Fact Sheet Droughts in California By Jeffrey Mount, Alvar Escriva-Bou, Gokce Sencan Apr 13, 2021 California is highly prone to droughts, and climate change makes them worse. This fact sheet describes key challenges to managing dry times.
Fact Sheet Access to Safe Drinking Water in California By Caitrin Chappelle, Joy Collins, Ellen Hanak Apr 2, 2021 Not every Californian has access to safe and reliable drinking water. Small communities relying on groundwater are most likely to have chronic water quality problems.
blog post Operating Dams to Better Manage Big Storms Can Build Resiliency to Climate Extremes By Lori Pottinger Mar 8, 2021 California’s reservoirs are operated using outdated assumptions about climate. Advances in weather forecasting can improve how they manage big storms. We talked to Martin Ralph of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography about this approach.
blog post Video: Improving the Health of California’s Freshwater Ecosystems By Lori Pottinger, Ashlyn Perri Mar 1, 2021 California’s freshwater ecosystems are in poor health, and the current approach for managing them is not working. Jeff Mount, senior fellow at the PPIC Water Policy Center, describes a path for improving their condition to protect the benefits they bring.
blog post Video: Building a Water-Resilient California By Lori Pottinger Nov 23, 2020 What are key California water priorities for the coming year, in light of ongoing disruptions from the pandemic, the recession, lingering drought, and a record-breaking fire season? Panels of experts discussed three top priorities.
blog post What Can California Prisons Do When Wildfires Close In? By Heather Harris, Alexandria Gumbs, Joseph Hayes Nov 13, 2020 Two in three prisons across the state are near areas of high fire risk. Especially during the pandemic, safely evacuating prisoners and prison workers in the event of a wildfire can pose challenges.
blog post Making End-of-Life Decisions on Aging Dams By Lori Pottinger Nov 9, 2020 Many of California’s large dams are outliving their functions and even becoming hazardous. We talked to Andrew Rypel of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences about how to address this aging dam population.
blog post A Faster Track for Ecosystem Restoration By Lori Pottinger Aug 24, 2020 The state’s rivers and aquatic species are in trouble, but restoration projects are often slowed by complex permitting requirements. We talked to Erika Lovejoy of Sustainable Conservation about efforts to simplify the process.
blog post Grappling with the Statewide “Wildfire Siege” By Henry McCann Aug 20, 2020 California is in the midst of a statewide wildfire siege that is severely challenging fire suppression. How prepared are we?
blog post When a Lack of Air Conditioning is a Public Health Threat By Lori Pottinger Aug 17, 2020 California is getting hotter, which is leading to public health inequities caused by a lack of air conditioning. We talked to Kelly Sanders of the University of Southern California about addressing “air conditioning deserts."