Posts Tagged: flows

Q&A: Wade Crowfoot, state’s new Natural Resources Secretary

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California's vital water hub and a source of ongoing conflict over water use and the environment. (Image: California Department of Water Resources)

by GARY PITZER, Water Education Foundation posted 05.09.2019

One of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing. That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach” on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.

Ending the drought — in water data

Rushing water flows through Whitewater Canyon in the Southern California desert. (Photo: Steve Minkler, via Shutterstock)

by Kathleen Miller and Michael Kiparsky posted 03.11.2019

OPINION: California’s recent drought may have officially ended, but the state’s water data drought remains in full effect. Shockingly, we don’t always know the answers to basic questions such as how much water is available in our state, let alone where and when. That’s why improving California’s woefully deficient stream gage network should be a top priority for the state.

Groundwater: The crucial challenge

A California Department of Water Resources geologist measures and records a pumping water level in a production well. (Photo: John Chacon,/DWR, 2013, via California Water Blog)

by Thomas Harter, Kate Scow, Helen Dahlke and Toby O’Geen posted 11.20.2015

Analysis: California’s single most urgent water policy priority is preserving our groundwater supply. In normal years, groundwater provides one-third of our state’s urban and agricultural water. In dry years, it provides up to nearly two-thirds.