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California’s water supply is now inextricably tied up with climate change. In a warming world, nature has already brought smaller Sierra snowpacks and less predictable precipitation patterns, with periods both of drought and of flooding. Gov. Gavin Newsom, if he is to successfully steer the state into the future, has to bring to his water agenda the same steely-eyed, reality-based drive that the two previous governors brought to limiting carbon emissions.
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The changing climate and more volatile weather patterns make the valley again susceptible to flooding. Sacramento, in fact, is among the U.S. cities most vulnerable to inundation. Any water plan for California should start with protection from flooding and with projects that capture, reroute and store floodwaters.
That means a different approach from the last century’s great engineering projects. Instead of dams, California today needs projects that meet multiple needs at once: reducing flood risk, recharging depleted groundwater and restoring degraded wildlife habitat. Voters have approved a number of such projects already, but Newsom’s leadership can ensure that they are completed more quickly.
It also means stepping up the timeline of the landmark groundwater laws that finally require that subsurface water be measured, managed and equitably shared.
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