California’s drought has the State Water Resources Control Board in "hyperdrive"—rushing to fill the gaps of a historic water-rights system, settle disputes over water use, and lay the groundwork for a sustainable future.
The board oversees California's intricate water-rights system, which is really an accumulation of three separate ones. It's based on seniority, so in dry periods, the claims of junior rights-holders are the first to be cut (or "curtailed.") But this drought is so severe that the board may have to curtail the rights of senior rights holders, too. And conditions on water rights—such as protections for wildlife—need to be revised, since they weren’t devised to accommodate “insanely dry” periods like this one.
Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board Felicia Marcus delved into the challenges of managing water during the drought with The Planning Report. The board does more than adjudicate rights—two of its core divisions are Water Quality and Drinking Water.
It also helps manage disputes over the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. "It’s not just fish versus farmers—it’s farmers versus farmers," Marcus says. "We, along with the courts, are the umpires judging competing claims on water."
But Marcus has hope that the future brings local collaboration and stakeholder cooperation. She points to legislation from last year that requires local areas sharing a groundwater basin to jointly come up with a plan to maintain it. That law got the underlying philosophy about groundwater right, Marcus believes: "The goal should not be a top-down state regulatory program, but a framework for local action and success. We will do whatever it takes to help local areas take responsibility for what is, at heart, a community resource."
Overall, Marcus sees successful water policy as a result of players thinking beyond their own narrow interests:
"Breakthroughs in California water over the last few decades—whether it’s groundwater legislation, the Bay-Delta Accord I was privileged to work on in the ’90s, or the ’09 legislation I was also privileged to deal with—happened because players in different stakeholder groups looked across traditional divides... Solutions only come when people take action to connect with other people around a table, rather than standing in separate corners with their engineering, legal, or otherwise technical points of view."
FULL STORY: State Water Resources Board Wisely Navigates Challenges of Drought

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie