• Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office is reprioritizing its groundwater recharge, stormwater capture, and reservoir storage efforts, along with water conveyance improvements and ambitious targets to build water resilience, according to a Jan. 19 statement from the governor’s office. The state has committed more than $8.6 million to build water resilience in the last two budgets, and the 2023-24 budget proposal includes an additional $202 million for flood protection. “California isn’t waiting to act—we’re moving aggressively to modernize how we capture and store water to future-proof our state against more extreme cycles of wet and dry,” Newsom said in the statement. “We’re expediting projects across the state to maximize stormwater capture and storage above and below ground during times like these, reshaping our water systems for the 21st century and beyond.” This budget funding includes $500 million that will be provided in 2025-26 to help ensure strategic water storage projects can be completed. In the 2023-24 state budget, Newsom is proposing an additional $202 million for flood protection and $125 million for drought-related actions.
• Santa Barbara County welcomed Jose Chang as the new agriculture commissioner/director of weights and measures, according to a Jan. 19 statement from the county. Chang will assume the duties from Cathy Fisher, who is retiring after 12 years as the commissioner. Chang worked in agriculture/weights and measures starting in 2006 for Napa County and, most recently, Monterey County. He is a proven leader in his previous role as assistant agriculture commissioner/sealer for Monterey County, handling a $13 million budget and 80 staff members. He also served as president of the California Association of Standards and Agricultural Professionals in 2018 and 2019. “The experience, skill set, and education I have gathered over the past 18 years has led me to this position. I have worked in Napa where wine grapes are the primary crop and, as many in Santa Barbara County know, wine grapes are one of the top agricultural commodities here,” Chang said in the statement. “In addition, working in Monterey County, I acquired knowledge and experience of the vegetable and fruit crops grown there, ranging from strawberries to broccoli, which have tremendous economic value in Santa Barbara County.” The Agricultural Commissioner’s Office enforces laws and regulations in the county’s agricultural weights and measures programs. The department has a budget of more than $7 million and has 37 full-time employees.
• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) joined Vice President Kamala Harris at the Tujunga Spreading Grounds in Los Angeles to highlight federal efforts to increase drought and flood resilience, according to a Jan. 19 statement from the senator’s office. Tujunga Spreading Grounds is one of 27 spreading grounds that provide water to Los Angeles County through groundwater recharge, enhancing the region’s ability to take advantage of rainfall and store it underground. Padilla introduced the Water Reuse and Resiliency Act to authorize the EPA’s Alternative Water Source Pilot Program for stormwater reuse and groundwater recharge and secured the inclusion of the Drought Resiliency Investment Act, which he co-sponsored, in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The legislation will help combat drought and protect the water supply of millions of Americans living in California and other western states. The law creates a grant program for large-scale water recycling projects in California and the other 16 western states and will allow federal funding to be used for an increased range of activities to plan for and mitigate drought.
This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 2, 2023.