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Video: Policy Priorities for California’s Water

By Lori Pottinger

Expert panels discuss four key water challenges: urban drought resilience, groundwater, declining ecosystem health, and safe drinking water in disadvantaged communities.

event

Policy Priorities for California’s Water

About the Program
Although 2016 was somewhat wetter than the previous four years, a fifth year of drought keeps water at the top of the state's policy agenda. This conference looks at what's on tap in key areas, including strengthening urban drought resilience, managing groundwater in rural areas, addressing declining ecosystem health, and ensuring safe drinking water in disadvantaged communities.

Join PPIC Water Policy Center researchers and a diverse group of federal, state, and local experts for a thought-provoking discussion about policy priorities for the coming water year.

This event made possible with funding from the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation.

blog post

A Pragmatic Reason to Protect Freshwater Fish

By Ellen Hanak, Jeffrey Mount, Peter Moyle

When species make the endangered species list, we’ve not only failed them, we’ve made it harder to manage water during drought. 

blog post

Video: Farming Solutions to Weather Drought

By Lori Pottinger

What are California farmers doing to improve water management in dry times? Watch an expert panel in the event video from "Weathering Drought: Farming Solutions for a Thriving California.”

blog post

The Great Nutrient Pollution Challenge

By Caitrin Chappelle

In excess, "nutrients” can harm the environment and our drinking water supplies. Nutrient-polluted runoff poses a major water treatment challenge for the Bay-Delta.

Report

What If California’s Drought Continues?

By Ellen Hanak, Jay Lund, Jeffrey Mount, Peter Moyle ...

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.

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