"California Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled a new water strategy on Thursday that plans for a future with 10% less water and shifts the emphasis from conservation to capturing more water that otherwise flows out to sea.

Climate change has contributed to more severe drought but has also set the stage for more intense flooding when rain does fall, as was demonstrated last week in California’s Death Valley, one of the hottest, driest parts of the United States.

“The hots are getting a lot hotter, the dries are getting a lot drier and ... the wets are getting wetter,” Newsom said in announcing the plan at a desalination plant under construction in Antioch, 45 miles (72 km) inland from San Francisco, that will turn brackish water into drinking water."

Daniel Trotta reports for Reuters August 11, 2022. [2]