As the drought tightens its grip, the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), The Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy today issued a joint call for renewed attention on California’s headwaters and the role they play in the state’s water supply and ecological health… Click here for full article.

Mobilizing state resources to face another year of extreme dry conditions, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today joined Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, and Republican Leaders Senator Bob Huff and Assemblymember Kristin Olsen to announce legislation to help local communities cope with the ongoing, devastating drought. The $1 billion package will expedite bond funding to make the state more resilient to the disastrous effects of climate change and help ensure that all Californians have access to local water supplies.  Click here for full article.

With the Sierra snowpack dwindling and precipitation at record-breaking low levels, the State Water Resources Control Board today mandated that urban water agencies adopt restrictions on outdoor watering and cautioned that it may consider “more significant” actions in weeks to come. Click here for full article.

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes the following topics:

• Draft strategic plan charts course for groundwater sustainability in California
• 2015 Implementation Grant Solicitation draft guidelines and PSP released by DWR
• Report outlines four drought policy areas where California can improve
• Save the date for June climate change workshop in Sacramento
• Roundtable to offer water resource examples from around the country
• Splash — Water Scenarios

Click here for PDF of article or here for direct link to article.

In this edition of AQUAFORNIA’S Top of the Scroll:

• New mandatory water conservation rules for lawns, hotels, restaurants
• Overpumping of Central Valley groundwater creating a crisis, experts say
• California drought making wildfires a year-round threat

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes the following topics:

• UWMP guidebook webinar will gather input from water wholesalers
• DWR sets new timeline for IRWM grant program solicitation (final Proposition 84 round)
• Updates on the agenda for next California Water Commission meeting
• Water data collection tool to be highlighted during next week’s webinar
• Forest Service announces dates to listen to land management ideas
• Reclamation assessment report looks at irrigation and reservoir projections
• WestFAST newsletter explores groundwater, climate change, and drought

With much of the state’s water supply originating in the mountains as precipitation on the forested landscape, the health and management of the upper watersheds are critically important to California’s water quality and water supply. At the August meeting of the California Water Commission, George Gentry with the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, and Dr. Martha Conklin and Dr. Roger Bales from UC Merced discussed the relationships between forests and water.  Click here for full article.

“Whether we like it or not, our world is changing,” said Mark Cowin, director of the Department of Water Resources, who was in Chico Friday for the annual meeting of Northern California Water Association.  Click here for full article.

The Union article on the Sierra Nevada Conservancy hosted “Save CA – The Urgency to Restore Our Primary Watershed Summit” held on March 4, 2015 in Sacramento.  Click here for article.