Legislation - Policy

THIS JUST IN …Governor Newsom Signs Order to Build Water Resilience Amid Climate-Driven Extreme Weather

From the Office of the Governor:

Governor Gavin Newsom today signed an executive order to protect the state’s water supplies from the impacts of climate-driven extremes in weather. After years of prolonged drought, recent storms resulted in the wettest three-week period on record in California. The storms have been followed by an unseasonably dry February, however, and the state could see a return to warm and dry conditions during the remaining weeks of the wet season – just as heavy rains in fall 2021 gave way to the driest January-February-March period in over 100 years.

While recent storms have helped replenish the state’s reservoirs and boosted snowpack, drought conditions continue to have significant impacts on communities with vulnerable water supplies, agriculture, and the environment. The latest science indicates that hotter and drier weather conditions could reduce California’s water supply by up to 10% by the year 2040.

The frequency of hydrologic extremes that is being experienced in California demonstrates the need to continually adapt to promote resiliency in a changing climate. To protect water supply and the environment given this new reality, and until it is clear what the remainder of the wet season will hold, the executive order […]

Recent Posts

Saltwater intrusion will taint 77% of coastal aquifers by century’s end, modeling study finds

Watersheds on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard will be among the areas most affected by underground…

4 days ago

A ‘Devil’ Seaweed Is Spreading Inside Hawaiʻi’s Most Protected Place

An invasive algae has wrecked huge sections of reef in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Scientists…

6 days ago

A meadow in the Tahoe National Forest was drying up with sagebrush. Now it’s a lush wetland.

Sardine Meadow is a key link in conservation efforts for the Sierra Nevada, north of…

1 week ago

Conservation & Sustainability: fertilizer nitrates

UC Davis researchers insert a device that continuously collects water samples underground, providing real-time data…

3 weeks ago

Drought Mitigation: Should We Be Farming in the Desert?

Irrigated farmland in the desert of the Imperial Valley. (Photo credit: Steve Proehl, Getty Images)…

3 weeks ago

Scathing report released detailing Navy’s handling of Red Hill fuel spill

The Inspector General of the Department of Defense released some scathing reports Thursday over the…

1 month ago