blog post Californians Like Voting on Environmental Issues By Mark Baldassare Jul 12, 2023 According to a new PPIC Statewide Survey, Californians value their ability to vote on environmental issues—and are so far unsupportive of a referendum on new oil wells that will appear on next year's ballot.
blog post Saving Steelhead—and Stitching a Community Back Together By Francisco Martínezcuello, Sarah Bardeen Jun 28, 2023 Near the small town of San Juan Capistrano in Southern California, a small creek is about to undergo a major transformation. The creek is known as Trabuco—and it just might hold the key to the survival of California’s endangered Southern steelhead.
blog post A Conversation about Flood Risk with Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara By Ellen Hanak, Sarah Bardeen May 30, 2023 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: 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 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 Reservoirs Are Full, But Let’s Not Celebrate Just Yet By Greg Gartrell Apr 3, 2023 After three very dry years, California’s reservoirs will be full again this spring. That beats the alternative, but what will it mean for water supplies over the next few years? PPIC Water Policy Center adjunct fellow Greg Gartrell does the math.
blog post An Epic Snowpack May Test Water Management in the San Joaquin Valley By Jeffrey Mount Mar 13, 2023 Nothing improves our understanding of water like a “stress test”—and it’s starting to look like the San Joaquin Valley will face one this spring, when California’s epic snowpack begins to melt. This week on our blog, Jeff Mount speculates about what may lie ahead for the valley.
blog post Tackling “Forever Chemicals” in the Water Supply By Sarah Bardeen Jan 19, 2023 Much has been made of two drinking water pollutants recently: PFAS and microplastics. We spoke with Jason Dadakis of the Orange County Water District to learn more about these pollutants—and to find out how worried we should be.
blog post Can We Capture More Water in the Delta? By Sarah Bardeen Jan 17, 2023 A massive amount of water is moving through the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta in the wake of recent storms, and calls have risen from all quarters to capture more of this bounty. We spoke with PPIC Water Policy Center adjunct fellow Greg Gartrell to understand what’s preventing that—and to dispel the myth of “water wasted to the sea.”
blog post California’s Water and Energy Systems Are Inextricably Linked By Alvar Escriva-Bou, Gokce Sencan, Andrew Ayres Dec 6, 2022 Water and energy are intimately connected in California: the water system is a major energy user, and our energy sector relies heavily on water for power generation. Population growth and climate change will likely increase pressure on both systems, but a few key actions could make them more resilient.
