Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth to advise his office on water priorities.
In addition to her current job, Nemeth will be the point person for some of the state’s greatest water issues, many of which already fall within the purview of the department. She will lead the implementation of Newsom’s strategy for expanding the water supply, repairing sinking canals, negotiating a Colorado River plan beyond 2026 and rolling out a set of voluntary agreements (VAs) for Delta flows.
After six years as director and many more in the water world, Nemeth has an intimate knowledge of water infrastructure issues. But her new role elevates her to the governor’s cabinet, reporting directly to Newsom rather than Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. The governor had previously tasked Crowfoot to personally shepherd the VAs to adoption.
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Remember: It is not the first time Newsom has circumvented a cabinet member by appointing an advisor.
Soon after he took office, Newsom appointed former CDFA Secretary Bill Lyons as his ag liaison, creating a direct conflict with the current CDFA secretary, Karen Ross. Lyons worked closely on VAs but abruptly quit in 2020—just after Newsom filed a lawsuit against Trump-era biological opinions governing Delta fish protections, which stalled the VAs.
Newsom lost his economic advisor the same year when Lenny Mendonca, who hailed from a Turlock dairy family, quit to deal with job-related anxiety and depression.
On that note: DWR has completed aerial mapping surveys for all medium- and high-priority groundwater basins.
The program recruited a helicopter to fly a massive electromagnetic ring over the Central Valley to scan the earth’s subsurface, penetrating to depths of up to 1,000 feet. The data has helped to inform groundwater sustainability plans and to identify recharge sites.
