Water Markets May Help California Better Manage Its Water

California’s famous moniker – the Golden State – is becoming all too accurate as the state enters the fifth year of drought and the summer heat begins to dry out its rolling hillsides. A lackluster El Niño failed to deliver a promised deluge of rain and ultimately brought only an average amount of precipitation – far from what was needed to make up for several years of record low rains and snow packs.

California’s natural drought cycles are made worse by ineffective water management policies – policies that drown water managers in top-down, command and control regulations.