You are now in California and the U.S. category.

With Delta smelt numbers at all-time lows, state officials on Tuesday released a list of more than a dozen projects they’re hoping to undertake in the next few years in a last-ditch effort to stave off the fish’s extinction.

One of those plans is sure to be contentious. The “Delta Smelt Resiliency Strategy” released Tuesday by the California Natural Resources Agency calls for allowing between 85,000 and 200,000 acre-feet of extra water to wash out to sea this summer to bolster smelt habitat.

Within less than a year, as many as 50,000 marijuana growers in California could be required to obtain state permits for the irrigation water they consume. It is an unprecedented step aimed at preventing harm to the environment and other water users resulting from the rapid growth of marijuana cultivation in the state.

“Most of them are operating below the radar,” said Cris Carrigan, chief of enforcement at the State Water Resources Control Board. “As a result, we’ve gotten ourselves into an acute problem with streamflow and pollution associated with these activities.”

Of the roughly 300,000 acres in the city of Los Angeles, more than 2,000 are alleyways that cut through city blocks. And because they’re mostly paved, they do little to capture one of the city’s most prized resources: water.

Following the examples set by Chicago, Seattle and other cities, Los Angeles is working to transform these narrow spaces into networks of green alleys.

The main purpose, beginning with a green alley network in the South Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles, is to capture some of the storm water that is otherwise lost.

Within less than a year, as many as 50,000 marijuana growers in California could be required to obtain state permits for the irrigation water they consume. It is an unprecedented step aimed at preventing harm to the environment and other water users resulting from the rapid growth of marijuana cultivation in the state.

“Most of them are operating below the radar,” said Cris Carrigan, chief of enforcement at the State Water Resources Control Board. “As a result, we’ve gotten ourselves into an acute problem with streamflow and pollution associated with these activities.”

Diminishing food and water security and ruinous sea level rise are the leading climate change concerns of a section of the American electorate that is aghast at the lack of discussion of global warming during the presidential debate. A Guardian US survey of its readers found that pressure on food and water supplies is considered the most important consequence of climate change. Sea level rise, which is set to inundate coastal areas currently occupied by millions of Americans, is second on the list of the most urgent issues.