Ellen Hanak launched PPIC’s work on California water policy as a research fellow in 2001, and she went on to serve as the institute’s research director before starting the PPIC Water Policy Center in 2015. As she prepares to retire from PPIC at the end of this year, we asked her to reflect on her momentous career in California water, and to tell us what’s next. … What are some exciting recent developments or innovations in California water? It’s amazing to me how people have taken the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) seriously and worked to get it off the ground and implement it in creative ways. To be sure, some of the hardest work is still ahead, but there’s already been tremendous transformation in the decade since this law was enacted.