A Drought Agenda for California

 With a third dry year, reduced water supplies, crashing fisheries and multiple crises in the Bay-Delta, the water challenges facing California have never been greater.  Fortunately, as a result of the drought, the work of the Delta Vision Task Force and other factors, the Governor and the State Legislature are highly focused on delivering long-term-water solutions for California to help meet the needs of our cities, farms, environment and fisheries for decades to come.  This week, NRDC released a "drought agenda," addressed to Governor Schwarzenegger and the State legislative leadership, with a broad range of recommended water supply solutions, including both state-level administrative and legislative actions. 

NRDC's top legislative priorities this year are the passage of AB 49 (Feuer-Huffman) -- a bill designed to achieve the Governor's goal of reducing per capita water consumption 20 percent by 2020 -- and comprehensive Delta governance legislation.   However, our drought agenda consists of a wide range of actions, covering a broad range of water management issues, including NRDC's top priority water supply tools -efficiency, stormwater capture, groundwater management and water recycling - as well as funding, climate change and energy, and critical Bay-Delta issues. 

Working together, the Administration and the Legislature can put in place policies and programs that will ensure help ensure adequate water supplies, improve water quality, restore fisheries and the Bay-Delta, save money and energy, and make our water systems more resistant to the effects of climate change.

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