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.
event Managing Drought in a Changing Climate Sep 10, 2018 Managing water—whether too much or too little—is at the forefront of climate change adaptation in California. Droughts bring major social, economic, and environmental impacts, and will continue to shape water management and policies into the future. New research from PPIC melds lessons learned from the recent drought with climate change simulations to review California’s capacity to adapt and prepare for greater extremes and growing water scarcity.
blog post Commentary: How Better Wastewater Management Can Help California Adapt to Climate Change By Caitrin Chappelle, Henry McCann May 9, 2019 Climate change is bringing major challenges to wastewater management, which protects public health and the environment. Shifts in policy and planning are needed.
Report Exploring the Potential for Water-Limited Agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley By Caitlin Peterson, Cameron Pittelkow, Mark Lundy Jul 20, 2022 As irrigated farmland comes out of production in the San Joaquin Valley, valley residents will face increased pests, weeds, and dust—as well as a loss of employment and economic activity. Water-limited cropping is one alternative to fallowing that can improve soil health and air quality, create habitat, and keep land in production.
blog post Reforming Water Rights in California By Sarah Bardeen Feb 28, 2022 Water rights reform has long been the third rail in California politics—but that might be changing, thanks to an intriguing new report. We speak with two of the report’s authors about why they undertook this effort now.
blog post How Permitting Slows Ecosystem Recovery and Climate Resilience Projects By Lori Pottinger Jul 13, 2020 California’s complex permitting process slows efforts to restore ecosystems at a time when healthy natural systems are needed more than ever. We talked to Letitia Grenier of the San Francisco Estuary Institute about how to improve the process.
blog post New Laws Ease Funding and Improve Accounting for Water By Henry McCann, Caitrin Chappelle Oct 18, 2017 It was a busy year for water policy in the California Legislature. Here’s a summary of newly signed bills.
blog post Sinking Lands, Damaged Infrastructure: Will Better Groundwater Management End Subsidence? By Alvar Escriva-Bou, Jelena Jezdimirovic, Ellen Hanak May 14, 2020 Excess groundwater pumping can cause land to sink and damage infrastructure. Groundwater plans are supposed to reduce this risk—but do they go far enough?
blog post Water in 2021: Looking Back on a Year of Extremes By Ellen Hanak Jan 3, 2022 In California, 2021 was the year that climate change hit home. We look back at this year of extremes—and examine how our nonpartisan data and analysis informed conversations about how to address the tough water issues facing the state.
