blog post Metropolitan Water District: “We’re the Squirrels of the Water System” By Sarah Bardeen May 8, 2023 Deven Upadhyay is the assistant general manager and executive officer for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water to 19 million people. This week on the blog, Upadhyay describes how Met is handling California’s recent precipitation whiplash—and shares some improvements that are in the works.
blog post Video: Making the Most of a Wet Year By Sarah Bardeen May 1, 2023 Last week, we hosted an expert panel to discuss how we’re handling the sudden deluge of precipitation after years of drought. While the rain and snow has helped transform what was a grim water supply situation, it’s clear that we need to do a better job of preparing for floods—and storing some of that excess water for the dry times that will return.
blog post Californians See a Need for Immediate Action on Climate Change By Dean Bonner Apr 21, 2023 Three in four Californians think it is necessary to take steps to counter the effects of climate change right away. Views vary across party lines, and this partisan divide has widened over the past two decades.
Fact Sheet Water Use in California By Jeffrey Mount, Ellen Hanak, Caitlin Peterson Apr 19, 2023 To understand California’s water, start here. Water use in California varies dramatically between wet and dry years: learn who’s using California’s water, where, and how much.
Fact Sheet Water Use in California’s Communities By Andrew Ayres, Caitlin Peterson, Annabelle Rosser Apr 19, 2023 Even as California’s population has grown by millions, its per-capita water use has declined. Communities are finding ways to boost resilience in the face of climate change.
blog post Commentary: Catastrophic Floods and Breached Levees Reveal a Problem California Too Often Neglects By Jeffrey Mount, Brett Sanders Apr 10, 2023 For much of the past decade, Californians have been fixated on drought, and rightly so. But the storms of the past winter, and the snowmelt-fueled deluges we can expect this spring, are a reminder that we should be equally preoccupied with floods.
blog post Testimony: Adapting California’s Water Rights System to the 21st-Century Climate By Ellen Hanak, Brian Gray, Jeffrey Mount Feb 28, 2023 PPIC Water Policy Center director Ellen Hanak and senior fellows Brian Gray and Jeffrey Mount testified before the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee Informational Hearing, “How Should California’s Water Right System Adapt to a 21st Century Climate?” today. Read their prepared remarks.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: The Future of Agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley By Alvar Escriva-Bou, Ellen Hanak, Spencer Cole, Josué Medellín-Azuara Feb 8, 2023 Agriculture is a key driver of the regional economy in the San Joaquin Valley, but water for irrigation is an ongoing—and growing—concern. Our latest research offers the most accurate, nuanced, and localized look at where fallowing may need to occur—and details the policy and management actions that could lead to better outcomes.
blog post Video: A Conversation with California’s Legislative Leadership By Mary Severance Feb 3, 2023 At our first in-person Speaker Series event in three years, State Senate leaders—Toni G. Atkins, President pro Tempore, and Brian Jones, Minority Leader—talked with PPIC president and CEO Tani Cantil-Sakauye about their legislative priorities for 2023.
blog post Adapting to a Water-Scarce California By Ellen Hanak Jan 9, 2023 With the arrival of a series of atmospheric rivers, drought-weary Californians are now confronting the weather whiplash that’s a hallmark of our state’s climate. But the current deluge won’t erase California’s water challenges. PPIC Water Policy Center director Ellen Hanak reflects on what happened with California’s water in 2022—and explores how to manage the resource in our increasingly volatile climate.
