Water Resources

For California to meet its climate goals, we need to rethink the role that water plays as a significant electricity consumer and producer.

Doug Johnson sees the increasingly severe drought in California as a chance to educate people about the importance of invasive plant management at the landscape level in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The Sierras are an important source of water for all of California, with snowpack formed in winter melting over the spring and summer months and running down to the dry parts of the state. Invasives, some of which are known to be water hungry compared to competing vegetation, can reduce the capacity of Sierra meadows to perform this valuable function. For the state’s residents and agricultural industry, this could make a bad problem worse.

It is easy to overlook the pipes and boxes carrying water under our roads, but these parts of our transportation infrastructure can have huge impacts on freshwater health and road safety. 2003 Fellow Jessica Levine is working in the northeastern United States to replace and upgrade road crossings to benefit aquatic species and habitat along with other community goals.

We have a number of Fellows leading in Sonoma County, working to understand the impacts of climate change at a micro level and develop solutions to improve local resiliency to climate change impacts that could be rolled out nationally.

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has been honored by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Center for Corporate Climate Leadership for its actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “DWR exemplifies the dedication and accomplishments that make a difference in the fight against climate change, and sets a high standard for other organizations to follow,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.

The Board of Directors of Squaw Valley's primary water provider yesterday reaffirmed its intent to solve its local problems with water imports from Martis Valley. In a 4-1 vote, the Squaw Valley Public Services District (SVPSD) directed staff to “...define a preferred water supply alternative from Martis Valley” as a “redundant water supply” and to identify sites for wells and a pumping station in Martis Valley, a pipeline corridor, and terminal storage tanks in Squaw Valley.

Was the four-year-old military conflict in Syria, which has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, mostly civilians, triggered at least in part by climate change? A new study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory says “a record drought that ravaged Syria in 2006-2010 was likely stoked by ongoing man-made climate change, and that the drought may have helped propel the 2011 Syrian uprising.”