Laura Harnish is the California Regional Director.

We are extremely excited to share with our On The Water Front readers the addition of Elgie Holstein as our new VP of Rivers and Deltas for EDF. Those of you who may know him from his days in the Clinton Administration know that Elgie brings a wealth of experience to our cause. Elgie will be based in DC but will be engaged with our water work here in California providing insights, guidance and an important link to the new Administration. For more information please read the press release below. Read more »

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF.

As 2009 is looking like a third dry year in a row, one might wonder whether there will be any naturally flowing streams at all when summer comes around.

Anyone who has been to Burney Falls  knows the answer. The streams that drain Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen in California’s portion of the Cascades have some pretty decent flows even in dry years. The reason is that rain and snowmelt permeate the porous volcanic rock, often taking years to resurface.

Burney Falls (photo by Ted Yu) Read more »

Thomas J. Graff is Senior Counsel at EDF.
Oversimplification is inevitable in any editorial opinion dealing with California water issues. Nevertheless, former California Food and Agriculture (and U.S. Deputy) Secretary Richard Rominger and his co-author Michael Dimock, hit many of the right notes in their "Action Needed on the Drought Now". High-level federal and state government-led drought response is critical and it needs to be timely. And the leadership in all sectors of California's water economy (agricultural, urban, and environmental) needs to engage constructively, with the state's overall interest at heart.

Less convincing is the authors' focus on one clearly reprehensible, unrepresentative, and since disavowed statement to a TV station in Fresno as being emblematic of the rising emotions over water in the drought that many in all sectors are suffering from. Read more »

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF.

It is hard to really enjoy these balmy January days if you are thinking about the drought and how much water will be available for California’s rivers, cities and farms this year (and perhaps beyond). It is looking like 2009 will the third dry year in a row. But is it California’s worst drought in modern history as asserted by USA Today?

It depends on how you define the terms “drought” and “modern history”. If 2009 continues to be dry, 2007-2009 is likely to be the second driest three year period in the past 40 years – slightly wetter than 1990-1992. If we are luckier and we get some decent storms in the next two months, 2007-2009 will be wetter than several other three year periods.

But we are asking our water supplies to go further than we did in 1990. Read more »