PCL’s Water Policy team works to fundamentally change California’s water policy. We focus on developing and implementing the most environmentally beneficial solutions to California’s water challenges. Through the wise use of water, we can ensure that there will be sufficient water resources for our economy, people and environment.
Here are some of our successes:

• Helped initiate the 2013 San Clemente Dam removal on the Carmel River after 10 years of work Ninety-two years after the San Clemente Dam was built – and nearly a decade after PCL helped initiate an effort to get it removed – ground was broken to take this 106-foot-high structure down in summer 2013. The dam was a significant barrier to the natural migration of steelhead trout to upstream spawning areas. The $83 million dam removal project will help to restore the Carmel River, safeguard downstream communities along California’s central coast that are currently at risk if the dam fails, and create needed jobs in the region. For over 10 years PCL helped build support for the project and shepherd it through its many permits and agency approvals.

• Published 8 Affordable Water Solutions (PDF) and worked with Senator Pavley to support recycled water use (SB 918)
• Prevailed in lawsuit against the Department of Water Resources’ secretly negotiated Monterey Amendments that would have given away the largest water storage facility in the state, the Kern Water Bank
• Passage of the Wild Rivers Bill (SB 107) in 1973
• In 2020, PCL convened a group of water law and policy experts to develop recommendations for Updating California Water Laws to Address Drought and Climate Change. The report contains 11 recommendations to modernize California’s water rights law. Read the full report – Updating California’s Water Laws.