After a great deal of research and collaboration, the SCWC has just released an informative fact sheet detailing the path to California’s water resiliency over the past three decades. The fact sheet was a product of the minds and contributions of our dedicated SCWC members, who helped put the document together. Comprised of graphs, graphics, and educative blurbs, the fact sheet aims to give readers a more thorough understanding of problems facing California water resiliency, proven and effective strategies, and the role a diversified portfolio plays.
While the fact sheet is valuable to all, its chief purpose is to inform policy makers about the issues and resources surrounding California water. In order to keep resource resiliency strategies moving forward, it is important to keep policy makers abreast of the unique problems and solutions facing California. The fact sheet was created as a convenient deliverable for local and statewide decision makers, so that they can have quick facts and resources at their fingertips.
“The SCWC’s new fact sheet is going to help keep our elected officials in-the-know so they can make an informed choice on policy and programs that create a more resilient water future for Southern California,” says SCWC Executive Director Charley Wilson. “We could not have put this fact sheet together without our diligent members, and for that, I extend immense gratitude.”
The fact sheet addresses multiple topics surrounding California water, including the benefits to recycled water investments, the puzzle pieces that go into our successful integrated water resources portfolio, and how, spanning the past three decades, California has been able to support a growing population and economy through water conservation. The research that went into this document uncovered that Southern California leads the way in recycled water investments, with 94.5% of future recycled water investments projected to be made in Southern California specifically.
A key aspect to the fact sheet lies in explaining how resiliency is proven to be attained in an integrated portfolio of water resources, including recycled water, desalination, modernized state water infrastructure, water use efficiency, groundwater basin management, groundwater contamination clean-up, increased water storage, and stormwater capture. It is all of these solutions working together that gives the SCWC’s “all-of-the-above” approach to water resiliency its name.
Another highlight of the fact sheet is a detailed account of the accomplishments of SCWC’s founding members, who are leaders in Southern California’s water supply resilience. The fact sheet presents each of the SCWC’s founding members’ top achievements in water resilience to show that collaborative efforts such as those facilitated by the SCWC are proven methods to resource conservation success.