Governor Gavin Newsom made some significant moves this year when it comes to water. Multiple administrative adjustments were made in response to the influx of storm systems that came through California. Executive Director of the California Farm Water Coalition, Mike Wade expressed appreciation for some of the actions taken. Wade said the governor did the right thing in adapting to one of the wettest winters on record.
“Governor Newsom stepped up this year and is showing some flexibility that we find to be an optimistic look to the future. He was willing to relax some of the environmental laws in the Delta in terms of water quality so that we could pull some of these high flows off and get it into storage,” Wade noted. “He also opened up the door to have essentially permit-free access to floodwater in the Delta when it’s running in excess. Farmers and public water agencies can get that water out of the flood flows and into the ground and into storage. That’s huge. I hope in the future when we come into a situation like this again, it makes it easier to make that decision.”
Listen to the report below.
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