State of Emergency Proclamation

WHEREAS much of the West is experiencing severe to exceptional drought

and California is in a second consecutive year of dry conditions, resulting in

drought or near-drought throughout many portions of the State; and

WHEREAS these drought conditions can result in degraded water quality,

fallowing of productive farmland, setbacks to vulnerable and rural communities

through job losses and longer-lasting recoveries, significant impacts to tribal,

commercial, and recreational salmon fisheries, constraints on access to

traditional lifeways, loss of aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, and ecosystem

impacts; and

drought conditions within the Russian River Watershed, located within

Mendocino and Sonoma counties, to ensure the protection of health, safety,

and the environment; and

WHEREAS experience in the last drought has demonstrated the value of

preparing earlier for potential sustained dry conditions, the need to improve our

monitoring and forecasting capabilities, and many other lessons that are

captured in the Administration's Report to the Legislature on the 2012-2016

Drought; and

statewide urban water use is 16% lower than at the beginning of the last

drought; and

WHEREAS state agencies have been actively responding to current

drought conditions and preparing for the possibility of a third dry year including

through convenings of the interagency drought team, which was established at

my direction, to organize, focus, and track changing conditions, coordinate

state agency responses, and work closely with partners across the State; and

WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8558(b), I find

WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8625(c), I find

that local authority is inadequate to cope with the drought conditions; and

WHEREAS to protect public health and safety, it is critical the State take

certain immediate actions without undue delay to prepare for and mitigate the

NOW THEREFORE, I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, in

accordance with the authority vested in me by the State Constitution and

statutes, including the California Emergency Services Act, and in particular,

section 8625, HEREBY PROCLAIM A STATE OF EMERGENCY to exist in Mendocino

and Sonoma counties due to drought conditions in the Russian River Watershed.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

1. To further the success of California’s water conservation efforts and

2. To continue coordination with partners across the State for the potential of

prolonged drought impacts, the Department of Water Resources, the

State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board), the Department of

Fish and Wildlife, and the Department of Food and Agriculture shall work

with regional and local governments, including groundwater sustainability

agencies, to identify watersheds, communities, public water systems, and

ecosystems that may require coordinated state and local actions to

address issues stemming from continued dry conditions, to ensure that we

can respond to water shortages and protect people, natural resources

and economic activity.

resources within ancestral lands.

4. To prioritize drought response and preparedness resources, the

Department of Water Resources, the Water Board, the Department of Fish

and Wildlife and the Department of Food and Agriculture, in consultation

with the Department of Finance, shall:

a. Accelerate funding for water supply enhancement, water

conservation, or species conservation projects.

b. Identify unspent funds that can be repurposed to enable projects to

address drought impacts to people, ecosystems, and economic

activities.

c. Recommend additional financial support for water resilience

infrastructure projects and actions for potential inclusion in the

upcoming May Revision.

5. To increase resilience of our water supplies during drought conditions, the

Department of Water Resources shall:

a. Work with counties to encourage reporting of household water

shortages, such as dry residential wells, on the website the

Department maintains for that purpose, to enable tracking of

provide technical assistance, including implementation of efficient

water management practices and use of technology such as the

California Irrigation Management Information System.

d. Work with urban and agricultural water suppliers to encourage

timely submittal by water districts and public posting of urban water

management and water shortage contingency plans and

agricultural water management and drought plans.

e. Accelerate updating the land subsidence data it is providing to

support implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater

Management Act.

water supply well levels and reservoir water levels where the Water

Board determines that there is risk of supply failure because of

lowering groundwater levels or reservoir levels that may fall below

public water system intakes.

b. Prioritize the permitting of public water systems that anticipate the

need to activate additional supply wells where water quality is a

concern and treatment installation needs to proceed to relieve a

system’s potential supply concerns.

c. Provide annual water demand data, information on water right

priority, and other communications on water availability on its

7. To address the acutely dry conditions in the Russian River Watershed, the

Water Board shall consider:

a. Modifying requirements for reservoir releases or diversion limitations

in that watershed to ensure adequate, minimal water supplies for

critical purposes.

b. Adopting emergency regulations to curtail water diversions when

water is not available at water rights holders’ priority of right or to

protect releases of stored water.

eligible for the suspensions pursuant to this paragraph and maintain on its

websites a list of the activities or approvals for which these provisions are

suspended.

8. To ensure that equipment and services necessary for drought response in

the Russian River Watershed can be procured quickly, the provisions of the

execution of any contract entered into pursuant to this provision.

9. To increase the resilience of our natural habitats to protect vulnerable

species during drought conditions, the Department of Fish and Wildlife

shall:

a. Evaluate and take actions to protect terrestrial and aquatic species

and, wherever possible, work with water users and other parties on

d. Work with commercial and recreational salmon fishing and tribal

representatives to anticipate and develop strategies to mitigate

and respond to salmon fishery impacts, with particular emphasis on

addressing impacts to salmon fisheries in the Klamath Basin.

10. To support our agricultural economy and food security during drought

conditions, the Department of Food and Agriculture shall:

a. Provide technical assistance to support conservation planning, on-

farm water and energy conservation practices and technologies,

implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

and alternative land uses for fallowed land.

c. Maintain a web page with drought resources for farmers and

ranchers, including the United States Department of Agriculture and

other federal and state resources.

d. Work with federal agencies to assist Klamath Basin farmers and

ranchers contending with reduced water supplies.

11. To ensure the potential impacts of drought on communities are

anticipated and proactively addressed, the Department of Water

Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Department of Food and Agriculture,

and the Water Board, shall develop a California Drought Monitor by

December 31, 2021, as recommended in the Administration’s Report to

the Legislature on the 2012-2016 Drought.

13. To prepare for potential salinity issues in the Delta, the Department of

Water Resources, in consultation with the Water Board, the Department of

Water Board and the Department of Fish and Wildlife shall work with

federal agency partners to manage temperature conditions for the

preservation of fish in the Sacramento River downstream of Shasta Dam

while balancing water supply needs.

This Proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any rights or

benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, against the

State of California, its agencies, departments, entities, officers, employees, or

any other person.