The Abundance Mindset

By Edward Ring
05/29/2024
If energy powers modern civilization, then water gives it life. And in California, for at least the last 20 years, with escalating severity, life has been tough. There isn’t enough water to go around. Water scarcity is not being forced upon Californians by climate change. Like so many other fundamental challenges Californians must endure –...

TAGS: California water policy, water rationing

Water Rationing: The Worst Way to Build Resiliency

By Edward Ring
01/11/2024
When a public policy decision is flawed, and the reasons it is flawed are simple and obvious, and the consequences are huge and costly, the appropriate response for a concerned observer is to call attention to the looming debacle. Not just once, but over and over and over again. An example of an impending economic...

TAGS: California water policy, water rationing

California Holds the Key to Western Water Security

By Edward Ring
05/15/2023
Dams and aqueducts on the Colorado River make civilization possible in the American Southwest. But for the last 20 years, as a prolonged drought has gripped the region, withdrawals from the river have averaged 15 million acre-feet per year, while inflows into Lake Mead and Lake Powell have averaged only 12 million acre feet per year. For the first...

TAGS: California water policy, tiered water rates, water infrastructure solutions, water rationing, water reuse, water storage

Cleaning Bay Source Pollution Will Enable More Delta Diversions

By Edward Ring
04/10/2023
On February 21, the California State Water Resources Control Board waived environmental regulations in order to permit more storage in Central Valley reservoirs. This came a week after Governor Gavin Newsom temporarily suspended environmental laws that prevent reservoir storage if flow through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta falls below 58,000 acre feet per day. A guest opinion piece...

TAGS: California water policy, water infrastructure solutions, water rationing, water reuse, water storage

Questions About Water for Governor Newsom

By Edward Ring
08/26/2022
  Borrowing a page from the More Water Now campaign, which unsuccessfully attempted earlier this year to qualify a water funding initiative for the November 2022 ballot, Governor Newsom announced a new water supply strategy on August 11. Perhaps with the presidency in mind, or perhaps because he really means it, Newsom’s remarks were surprisingly accommodating towards those of us who...

TAGS: California water policy, environmentalism, Gavin Newsom, Newsom, water rationing, water reuse, water storage

The Abundance Choice: The Complete Series

By Editorial Staff
06/16/2022
Note: This webpage is dedicated to the complete The Abundance Choice series by Edward Ring. In this series, Edward Ring, a contributing editor and senior fellow with the California Policy Center, examines California’s ongoing water crisis and the many years of failed water policies that got us here. Ring outlines the challenges facing California’s leaders...

TAGS: California water policy, Edward Ring, environmentalism, water rationing, water reuse, water storage

The Abundance Choice – Part 3: The Mechanics of Ballot Initiatives

By Edward Ring
06/14/2022
Editor’s note: This is the third article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” By the spring of 2021, it was obvious the California State Legislature would not change its inadequate approach...

TAGS: California water policy, Edward Ring, water rationing, water storage

The Abundance Choice – Part 1: California’s Failing Water Policies

By Edward Ring
05/27/2022
Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” In October and again in December, as the third severe drought this century was entering its third year,...

TAGS: California, California water policy, Edward Ring, water rationing, water storage