Water & Wetlands

See all our posts and activity about water issues.

Water in California

In our largely arid state, with a population of over 37 million, assuring adequate water is essential. Improving water use efficiency is both the most cost effective and least environmentally damaging way to meet our needs. We are working closely with cities, counties, and water agencies in efforts such as the California Urban Water Conservation Council to improve and expand water conservation and efficiency efforts. We also work with the state’s Department of Water Resources on the development of the California Water Plan, the state’s 5-year guide for water resources, and on reducing outdoor water use by working to update the state’s model landscape ordinance. Delta Waterway

In addition to our involvement in water supply issues, Sierra Club California is also working on water quality issues. Too many of California’s streams and lakes are impaired by urban runoff, logging, and agricultural operations. We lobby the Water Board to beef up enforcement against polluters and illegal water diversions. For the past two years, we have been fighting to protect California’s coast and marine environment by working to eliminatethe harmful effects of “once-through-cooling” at coastal power plants. We have lobbied and testified against this practice before the State Water Board, the State Lands Commission and the Ocean Protection Council, urging them to curtail this destructive practice. And we hold decision makers accountable at the State and Regional Water Quality Control Boards as they adopt plans and approve permits.

We know what is at stake: clean water is California’s most valuable resource.

California’s Wetlands

You could think of wetlands as grocery stores for animals, plants and people – a sort of one-stop shop offering food, flood protection, even the air we breathe.

birds

Wetlands filter our water and air, removing harmful pollutants and socking away greenhouse gases. They also provide food and habitat for animals and birds, and provide a natural break from flooding. In fact, scientists think wetlands could have protected Louisiana from the worst effects of Hurricane Katrina.

But federal court decisions and Bush Administration inaction have removed the protections these places used to have.

California’s State Water Board has one more chance to save our wetlands, streams and riparian forests! They are crafting a policy to protect our shrinking wetland reserves. The policy will protect wetlands and streams, and the fragile areas that surround them.