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In the summer of 1938, during the height of the Great Depression, ground was broken for the largest public works project in Northern California. The people in Northern California this past week honored the important role that Shasta Dam and the resulting Shasta Lake play in the community and the larger Sacramento Valley. As part of this 75th anniversary commemoration, I had the opportunity to reflect on the indelible imprint that both the dam and lake have cast on Northern California, as well as how the management of the lake has and will continue to evolve with the changing values in our society.

Recently in the Sunday Forum, the Sacramento Bee editorial board advanced that the “Delta tunnel project is still stuck with unacceptable baggage.” The Bee captured the upstream water supplier perspective very accurately when it provided:

In the Bay-Delta processes, the state and federal agencies “still haven’t provided guarantees to north state water users that their water supplies and ecosystems won’t be harmed by tunnel diversions….”

In Northern California, water leaders continue to make a concerted effort to prepare for dry conditions in California. The NCWA Board of Directors and water resource managers throughout the region convened in Richvale earlier this year on January 30 to discuss how the Sacramento Valley can better prepare for the next drought.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson recently provided a fresh and compelling viewpoint in the Sacramento Bee that the “State needs more water, not just improved sharing.” The Northern California Water Association (NCWA) and our partners in the North State Water Alliance are committed to statewide water solutions that advance the economy, environment, and quality of life in Northern California. We have been a strong proponent that California needs a more comprehensive water plan than just a narrow Delta solution. We share the Mayor’s belief “that Governor Brown can come up with an innovative solution when it comes to water policy,” which should include his administration immediately developing a more “comprehensive statewide water plan.”