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California’s drought has brought about a strange partnership that includes corporations like Coca-Cola and environmental groups like the Nature Conservancy.  They’re partnering on projects aimed at helping increase water supply in California. The California Water Action Collaborative, or CWAC, has announced four projects to help create a sustainable water supply as the state enters its sixth year of drought. The projects include flooding farms to recharge groundwater, removing invasive species in watersheds and thinning trees in dense forested areas of the Sierra Nevada. The groups will also look at ways to implement the California Water Action Plan.

The same storm that’s expected to dump 1 inch of rain on San Francisco later this week is going to really let loose in Northwestern California. Over 19 inches of rain could fill empty river and stream beds and head toward the Shasta, Whiskeytown and Trinity reservoirs, which need the water. Jan Null, a meteorologist with Golden Gate Weather Services, says this moisture is a result of the Pacific storm Typhoon Songda. He says while this amount of rain is unusual for October, it’s really not that unusual for that part of California.

Whenever there’s a drought in California, a seemingly obvious source of new water supply beckons. The state abuts a giant ocean. Why not just take the salt out of some of that seawater? It’s the high-tech, forward-looking thing to do, right? It’s also the really expensive thing to do. Of all the options for increasing the state’s water supply considered in a report out Thursday from the Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank based in Oakland, California, desalination costs the most per acre-foot (325,851 gallons, 1.2 million liters) of water produced:

Five years of drought have brought both big challenges and big changes to California’s urban water systems. Amid yearlong mandatory water cuts, residents of California’s cities have made massive efforts to conserve water at home and at work. Many water agencies have stepped up programs to treat and reuse water. Policymakers have made headway in regulations for water recycling. But there’s ample room for growth. Experts around the world are watching how Californian cities think, research and innovate to create a path of sustainable growth in a future with fewer water resources.