blog post A Large California Water Utility Prepares for Climate Change By Sarah Bardeen Jun 27, 2022 How is one of the state’s major water utilities dealing with climate change? We talked to Ken Jenkins, Cal Water’s chief water resource sustainability officer, about his efforts to improve water supply resilience in the face of worsening droughts and other climate-related challenges.
blog post Commentary: Four Strategies for Managing California’s Crucial Watershed By Ellen Hanak, Greg Gartrell May 23, 2022 California is not doing a good job of tracking changes to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta and its watershed. In our recent commentary, we argue that’s making it even tougher to manage the water that is available for the benefit of the state’s communities, economy, and environment.
Fact Sheet The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta By Jeffrey Mount, Ellen Hanak, Greg Gartrell May 18, 2022 The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta is California’s largest estuary and a vital hub in the state’s water supply system. Three interlinked issues currently face the Delta: an increasingly unreliable water supply, a decline in ecosystem health, and a fragile system of levees. Learn more about this key watershed in our new fact sheet.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Tracking Where Water Goes in a Changing Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta By Greg Gartrell, Jeffrey Mount, Ellen Hanak May 16, 2022 The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta supplies water to roughly 30 million Californians, over 6 million acres of farmland, and countless ecosystems. But the watershed’s climate is changing: recent decades have seen record warmth, higher evaporation, and declining snowpack. We track where the water is going—and how to adapt.
data set PPIC Delta Water Accounting May 16, 2022 These spreadsheets contain all data, sources, and methods used to calculate water use in California’s Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, including estimates of outflow needed to meet regulations; ecological, export, and municipal and industrial uses; and watershed-level water sources and upstream depletions.
event Farming in a State of Extremes Apr 21, 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. But the ongoing drought is taking a toll on agriculture, related sectors, and rural communities. Join us for a panel discussion about the drought’s impacts on farming regions—and how the state and other actors can best respond to looming challenges.
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 “When You Know Better, Do Better”: A Water Agency’s Journey Through the Pandemic By Sarah Bardeen Mar 14, 2022 When Clifford Chan took over as EBMUD’s general manager just a few months into the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020, he had no idea how the pandemic would transform this large urban water utility. Two years later, he reflects on how EBMUD pivoted—and found innovative ways to support its customers.
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 Standing at the Cusp: The Klamath River Edges Closer to Dam Removals By Sarah Bardeen Feb 8, 2022 After decades of negotiations, the decommissioning of four dams on the Klamath River is finally in sight, but hurdles remain. We spoke with Mark Bransom, CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, to learn how he’s working to get the dam removal across the finish line—and what it will mean for river communities.
