Report Priorities for California’s Water By Jeffrey Mount, Letitia Grenier, Ellen Hanak, Caitlin Peterson ... Nov 1, 2023 California has made great strides in preparing for a drier, hotter future, but it remains a challenge to harness the bounty of wet years while also reducing flood risk. How did California’s water sector manage the unusually wet 2023 water year—and what lessons can we glean for the future?
Report Managing Water and Farmland Transitions in the San Joaquin Valley By Ellen Hanak, Andrew Ayres, Caitlin Peterson, Alvar Escriva-Bou ... Sep 18, 2023 How can the San Joaquin Valley adapt to a future with less water? We’ve been researching this issue for the past seven years, and our new report presents highlights from we’ve learned, including a robust list of policy suggestions to help the valley weather—and make the most of—the coming changes.
blog post How Might Small Farms Fare Under SGMA? By Spencer Cole, Ellen Hanak, Alvar Escriva-Bou Sep 13, 2023 Change is coming to the heavily agricultural San Joaquin Valley, as irrigation water declines due to climate change, new environmental regulations, and SGMA. But how will these changes affect farms of different sizes in the valley? We finally have answers.
blog post Mapping Farms by Size in the San Joaquin Valley By Andrew Ayres, Zaira Joaquín Morales, Ellen Hanak Aug 30, 2023 The San Joaquin Valley will have to adapt to a future with less water for irrigation under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Some have raised concerns that this could put smaller farms at a disadvantage—but is this true? To gain insight on this issue, we decided to take a closer look, exploring where San Joaquin Valley farms of different sizes are located—and what they grow.
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 New Horizons for Senior Fellow Alvar Escriva-Bou By Sarah Bardeen Feb 24, 2023 In over seven years at the PPIC Water Policy Center, senior fellow Alvar Escriva-Bou has contributed enormously to our research, particularly around drought, agriculture, and the San Joaquin Valley. Now, as he moves on to a new chapter as a faculty member at UCLA, we asked him to reflect on his time at PPIC—and to tell us more about what’s next.
blog post Commentary: Lack of Water Is Forcing Major Changes in Valley Agriculture, New Analysis Says By Alvar Escriva-Bou, Ellen Hanak, Josué Medellín-Azuara Feb 14, 2023 Agriculture is a key driver of the regional economy in the San Joaquin Valley, but the valley faces a future with less water: our latest research finds that average annual water supplies could decline by 20% by 2040. How can the valley adjust? We found that with a few changes, valley agriculture could continue to thrive—even with a smaller footprint.
data set PPIC Water Supply Constraints at the Local Scale in the San Joaquin Valley Feb 8, 2023 This dataset includes water balance parameters used to support the modeling results presented in The Future of Agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley.
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 Can Nine Atmospheric Rivers Recharge California’s Groundwater? By Sarah Bardeen Feb 6, 2023 Last month’s storms dropped immense amounts of water on California. Now, many people are wondering if we’ve been able to sock away any of that bounty—so we asked groundwater hydrologist Helen Dahlke to give us the skinny.
