Report Improving California’s Water Market By Andrew Ayres, Ellen Hanak, Brian Gray, Gokce Sencan ... Sep 14, 2021 Water trading and banking will prove important tools to help California bring its groundwater basins into balance under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). A broad range of policy changes could help improve and expand California’s water market while protecting communities from harm.
blog post California’s Stalled Population Growth By Eric McGhee, Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Hans Johnson Apr 26, 2021 Figures from the first half of 2020 show that California’s population growth continues to slow, driven in part by people moving to other states.
blog post California’s Population Slowdown By Eric McGhee, Hans Johnson Mar 10, 2020 Population growth in California has slowed markedly since the early 2010s, and the state is now a net loser in overall migration for the first time since the Great Recession.
blog post Testimony: Water Supply and Quality Challenges in the San Joaquin Valley By Ellen Hanak Apr 30, 2019 Ellen Hanak, director of the PPIC Water Policy Center, describes how the state can help address difficult water problems in California’s largest agricultural region.
Report What If California’s Drought Continues? By Ellen Hanak, Jay Lund, Jeffrey Mount, Peter Moyle ... Aug 19, 2015 California is in the fourth year of a severe, hot drought—the kind that is increasingly likely as the climate warms. Although no sector has been untouched, impacts so far have varied greatly, reflecting different levels of drought preparedness. Urban areas are in the best shape, thanks to sustained investments in diversified water portfolios and conservation. Farmers are more vulnerable, but they are also adapting. The greatest vulnerabilities are in some low-income rural communities where wells are running dry and in California’s wetlands, rivers, and forests, where the state’s iconic biodiversity is under extreme threat. Two to three more years of drought will increase challenges in all areas and require continued—and likely increasingly difficult—adaptations. Emergency programs will need to be significantly expanded to get drinking water to rural residents and to prevent major losses of waterbirds and extinctions of numerous native fish species, including most salmon runs. California also needs to start a longer-term effort to build drought resilience in the most vulnerable areas.
press release Out-Of-State Labor No Panacea: California Can’t Import Its Way Out Of Shortage Of Educated Workers May 23, 2007