California is more prepared for our water future than ever before

The Governor’s remarks outlined actions by the administration to help ensure the state can continue delivering for Californians and laid out necessary steps for the state to maintain its course.  Together since 2019, California has worked with stakeholders to modernize and strengthen water systems, rebuild ecosystems and habitats, and prepare the state for a future with more intense drought, storms, floods, and wildfires as a result of climate change.  

Climate change has created dramatic shifts in how the state must manage water. In the last 15 years alone, California has experienced two worst-in-a-millennium droughts, one of which brought the driest three-year period in the state’s history, followed by the wettest three-week period ever. In California and states throughout the nation, the wets are getting wetter, the hots are getting hotter, and the droughts are getting drier.  

Recognizing the impacts of this extreme climate volatility, Governor Newsom has pushed forward to prepare the state’s water systems for more climate whiplash by creating a comprehensive bottom-up strategy to maintain and diversify water supplies, protect and enhance natural ecosystems, and build stronger connections.