Keeping Track of California Water and Politics

With two planned reservoirs (Los Vaqueros and Pacheco) no longer going forward, two major projects (Sites Reservoir, Delta Conveyance) in water right hearings, streamlining bills in the Legislature that would block lawsuits, and a third draft of a long-delayed Water Quality Control Plan in review, California appears to be on the edge of making important decisions that affect its water supplies. In the meantime, the state is still highly dependent on annual runoff and snowpack, the former more variable than ever, the latter decreasing, and rising temperatures are increasing evapotranspiration. These topics will be reviewed, highlighting the controversies, myths, and facts that are as complex as the proposed projects themselves.

Speaker: Greg Gartrell, Public Policy Institute of California