California Water Views

Governor Gavin Newsom recently released the final version of the Water Resilience Portfolio, which identifies 142 specific state actions to be taken in order to help build a climate-resilient water system for California in the face of climate change. The Water Resilience Portfolio is meant to serve as the Newsom Administration’s blueprint for helping the State adapt to impacts of climate change on its water, including more extreme droughts and floods, rising temperatures, declining fish populations, over-reliance on groundwater and other challenges.

In April 2019, Governor Newsom directed state agencies through Executive Order N-10-19 to develop a “water resilience portfolio,” described as a set of actions to meet California’s water needs through the 21st century. The California Natural Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency, and California Department of Food and Agriculture worked to release a draft version of the portfolio in January 2020 and solicited extensive public input from individual and organizations that helped shape the final Portfolio (including the addition of 14 new action items).

The final Water Resilience Portfolio therefore helps to inform stakeholders and other interested parties where exactly the Administration’s priorities on water issues currently stand. The Water Resilience Portfolio also includes an Inventory and Assessment of California Water as Appendix 3, a major undertaking that summarizes the history of water resources in California, attempts to inventory projected water needs in coming decades, and provides a compendium of State Water-Related Programs.