Donate
PPIC Logo Independent, objective, nonpartisan research

Search Results

Filters Sort by:
blog post

Video: Managing Wastewater in a Changing Climate

By Lori Pottinger

California’s wastewater sector is at a turning point as climate change increases the risks of water scarcity. PPIC researchers and a panel of experts explore how the sector can adapt to a more volatile future.

blog post

Video: Managing Drought in a Changing Climate

By Lori Pottinger

California’s water system isn’t prepared for growing climate extremes. A panel of experts explain how climate change will affect the system, and discuss reforms that could make it more resilient.

Report

California Coastal Management with a Changing Climate

By Ellen Hanak, Georgina Moreno

As a result of climate change, California is likely to face significant challenges to coastal management along the ocean coastline and within the San Francisco Estuary, and tough tradeoffs exist. For example, one of the primary means of protecting buildings and infrastructure from sea level rise and increased storm surges is to “harden” the coastline with coastal armoring—but this strategy is detrimental to beaches, public access, and habitat. Priorities for coastal management include inventorying coastal resources, assessing vulnerabilities, and experimenting with alternatives to armoring. This report was prepared as part of the Preparing California for a Changing Climate project.

Policy Brief

Policy Brief: The Future of Agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley

By Alvar Escriva-Bou, Ellen Hanak, Spencer Cole, Josué Medellín-Azuara

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

Commentary: Californians Need to Do More to Prepare for Wet Years

By Letitia Grenier, Ellen Hanak

Climate change is supercharging the extremes of drought and flood in California. But our infrastructure and institutions remain woefully underprepared for rising flood risk and increasingly erratic rainfall. It’s time to take this threat—and this opportunity—seriously and accelerate preparations.

blog post

A Conversation about Flood Risk with Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara

By Ellen Hanak, Sarah Bardeen

As California faces flooding this year, PPIC Water Policy Center director Ellen Hanak spoke with Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara about how to better protect the state’s residents from flood risk—which is growing in our changing climate.

blog post

Video: Californians and the Environment

By Mary Severance

PPIC’s Mark Baldassare and Alyssa Dykman discuss a new statewide survey that examines Californians’ views on climate change, energy policy, and other environmental issues, as well as on the COVID-19 outbreak and racial inequity.

blog post

Video: Seizing the Drought

By Sarah Bardeen

Californians know that climate change is here—and we’re feeling its effects nowhere more than in our water system. Last week, during our fall conference, we convened three days of expert panels. Scientists, policymakers, growers, water managers, and restoration advocates laid out a compelling vision of how to prepare our water system for the changes that are already underway.

Search results are limited to 100 items. Please use the Refine Results tool if you are not finding what you are looking for.