2015 CA Summit - Water: Protecting California’s Lifeline

California, the world’s seventh-largest economy, is approaching its fifth consecutive year of drought. The dwindling water supply means more than brown lawns. At risk is California’s $46-billion agriculture business as well as many other industries, among them food processing, which will suffer as farm output diminishes; semiconductor fabrication, a thirsty process; and tourism. According to hydrologists, the “water year” that ended Sept. 30 was the state’s driest in 500 years, and there appears to be no end in sight. Beyond the passage of the 2014 state water bond, which allocates $2.7 billion for storage, what are leaders doing? El Nino is coming, but are we able to make it count? What can we learn about water management from the Earth’s perennially arid regions? What can be done to ensure that innovation, development and economic growth don’t dry up? Moderator Kevin Klowden, Managing Director, California Center, and Managing Economist, Milken Institute Speakers Martin Adams, Senior Assistant General Manager, Water System, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Paula Landis, Executive Officer, California Water Commission Carlos Riva, CEO, Poseidon Water Kelly Sanders, Assistant Professor, Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Southern California Lester Snow, Executive Director, California Water Foundation