Water Resources
Government Agencies
- California Department of Water Resources - manages California's water resources, systems, and infrastructure, including the State Water Project (SWP).
- California Water Boards - Under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and the state's Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State and Regional Water Boards have regulatory responsibility for protecting the water quality of nearly 1.6 million acres of lakes, 1.3 million acres of bays and estuaries, 211,000 miles of rivers and streams, and about 1,100 miles of exquisite California coastline. See also Plans and Policies.
- United States Bureau of Reclamation - Established in 1902, the Bureau of Reclamation is best known for the dams, powerplants, and canals it constructed in the 17 western states. Today it is the largest wholesaler of water in the country. It is also the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the United States.
- Drought.gov - The website for the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), a multi-agency partnership that coordinates drought monitoring, forecasting, planning, and information at national, tribal, state, and local levels.
Think Tanks
- Pacific Institute - a think tank devoted to creating water resilience in California and the world.
- Water in the West (Stanford University) - Stanford University established Water in the West in 2010 to address the West’s growing water crisis and to create new solutions that move the region toward a more sustainable water future.
- Public Policy Institute of California Water Policy Center - The PPIC Water Policy Center connects nonpartisan, objective research to real-world water management debates, with the goal of putting California water policy on a sustainable and constructive path.
- The Struggle for Water Justice in California’s San Joaquin Valley: A Focus on Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities - Report from the UC Davis Center for Regional Change.
- Groundwater Law - from the Water Education Foundation.
Indigenous Knowledge and Perspectives
- Promoting Indigenous Knowledge and Values for More Sustainable Water Resource Management - This Knowledge Brief, published by the International Science Council's Transformations to Sustainability Programme, is based on a peer-reviewed article in which the authors discuss the efforts of Indigenous peoples to contest freshwater management regimes that are based on Western concepts and ideologies.
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Water Wisdom: The Indigenous Scientists Walking in Two Worlds - article from the science news magazine of the American Geophysical Union.
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California Indian Environmental Alliance - CIEA offers three core programs. Together, these programs empower the California Indian communities to practice subsistence fishing cultures, avoid mercury and PCBs in fish, and self-advocate for California lands.
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A History of Water Rights and Land Struggles - from the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission