August 18, 2015 ~ Catalyst California: Adapting to New Normals
Will El Niño save the day?
Opening Remarks from August 18th
Closing Remarks from August 18th
With a resolve that few other countries or regions can match, California is writing the script for a new era — not only for drought but for deluge as well.
Rain and snow will return. The drought will end. The water supply challenges, however, will not.
Four years of desperately dry conditions have exposed deep vulnerabilities in how California and the nation manages, transports, and accounts for its water. The drought also reveals a state that is determined to confront the 21st-century reality of a warming planet.
Stay tuned for more audio from the call.
August 18, recap
Discussion Leaders
Martin L. Adams | Senior Assistant General Manager of the Water System, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power |
Michael Anderson | Climatologist, California Department of Water Resources |
Richard Luthy | Director, Reinventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure research group |
Molly Peterson | Environment Reporter, KPCC |
Sandra Postel | Director, Global Water Policy Project |
Martin L. Adams is the Senior Assistant General Manager of the Water System for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). A civil engineer by training, Mr. Adams is a native of Glendale, California, and attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He has been involved in local and regional water issues for 30 years with a career that has touched on most every aspect of Los Angeles’ water system, including planning, design, and operation. No stranger to drought and water supply challenges, Mr. Adams is now tasked with overseeing the infrastructure investments that will more than double the City’s use of local water resources and meet the City’s commitment to dramatically reduce its reliance on supplies imported from hundreds of miles away.
Michael Anderson works for the California Department of Water Resources and is currently serving as State Climatologist for California. Michael began working in the Department of Water Resources Division of Flood Management (DWR-DFM) Forecasting Section in July 2005. He came to DWR after extensive graduate and post-graduate work at U.C. Davis in the area of hydroclimate system modeling and monitoring. He received his Ph.D. in 1998 and M.S. in 1993 in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Davis. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University in 1991.
Richard Luthy is the Silas H. Palmer Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, and Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment. His area of teaching and research is environmental engineering and water quality. He is the Director of the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center for re-inventing the nation’s urban water infrastructure (renuwit.org) that promotes new strategies for urban water systems to achieve more sustainable solutions to urban water challenges – especially in regions experiencing chronic water shortages and vulnerabilities to cycles of very low precipitation like the American west and southwest. In related work, his research investigates cost-effective and natural approaches for sediment restoration.
Molly Peterson is an award-winning environment correspondent at Southern California Public Radio. Molly has reported, edited, directed programs, and produced stories for NPR and NPR shows including “Day to Day” and KQED’s “California Report.” She was a contributing producer for Nick Spitzer’s weekly music program, “American Routes,” and reported for “Living on Earth” in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricanes Katrina & Rita. Prior to joining KPCC, she produced a nationally-distributed radio documentary about New Orleans called “Finding Solid Ground.”
Sandra Postel directs the Global Water Policy Project, and lectures, writes and consults on global water issues. In 2010 she was appointed Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. Sandra is co-creator of Change the Course, the national freshwater conservation and restoration campaign being pioneered by National Geographic and its partners. Sandra is the author of several acclaimed books, including the award-winning Last Oasis, which appears in eight languages and was the basis for a PBS documentary. The recipient of several honorary degrees, Sandra has been named a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment and one of the “Scientific American 50.”
Founded in 2000 by leading journalists and scientists, Circle of Blue provides relevant, reliable, and actionable on-the-ground information about the world’s resource crises. With an intense focus on water and its relationships to food, energy, and health, Circle of Blue has created a breakthrough model of front-line reporting, data collection, design, and convening that has evolved with the world’s need to spur new methodology in science, collaboration, innovation, and response. To document emerging and recognized crises, Circle of Blue collaborates with leading scientists and data experts.