The Water Report

A new report finds that natural disaster impact on US food supply has reached $5.1 billion in annual losses across the country's 1.9 million farms. Drawing on FEMA National Risk Index data and USDA agricultural census figures dating back to 1996, the analysis identifies drought, cold waves, hail, and hurricanes as the dominant drivers of farm-level losses. Drought alone accou...

A Dartmouth study published in Nature finds that rainfall consolidation – the packing of annual precipitation into fewer, heavier storms with longer dry spells in between – is reducing effective water availability for land, aquifers, and ecosystems globally. The research analyzed precipitation records from 1980 to 2022 and found the trend consistent across both wet and dry cl...

A new report from the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute and the National Drought Mitigation Center examines how Tribal water rights shape agricultural development across US Reservations, tracing the legal foundation established by the 1908 Winters v. United States decision. That ruling affirmed that Reservations carry an implicit right to sufficient water, with priori...

A new study of the largest dam removal project in US history on the Klamath River has found that agricultural producers and conservation groups share more priorities than their long-running conflict suggests. The research, published in Society & Natural Resources, identifies four areas of mutual concern that could guide future river restoration decisions. Conducted by Ore...

California's Department of Water Resources has released a new planning document aimed at strengthening San Joaquin Valley water management and climate resilience amid intensifying pressures on communities, agriculture, and ecosystems. The plan builds on three recent DWR studies covering State Water Project adaptation, valley conveyance, and regional watershed conditions.