blog post California’s Rivers Could Help Protect the State from Flood and Drought By Sarah Bardeen Apr 18, 2022 Ecosystem restoration expert Julie Rentner of the nonprofit River Partners spoke with us about the benefits of restoring rivers—particularly in a warming and more volatile climate.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Drought and California’s Agriculture By Alvar Escriva-Bou, Josué Medellín-Azuara, Ellen Hanak, John Abatzoglou Apr 13, 2022 California’s agricultural sector is the nation’s largest: it generates more than $50 billion dollars in annual revenue and employs more than 420,000 people. The ongoing drought is taking a toll on agriculture, related sectors, and rural communities, but there are ways to increase resilience in a warming world.
blog post Water Trading Can Help California’s Struggling Freshwater Ecosystems By Ellen Hanak, Gokce Sencan Apr 4, 2022 California’s freshwater ecosystems are struggling—but water trading has helped in the past, and that could continue. We provide fresh data on the current state of environmental water transfers and highlight ways to improve them.
blog post Could Rangeland Return to the Central Valley? By Caitlin Peterson Mar 28, 2022 As Central Valley farmers confront the need to fallow some farmland to comply with SGMA, we interview two experts about a possible alternative to fallowing: converting formerly irrigated farmland into rangeland. It would keep the land economically productive—and might bring other benefits.
blog post Testimony: Implementing SGMA at Ground Zero—Challenges and Opportunities for the San Joaquin Valley By Ellen Hanak, Alvar Escriva-Bou Feb 15, 2022 PPIC Water Policy Center director Ellen Hanak testified before an informational hearing on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in Sacramento today (February 15, 2022). Read her prepared remarks.
blog post Could Solar Development Advance Groundwater Sustainability in the San Joaquin Valley? By Andrew Ayres, Curtis Seymour Feb 4, 2022 The San Joaquin Valley is facing a monumental shift in land use over the next two decades. Promoting solar expansion on fallowed farmland could support the state’s clean energy goals—while easing the economic pain of transitioning land away from agriculture under SGMA.
event Seizing the Drought: Water Priorities for Our Changing Climate Nov 15, 2021 The PPIC Water Policy Center will convene a diverse group of experts to discuss how to tackle the highly disruptive effects of climate change on our water system. It’s clear that we must step up our game to cope with the increasingly severe, warm droughts that are coming our way. This year’s conference will identify immediate actions we can take to boost the state’s resilience.
blog post Last Week’s Storm: the Good, the Bad, and the Inconclusive By Jeffrey Mount Nov 1, 2021 The storm of October 24th broke one-day precipitation records throughout Northern California, but did this unusually intense atmospheric river lead to significant changes in our drought picture? PPIC Water Policy Center senior fellow Jeffrey Mount explains what the storm did—and didn’t—do for the state.
blog post Creating Collaborative Recharge Partnerships in the San Joaquin Valley By Sarah Bardeen Oct 11, 2021 Bringing the San Joaquin Valley’s groundwater basins into balance by the early 2040s is going to be challenging, but two neighboring groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) in Madera County are collaborating to move the process forward. Learn about their successes—and how things could be improved.
blog post Video: Improving California’s Water Market By Sarah Bardeen Sep 28, 2021 Water trading and banking are important tools that can help California bring its groundwater basins into balance, but the expansion of the state’s water market still faces some bottlenecks, including aging infrastructure and complex regulations. Watch a panel of experts discuss what can be done.
