As part of his final budget proposal, Gov. Jerry Brown wants new fees on water to provide clean and affordable drinking water to the approximately 1 million Californians who are exposed to contaminated water in their homes and communities each year. The fund would pay for short- and long-term improvements to water infrastructure and help clean up contaminated drinking water systems that affect primarily rural, low-income regions. The fund would rely on fees paid by residential and commercial water users as well as fertilizer and dairy producers.

In a water-stressed world, there’s a powerful business case for companies to manage this essential resource sustainably, engage in water stewardship and drive collective action. As a shared resource, water provides diminished benefits to all if each user acts only in their own self-interest. Addressing today’s wicked water problems – including droughts, dwindling groundwater and failing infrastructure – will require coordinated, collective responses. Companies across sectors, nonprofits, disclosure initiatives, industry associations and investor groups recognize this challenge and have responded with a range of water stewardship frameworks – in fact there are now more than 10 corporate water stewardship frameworks.

The biggest lake in California is shrinking. The Salton Sea occupies a hot, desert basin a short drive from the Mexico border and it’s been evaporating for years. From the air the lake is pear-shaped, bordered by an intense concentration of farms growing winter vegetables on its south end, and date palms, citrus and brussels sprouts to the north. It’s sustained by the Colorado River water that passes through these farms as irrigation before flowing into the 350 square mile lake. The fact the lake is disappearing isn’t a shock.