blog post How Business and Government Might Solve the Freshwater Crisis—Together By Sarah Bardeen Mar 25, 2024 Does the public sector need the private sector’s help to address the freshwater crisis? That’s the thesis of Stanford law and environmental social sciences professor Barton “Buzz” Thompson’s provocative new book. We sat down with him to hear more.
blog post What’s Worse Than a Flood? A Debris Flow By Sarah Bardeen Mar 18, 2024 Move over, floods—there’s a new natural disaster in town: debris flows. We know that debris flows can be even more destructive than floods, but what are they and why do they happen? We speak with expert Jimmy Guilinger to learn more.
blog post The Colorado River’s Hydrology is Changing. Can We Adapt? By Letitia Grenier, Sarah Bardeen Mar 4, 2024 The Colorado River’s hydrology is changing—and the dwindling water supplies are hitting Southern California hard. We sat down with Colorado River Board of California’s chairman JB Hamby and Metropolitan Water District’s Bill Hasencamp to find out what’s next for the river.
Fact Sheet Sea Level Rise in California By Letitia Grenier, Gokce Sencan Feb 28, 2024 Sea levels are rising, and Californians are already feeling the impact. Adaptation will require new forms of collaboration and coordination—as well as working with nature—to find solutions.
blog post Video: Eel River—Reconnecting Salmon and People By Sarah Bardeen, Cameron Nielsen Feb 12, 2024 The Eel River once hosted one of California’s great salmon runs, but a combination of factors decimated those populations. Now, planned dam removals might help restore salmon—but how will these changes affect river communities? Filmmaker Cameron Nielsen spoke to people on all sides of the issue in this visually arresting short documentary
blog post Were December’s Coastal Floods a Harbinger of Things to Come? By Sarah Bardeen Feb 6, 2024 California was surprised by heavy coastal flooding back in December, with communities from Ventura northwards experiencing flooding in low-lying shoreline areas. Is this a harbinger of things to come as sea levels rise?
blog post Slowing Climate Change by Capturing Carbon By Sarah Bardeen Jan 22, 2024 Slashing greenhouse gas emissions is one of the 21st century’s most pressing tasks—and for difficult-to-cut emissions, direct air carbon capture could help. But what is this emerging technology, and how might it fit into California’s decarbonization strategy? We asked Roger Aines of Lawrence Livermore National Labs to tell us more.
blog post A Look Back at 2023’s Volatile Year in Water By Letitia Grenier Jan 9, 2024 Volatility was the name of the game in 2023, as drought-weary California suddenly found itself inundated by atmospheric rivers—and the changes kept coming. We look back on California’s weird (and sometimes wonderful) year in water.
blog post Addressing Groundwater Overdraft in the Sacramento Valley By Spencer Cole, Kyle Greenspan, Andrew Ayres Dec 11, 2023 As the Sacramento Valley seeks to bring its groundwater basins into balance under SGMA, the valley’s groundwater sustainability agencies recently submitted plans to manage overdraft. Do the numbers add up? Our researchers take a look.
data set PPIC Urban Water Use Standards Analysis Nov 28, 2023 This spreadsheet includes data on reported water uses, calculated water use objectives, and estimated compliance costs of meeting new urban water use standards to comply with the 2018 Making Conservation a California Way of Life legislation for 398 retail urban water suppliers across California. It accompanies the November 2023 blog post “A Better Way to Promote Urban Water Conservation.”