One of the powers of collaboration is that it compels us to face others across our assumed differences, as we acknowledge an area of mutual concern or care. Its strength lies in the power of relationship to move the needle on something we need, something that sustains us. As we realize the limited nature of […]
Today, the California Water Action Collaborative (CWAC) is announcing its collaborative investments in critical projects designed to protect California’s water future. CWAC is made up of 20 environmental leaders and Fortune 500 companies who are all committed to taking an integrated approach to finding solutions to advance water security and provide a framework for collective […]
After five years of deep dialogue, research, and case analysis on key water issues, the California Roundtable on Water & Food Supply (CRWFS) took on a new challenge this past year: assessing a gubernatorial initiative. What happens when you bring the CRWFS Connectivity Approach to bear on one of the state’s most holistic efforts at water management to date? […]
Is waste wasted? Or is our thinking too limited? Everyday California farmers produce byproducts of the food we eat that must be disposed of one way or the other. But are we throwing away money? What if we could transform waste into profit and at the same time deliver substantial environmental benefits? There is an […]
As California endures its fourth straight year of severe drought, anxiety about our water supply intensifies. The members of the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment (CRAE) – a forum for dialogue among agricultural, environmental, and governmental leaders—ask our fellow Californians to adopt a fresh perspective. Media coverage about the current California drought has been extensive. Unfortunately, […]
The Sierra Nevada region of California is famed for its extraordinary natural features, but less so for its central role in the state’s water system. The area includes the tallest peak in the contiguous U.S. states (Mount Whitney), the first territory ever set aside by Congress for public use and preservation (Yosemite Valley and the […]
The historic Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) was signed into law in the fall 2014, providing the first comprehensive framework for regulating groundwater in California. SGMA requires local agencies that lay atop the state’s at-risk groundwater basins to form Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) and to adopt Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSP) tailored to their region’s priorities and […]
In California’s multiple responses to the drought, there is one key initiative that remains relatively unknown: the California Water Action Plan (Plan).1,2 The Plan calls for coordinated action to address the dynamic and interconnected challenges faced by the state’s water system. Thus far, our ability to resolve these challenges has not kept pace with the increase […]
Californians have long been pumping water out of the ground for consumption, hygiene, and other domestic uses, as well as to irrigate farms and sports fields. In fact, groundwater accounts for roughly 30% of the state’s water deliveries during normal years. The relative importance of groundwater escalates, however, during times of drought because there often […]
So, who really IS to blame for California’s drought? With media headlines demonizing the almond industry for their gallon-per-nut water usage and scolding urban populations for their lack of water conservation, there’s no clear-cut, single answer. The members of the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment (CRAE) recently met to untangle the myths surrounding our current […]
