Water

In November, California voters will decide whether the state should authorize a $10 billion bond to help shield against worsening climate change. As roughly 1 million Californians live without clean water, a Salinas resident says Proposition 4 will bring relief to long-overlooked communities.

Ranchers who defied a state water order were only fined about $50 each. Under new legislation headed to the governor, some daily fines for water scofflaws can increase 20-fold.

A career building and maintaining California's water infrastructure might be unglamorous but it's an essential and well-paying field as the state faces a looming shortage.

The chemical, used for decades, can harm babies’ developing brains. Farmworkers and people living near fields are most at risk. The EPA issued a rare emergency order.

Urban water agencies serving a third of Californians won’t need to cut use, while Central Valley and desert cities face the most cuts.

A Kings County judge granted a temporary restraining order against the state's unprecedented mandate. Growers there will not have to meter their groundwater use for now.

The measures are substantially weaker than a previous proposal after an onslaught of criticism. But they will still save enough water through 2050 to supply the state’s entire population for a year, at a cost of $4.7 billion.

Almost 400 suppliers, two-thirds in communities of color, don’t meet safety and reliability standards. Fixing them would cost billions.

California’s water rights remain a major bone of legal and political contention as the larger struggle over water allocation continues.

The dam repairs would store more water and protect the public, but legislators and the governor, facing a huge deficit, cut $50 million.