As Hispanic Heritage Month ends, we celebrate our Hispanic Water Leadership Institute alumni making a difference in their communities.
Nearly 20% of the United States identifies as Hispanic. The largest minority group in the country is also the largest group disproportionately impacted by contaminated groundwater. This is due to a lack of resources and widespread inequities in funding, policies, investment in water infrastructure and education. Read More
A key first step toward managing groundwater sustainably in California, as required by the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), is tracking how much water is being used and how much is available – otherwise known as water accounting – because you can’t manage what you don’t measure. This is especially true during drought.
To help groundwater agencies more easily track and communicate supply and demand, state water agencies, the California Water Data Consortium, and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) announced a partnership last year to make an open-source Groundwater Accounting Platform (Platform) available to groundwater agencies. In the exciting latest news, three more water agencies have signed on to use the platform and help expand its functionality as the Department of Water Resources has committed more funding and expertise to further develop it. The Platform offers a readily accessible source code and is a cost-effective option for water managers to adapt and customize accounting practices; rather than developing their own tools from scratch. Read More
Es una paradoja penosa para California, la quinta economía más grande del mundo: Algunos de los mismos trabajadores agrícolas que recogen nuestra comida no pueden beber un vaso de agua limpia, o ni siquiera tener agua, en fregadero de la cocina.
He trabajado en temas de justicia ambiental en EDF durante los últimos seis años, y he tenido la oportunidad de hablar con algunos de estos trabajadores esenciales, muchos de los cuales provienen de países de habla hispana como yo.
A medida que el Mes de la Herencia Hispana llega a su fin, la sequía en California avanza obstinadamente. Es importante reconocer cuán importantes son estos trabajadores del campo que cosechan los alimentos en todo nuestro estado y más allá.
Más allá del reconocimiento que se merecen los trabajadores del campo, los líderes estatales y locales deben tomar al menos tres pasos críticos para eliminar esta paradoja:
It is a painful paradox for California, the world’s fifth-largest economy: Some of the very same farmworkers who pick our food can’t drink a glass of clean water — or any water in some cases — from their kitchen sink.
While working on environmental justice issues at EDF for the past six years, I have had the opportunity to talk with some of these essential workers, many of whom come from Spanish-speaking countries like me.
As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to a close while the drought in California stubbornly marches on, it’s important to recognize how instrumental these farmworkers are to providing food throughout our state and beyond.
But besides recognition, state and local leaders need to take at least three critical steps to eliminate this paradox:
This blog is co-authored by Tara Moran, president and CEO of the California Water Data Consortium.
As California grapples with another drought, farmers and water agencies will again lean on groundwater to offset declines in surface water supplies stemming from paltry snowmelt and corresponding low reservoirs and river flows.
However, there is at least one major difference from the last drought: Since then, more than 250 groundwater agencies have been created and have spent the last several years compiling data on their region’s groundwater supply and demand. To comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) many groundwater agencies are now considering new tools to use this data to support groundwater management decisions.
Today, Environmental Defense Fund, the California Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California Water Data Consortium announced a partnership to scale one of these tools: an open-source water accounting platform. Here are three reasons why this announcement is so important. Read More
It’s a daunting time to be working on water in California.
The Sierra snowpack measurement came in today at 59% of average statewide, making this the second dry winter in a row. The drought conditions led state and federal officials to announce last week painful water cuts for farmers and for municipal water systems that are already sending requests to customers to conserve water.
It’s disheartening to envision farmers again trying to make do with very limited supplies; salmon stranded in warm, dwindling rivers; and cities facing water cutbacks while wondering if the next wildfire will erupt in their neighborhood.
Over the coming decades, California’s San Joaquin Valley will transition to sustainable groundwater management under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), ensuring reliable groundwater supplies for generations to come. Sustainable groundwater management and a changing climate will inevitably affect how land is used on a sweeping scale.
By some estimates, the amount of farmland that will have to be taken out of production to balance groundwater demand and supply is equivalent to the size of Yosemite National Park — a transition that could serve a huge blow to the agricultural economy, rural communities and the environment. At the same time, farmers are also facing steep declines in surface water supplies from rivers and melted snowpack, largely driven by climate change, as they learned just this week.
World Water Day is a time to come together as a global community to reflect on the importance of water and its value to people and ecosystems — to celebrate collective victories advancing water stewardship and to draw attention to the change still needed.
Nearly 1 million people lack access to clean, safe and affordable drinking water in my home state of California — and more than 2 billion worldwide. Each number represents a person: a mother, a father, a child, a loved one. These numbers must change. Read More
Eric Averett is general manager of the Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District in Kern County, California, which is one of 21 regions required by the state to balance groundwater demand and supply within 20 years under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
Rosedale is home to approximately 27,500 acres of irrigated cropland and 7,500 acres of urban development. Groundwater demand there exceeds supply by approximately 5,000 acre-feet per year.
To inform landowners about their water budgets, Rosedale partnered with EDF, Sitka Technology Group, WestWater Research and local landowners to co-develop a new online, open-source water accounting and trading platform.
“Climate change sucks.” This was the text I sent to a friend last Monday as we griped about the many fires burning throughout the West — from Oregon and Washington to Idaho and my home state of California. The fires have filled the air with visible smoke and invisible fine particulate matter making it unsafe to spend any significant time outside.
My quick text exchange was not the right forum for a detailed articulation of the many causes of this year’s heavy fire season. Neither is the politicized verbal tennis match that has taken off on Twitter and in the news.
