Sen. Dodd’s Remote Water Monitoring Bill Passes Committee

SACRAMENTO – As California grapples with climate-worsened drought, legislation advanced today from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, to improve the way the state measures and manages water, protecting precious supplies and ensuring the most efficient use in communities and agriculture.

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and this bill helps us more accurately track where water is going, empowering us to chart a more sustainable water future,” Sen. Dodd said. “Because with climate change, Californians must be vigilant about our water use. Today we take another step toward ensuring we have water for generations to come.”

Sen. Dodd has been a leader in water management and conservation efforts amid the ongoing drought. He previously wrote laws to the Open and Transparent Water Data Act and to reinvigorate the state’s stream gage program to measure in-stream flows. This latest proposal, Senate Bill 832, would authorize the State Water Resources Control Board to study if remote sensing can determine how much water is diverted from rivers and other sources. It is intended to determine if remote sensing technology, in lieu of or in combination with existing measurement methods, enhances the quality and usefulness of diversion data.

The bill is expected to be supported by California water managers and environmental stewards. It passed the Senate Natural Resources and Water committee with unanimous, bipartisan support.

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Senator Bill Dodd represents the 3rd Senate District, which includes all or portions of Napa, Solano, Yolo, Sonoma, Contra Costa, and Sacramento counties. You can learn more about the district and Senator Dodd at www.sen.ca.gov/dodd.