California Water 2015: Where Are We and Where Do We Need to Go?

Symantec, Building E, Room #102, “Espresso,” adjacent to Symantec Cafe

Felicia Marcus will give a sense of California water’s setting (basic hydrology, infrastructure, etc), discuss the drought’s impacts and the state’s actions to address them, and will talk about how California water management is changing (and needs to change) to cope with the impacts of climate change, population growth, and future food security.

Felicia was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the State Water Resources Control Board for the State of California in 2012, and designated by the Governor as Chair in April of 2013. Felicia previously served as the Regional Administrator of the U.S. EPA Region IX during the Clinton Administration. Prior to that, Felicia headed Los Angeles’ Department of Public Works at a time when the City went from garnering lawsuits to garnering national awards for environmental excellence. In the non-profit world, she was the Western Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Executive VP/COO of the Trust for Public Land (TPL), and was a private and non-profit sector attorney in Los Angeles. She is also currently an Obama Administration appointee to the Commission on Environmental Cooperation-Joint Public Advisory Council (US, Mexico, Canada) and was a Schwarzenegger Administration appointee to the Delta Stewardship Council prior to being appointed to the Water Board.