOR Daily, a digital academic library, highlights new research that has linked production of cannabis plants to a host of issues ranging from water theft and degradation of public lands to wildlife deaths and potential ozone effects.

Too much water or too little: Hydropower fights wild weather. Writing for Bloomberg, Gerald Porter Jr. and Jeremy Hodges examine how climate change is sapping hydropower’s dependability as rivers that once ebbed and flowed with seasonal regularity have grown erratic.

Water Word of the Day

Water Quality. People, farmers, industry and the environment in California depend on clean water to survive. Surface waters are threatened by a host of pollutants, such as bacteria, trash and agricultural runoff. Perhaps the greatest threat to surface water is nonpoint sources of pollution, such as runoff from agricultural fields and abandoned mines, and stormwater runoff from city streets and construction sites. Learn more about water quality challenges in Aquapedia, our free, vetted online water encyclopedia. 

At the Foundation

Journey through a scenic landscape on our Edge of Drought Tour Aug. 27-29 as we explore an area of California along the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo county coast dealing with persistent threats to its water supply and quality, and learn what solutions are being implemented. The Santa Barbara region’s hydrologic recovery often has lagged behind much of the rest of the state. It is a region particularly prone to drought, wildfires and mudslides and has limited local surface and groundwater supplies. Learn more about this tour, and how to sign up, here. 

Water Academy

California thrives on a complex and diverse network of natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts — including federally, state and locally funded projects — as well as wild and scenic rivers and natural lakes. With our poster-size California Water Map, you can learn more about key issues facing California water, including supply, use, projects, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado River. Here’s where to get yours.