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California is working to put into place a framework that will help the state deal with its current water shortage, as well as future droughts that are likely to be more severe with a changing climate. “Making Water Conservation a Way of Life,” a draft report released last week, is the collective effort of five state agencies to fulfill Gov. Jerry Brown’s Executive Order B-37-16, signed in May 2016. Following the 1976-77 drought in California, the state has taken a series of progressive steps to increase drought resilience, as well as conservation and efficiency measures.

Just six months ago, Gov. Jerry Brown declared that he wanted to make water conservation a “way of life” in California. His executive order laid out a framework for water suppliers to make conservation permanent and ensure that Californians continue to use this precious resource efficiently.

Today, the likelihood of that vision becoming a reality is uncertain.

California’s politicians and pundits – including this one – have been busily speculating on what effect a Donald Trump presidency could have on a state that rejected him overwhelmingly.

Well, we saw the first major impact last week, without Trump even lifting a finger. A compromise bill that, in effect, reallocates federally controlled water in California – much to the delight of farmers and the dismay of environmentalists – won final congressional approval Friday.

After the recent rainy weather, several reservoirs are seeing increased water levels. Folsom Lake has increased by nearly 10 feet since Saturday.

The Senate yesterday passed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act. This $12 billion bill reauthorizes the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act and funds a wide range of programs addressing the county’s water and wastewater infrastructure, ports and inland waterways, flood protection, ecosystem restoration and drought resiliency. The bill also authorizes $170 million to address the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich.