Public Encouraged to Provide Input on Creating Climate-Resilient Water System

Jul 2, 2019 at 9:00am

CA Water News Daily

In order to assist in fulfilling CA Governor Gavin Newsom’s April 29 executive order calling for a suite of actions to build a climate-resilient water system and ensure healthy waterways three state agencies are seeking the public’s input and assistance. Public input will aid the Natural Resources Agency (NRA), California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), and Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) craft recommendations for meeting future water needs and ensuring environmental and economic resilience through the 21st century.

The input will help strengthen the state’s communities, economy and environment as well as determining priorities and actions to ensure safe and dependable water supplies, flood protection and healthy waterways. Complementary actions for these objectives can also be determined.

“Think about California’s diverse regions 30 years from now,” said Cal EPA Secretary Jared Blumenfeld. “What can the state do now to best help people, the environment and the economy thrive even as California’s natural fluctuations grow more variable and extreme?

Creating a climate-resilient water system would broaden California’s approach to water in the face of a range of existing challenges — native fish populations threatened with extinction, unsafe drinking water, severely depleted groundwater aquifers, agricultural communities coping with uncertain water supplies and major flood risks that threaten public safety.  The three agencies are seeking suggestions for actions that are needed now to help the state and its residents cope with aging infrastructure, changing demands for water, contaminated water supplies, more extreme droughts and floods, rising temperatures, species declines and year-round wildfires – all of which are current realities in the state.

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