Tag Archives: California water

How the Grinch Saved the Creek: A Collection of California Water Fables

By Scrooge Jones Did you know the Grinch played a crucial role in the return of salmon to Putah Creek? It was actually a pretty big deal. And if it wasn’t for Charlie Brown and the gang, who knows what … Continue reading

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Dammed hot: California’s regulated streams fail cold-water ecosystems

by Ann Willis, Ryan Peek, and Andrew L. Rypel Given the current drought, it’s no surprise that California’s dams are struggling to provide cool water habitats to support native freshwater ecosystems. But what if they were never able to support … Continue reading

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The Earth is Falling! – Land Subsidence and Water Management in California

By Jay Lund, Thomas Harter, Rob Gailey, Rick Frank, and Graham Fogg Groundwater problems are mostly invisible.  However, as California has come to rely more on groundwater during the drought, land subsidence from groundwater drawdown and accumulating overdraft has become … Continue reading

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Could California weather a mega-drought?

By Jay Lund In the past 1,200 years, California had two droughts lasting 120-200 years. Could the state’s water resources continue to supply enough water to drink, grow crops and provide habitat for fish with such an extreme, prolonged drought? … Continue reading

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The ultimate California water cheat sheet

There’s only so many acre-feet of water jargon the public can absorb during a drought. Here’s a primer that avoids wading into cubic-feet-per-second, appropriative water rights, overdraft, conjunctive water use and the like. Further reading http://CaliforniaWaterBlog.com Hanak, et al. 2011, … Continue reading

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New environmentalism needed for California water

By Jay R. Lund California needs a new environmentalism to set a more effective and sustainable green bar for the nation and even the world. For decades, we have taken a “just say no” approach to stop, prevent or blunt … Continue reading

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UC Davis speakers series: Critical problems for California water policy

By Chris Austin California’s water future is at a critical juncture. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is declining, both as a reliable hub for exporting water for millions of Californians and millions of farmed acres, and as an ecosystem supporting a … Continue reading

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Unmasking California’s water ‘Maven’

By Chris Bowman Still in their early teens, Joshua and Noah Austin have yet to reject their mother’s idea of family fun. Chris Austin hauls the family around California to visit canals, dams and reservoirs. They recently made a week’s … Continue reading

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Priming the pump for a water bond

Ellen Hanak, Co-Director of Research and Senior Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), testified at a Feb. 26 legislative hearing concerning California’s capacity to incur additional water bond debt. (The Legislature has placed an $11 billion water … Continue reading

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Climate change and California water – past, present and future

Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. – Charles Dudley Warner, 1897 By Jay R. Lund Talk of climate change and water in California is fraught with handwringing and delusions. Much discussion borders on alarmist or … Continue reading

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