California Ag Network

Tag: California Water Commission

  • CA Water Commission to Host Three Public Drought Workshops in July

    California’s changing hydrology has led to extreme weather patterns that affect the amount of rain and snow the state gets, impacting how we can capture and distribute water. Following three years of severe drought, California recently experienced a winter of extreme wet weather. Being able to endure the next severe drought is dependent upon making smart, preemptive water management decisions during non-drought years.

    In support of Action 26.3 in California’s Water Resilience Portfolio, the California Water Commission is developing proposed strategies to protect communities and fish and wildlife in the event of drought, and is seeking public input at three virtual public workshops.

    Workshop dates:

    • Wednesday, July 19, noon to 3 p.m. – Register here
    • Tuesday, July 25, 2-5 p.m. – Register here
    • Thursday, July 27, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. – Register here

    At the workshops, participants will be asked to share drought impacts, discuss drought response, and provide feedback on four preliminary strategies:

    1. Increase Capacity and Information Needed to Manage Drought
    2. Scale Up Groundwater Recharge
    3. Conduct Watershed-level Planning to Reduce Ecosystem Impacts of Drought
    4. Better Position Communities to Respond to Drought Emergencies

    “Small, rural communities and the environment are often hit the hardest during a drought,” said Commissioner Sandi Matsumoto, who also serves as director of the California Water Program at The Nature Conservancy. “In many places, water for fish and wildlife species is already severely limited in non-drought years. During periods of drought, water for the environment is even more drastically constrained.”

    In addition to attending a workshop, the Commission encourages you to share your opinion in a drought strategies survey here. The survey will be open through July 12, 2023. For more information on the Commission’s work on drought, please visit: cwc.ca.gov/Water-Resilience-Portfolio.

    • CWC Drought Workshop Flyer.pdfThe nine-member California Water Commission uses its public forum to explore water management issues from multiple perspectives and to formulate recommendations to advise the director of the California Department of Water Resources, and as appropriate, the California Natural Resources Agency, the Governor and Legislature on ways to improve water planning and management in response to California’s changing hydrology. For more information regarding the California Water Commission visit cwc.ca.gov.

  • Farm Organizations: Snow Survey Must Lead to Improved Water Supplies

    Sacramento, Calif., (February 6, 2017) – When state snow surveyors visit the Sierra Nevada tomorrow, they will find a snowpack well above average for the date—and California agricultural organizations say they hope that translates into improved water supplies for the state’s farmers and ranchers.

    “You would think that a snowpack in the range of 175 percent of average would assure plentiful water supplies, but that link has long ago been severed,” said Tom Nassif, president of the Western Growers Association. “Wildlife agencies often hold the key to determining how much water is available, because endangered-species laws reserve water for protected fish.”

    Nassif noted the passage of federal legislation called the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, which included short-term provisions to increase flexibility of the state’s water system.

    “Among its provisions, the WIIN Act allows water agencies to capture more water during winter storms and requires them to maximize supplies consistent with law. This winter will be a good test of how agencies adhere to that law,” said Paul Wenger, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation.

    The WIIN Act also invests in California water storage and desalination projects, complementing the investments California voters made when they passed the Proposition 1 water bond in 2014.

    “We’ve had to let too much water run out to sea this winter, because we didn’t have any place to store it,” said Bill Diedrich, president of the California Farm Water Coalition. “We should be doing everything we can to save today’s rain and snow for use tomorrow.”

    The California Water Commission will decide later this year on water projects to be funded through the bond.

    “We will continue to urge the commission to put that money to work as quickly as possible to build new storage facilities that can capture more water during future winters such as we’ve seen in 2017,” Diedrich said.