The U.S. Infrastructure Plan: Water Components
On November 5, 2021, the U.S. Congress passed President Biden’s major infrastructure bill, HR 3684, the $1.2 trillion ‘‘Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.” The President is expected to sign the bill into law. The bill is the largest single federal investment in infrastructure in a generation, with the funds to be expended over five years...
Op-Ed: Does the Bay Area Have the Water It Needs to Grow?
It seems as though the two things the Bay Area has the least of are housing and water. The region has a shortfall of 699,000 housing units, which has driven housing costs to astronomical heights, and pushed 35,000 of our neighbors into temporary housing or onto the streets. Our colleagues at San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR),a public policy think tank, have found that the region needs to build an astonishing 2.2 million homes by 2070 to meet future demand and make up for the present shortfall.
Pacific Institute Launches Water Resilience Issue Brief, Calls on Decision-makers to Rapidly Scale Water Resilience Solutions in Build-Up to COP26
Never before have the global water and climate agendas been so closely linked. More than 30 years ago, the Pacific Institute made some of the earliest projections about how climate change would wreak havoc on the water cycle. Today, we see many of these impacts before our very eyes. Amid climate change, intensifying floods and droughts have affected people, nature, and economies.
Water Resilience
The world is facing a global water crisis marked by growing competition for freshwater resources, rapidly deteriorating water quality, poor and declining ecosystem health, unprecedented biodiversity loss, and a failure to meet basic water and sanitation needs.
Freshwater Scarcity
The availability and use of fresh water are critical for human health and for economic and ecosystem stability. But the growing mismatch between human demands and natural freshwater availability is contributing to water scarcity, affecting industrial and agricultural production and a wide range of social, economic, and political problems, including poverty, deterioration of ecosystem health, and violent conflicts.
Water for a Growing Bay Area: How the Region Can Grow Without Increasing Water Demand
The San Francisco Bay Area is projected to add two million jobs by 2070, attracting millions more people. To prevent housing from becoming even more unaffordable, the region needs to build 2.2 million new housing units.
Testimony on Colorado River Drought Conditions and Response Measures to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife
Pacific Institute Senior Researcher Michael Cohen submitted written testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife for their October 20, 2021 hearing on drought conditions in the Colorado River Basin and potential response measures.
Op-Ed: Happy New Water Year — Californians Have to Face Some Difficult Wet Season Truths
Happy New Water Year. For those of us who work on California water challenges, the start of the new year isn’t Jan. 1; it’s Oct. 1, the official beginning of the state’s wet season.
The Future of California’s Water-Energy-Climate Nexus
Water and energy are inextricably linked in California and, as one resource faces constraints or challenges, so does the other. With the state looking to both reach its climate change goals and decarbonize its economy through a transition to 100 percent clean energy, water will play an integral role.
Water Resilience Assessment Framework
Climate change is driving many types of water challenges, including water scarcity and abundance, worsening water quality, and shifts in timing of the hydrologic cycle. Shocks and stresses affect the resilience of water systems and the stakeholders that rely on them. Specific guidance on how to understand system resilience and measure systematic changes and intervening actions can ensure a more resilient future for all.
