California Water 2020: A Sustainable Vision

By Peter H. Gleick, Penn Loh, Santos V. Gomez, and Jason Morrison

Web-published May 2005, originally published May 1995

This report presents a unique vision of a truly sustainable water future and discusses way to realize this vision. Although originally published ten years ago, the report's overall conclusion -- that California water use is unsustainable and requires a new approach -- is as true today as it was the day it was published.

Although California has made progress towards improving efficiency and reducing the wasteful use of water, the state still wastes water in every sector of its economy (see "Waste Not, Want Not" for a detailed look at this issue) and has much work to do to ensure that there is enough water for people, bussinesses, agriculture, and the environment.

The Executive Summary is available online and the full report is available for download (Executive Overview as a 100 KB PDF, Chapters 1-4 as a 4.7 MB PDF, Chapters 5-9 as a 1 MB PDF) or in print.