After the storms registered in California since the end of December 2022 and the beginning of the year, the state prepared and is capturing and storing water from storms, before which an executive order was issued to expedite the process.
So the governor Gavin Newsom issued an Executive Order to help accelerate groundwater recharge, stormwater capture, and conservation efforts, leveraging historic $8.6 billion investment that also prioritizes reservoir storage, infrastructure improvements, and more .
The actions will preserve supplies for communities, wildlife and the environment, should dry conditions return to the state.
The state said it is expanding groundwater recharge by at least 500,000 acre-feet of potential capacity, simplifying permitting and $1 billion for groundwater recharge projects for an additional 88,000 acre-feet per year.
He also specified that he has allocated 176 million dollars for 67 stormwater projects and simplification of permits to take advantage of large storms, in addition to supporting seven locally driven water storage projects that would expand the state's capacity by 2.77 million acres. -ft, about three times the amount of water Folsom Lake can hold. Meanwhile, it is working to expand the San Luis reservoir by 135,000 acre-feet to store more storm runoff.
In addition, California is already working on retrofitting aging water conveyance systems across the state to safeguard long-term water reliability and help store winter storm runoff.
Leveraging the $8.6 billion pledged by Governor Newsom and the Legislature to build water resiliency, the state is taking aggressive steps to prepare for the impacts of weather whiplash on California's water supplies.
In that sense, Newsom proposes an additional 202 million dollars for flood protection and 125 million for drought-related actions.
The current administration specified that it will continue to optimize water storage to meet environmental needs in the summer and will allow carryover storage for next year if the spring becomes extremely dry.
It should be noted that the forecast allocation could be adjusted downward if warranted by extreme dry conditions.
Adding to that is accelerating investments in habitat restoration, including $52 million in grants announced last week to help restore and protect habitat for fish and wildlife throughout California.
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