Ann Hayden is a Senior Water Resource Analyst at EDF.

Yesterday was a big day for California. After eight years of minimal federal engagement in California’s critical resource issues, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar toured the Bay-Delta focusing on California’s water crisis and the need for federal engagement on solving the Bay-Delta's problems (read more here and here). We couldn’t agree more with the Secretary’s statement that "it's time to modernize. It's time to make hard choices. And it's time for the federal government to re-engage in full partnership … with the state of California."

During his visit, Sec Salazar announced that California will receive $260 million in federal economic stimulus funds to fix dams, restore fisheries and habitat and help the state cope with drought conditions. We are particularly encouraged by funding set aside for Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration which will help restore fisheries that support thousands of jobs in Northern California; as well as funding to build new pumps and screens for the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, critical to protecting salmon, steelhead and sturgeon.

These projects are a step in the right direction. We are pleased to know that the Secretary is seeking a comprehensive solution to the state's water problems—without loosening environmental laws such as the Endangered Species Act, a recent proposal, which he saw as a "quick-fix, run-over-everything kind of approach."

Laura Harnish is the California Regional Director.

California’s drought, now in its third year, is getting plenty of attention – both in-state and beyond its borders. This attention is deserved because in 2009, reduced water supplies are affecting our cities, farms and natural environment.

Comments made at a recent congressional hearing may have outshone the fundamental facts but certainly conveyed the drama building around this issue. Our current water policy is broken—right now, we cannot adapt to the most predictable of droughts nor operate with the flexibility needed to respond to the needs of our ecosystem. We believe there is an alternative—we can create a robust, resilient water system that provides reliability in drought and water for fish. Before we get there, let's take a closer look at where we are now: Read more »

Spreck Rosekrans is an Economic Analyst at EDF.

As California is experiencing a third consecutive dry year, in 2009 less water will be available for our cities, farms and natural environment. Due to our “first in time, first in right” water laws, however, some areas of the state will have plentiful supplies while others will suffer severe shortages.

The latest water supply update from the Bureau of Reclamation illustrates the wide range of reliability in water supply that exists in California. The Bureau’s Central Valley Project expects to deliver 100% of contractual supply to its "water rights" contractors along the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, 85% to its Friant Division contractors, but zero to its south-of-Delta “Contract Agriculture” customers, including Westlands Water District.

For more than three decades, Environmental Defense Fund has advocated for the use of transfers Read more »