Amid extreme drought, Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking for statewide conservation of 15%, farmers are facing cutbacks in water deliveries, and a mass die-off of salmon is expected. Drought affects us all, so our response must improve the natural systems that make our water, air and food — our existence — possible. The State Water Resources Control Board has taken the rare drastic step of adopting emergency regulations to curtail diversions of water rights holders when water is not available. 
-Written by Sandi Matsumoto, director of The Nature Conservancy’s California Water Program, and Julie Zimmerman, the lead freshwater scientist at The Nature Conservancy in California.