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 »

Ann Hayden is a Senior Water Resource Analyst at EDF.

These days there seems to be a lot of strategizing about how to kill two big birds with one stone: reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. Given that the delivery and transport of water takes a huge amount of energy throughout the State and the country, this is an important goal to work towards. The State Water Project alone is one of the biggest consumers of energy in California. Here’s how our golden state and the Nation are tackling the issue: Read more »