By David Guy
As the Sacramento River Basin pursues ridgetop to river mouth water management, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Water Policy Center has recently published its Priorities for California’s Water: Responding to the Changing Climate. The authors of the new brief have stated that: “the current drought and a changing climate are affecting California’s ability to manage water, offering a stark reminder that we must accelerate our response to the disruptive changes underway. This brief lays out priority actions to address major challenges—including some urgent short-term actions should the drought continue into next year.”
There is a lot to learn from the PPIC and the way the authors think about our water system in a fresh and holistic manner. In this spirit, we recommend reading the PPIC brief, particularly in the context of ridgetop to river mouth water management that frames our water management and the need to better prepare for dry years.
In California, we have the most abundant agricultural bounty in the world, we are graced with a stunning landscape and related natural infrastructure, we have a vast and diverse fish and wildlife population, the 5th largest economy in the world, and people come from near and far to pursue our seemingly endless recreational opportunities. To preserve our special way of life in the North State, water resource managers in the Sacramento River Basin are working together to help manage the regions’ water and land resources. By using a nature-based approach from the ridgetop to the river mouth, we provide nourishment and sustenance from the fields, habitats for fish and wildlife, recreation and a special quality of life.
