David Zoldoske, director of the California Water Institute at California State University, Fresno, will be a featured panelist at the Sustaining our Future: Advancing Water Policy for a Healthy San Joaquin Valley Forum presented Friday, June 23, by the Latino Issues Forum in Fresno.
The forum will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Fresno Airport Holiday Inn (5090 E. Clinton Way).
Zoldoske will participate in a panel discussion, “An Overview of Central Valley Water,” at 9:30 a.m. It is the first of five panels scheduled during the day and will address challenges and opportunities in providing safe, affordable water for Valley communities.
Joining Zoldoske will be Allen Ishida, a member of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors; Richard Haberman of the state Department of Health Services; and Martha Guzman of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation.
Other panels will focus on groundwater, infrastructure, land use and consumer protection.
The forum will begin with a brief talk by State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter. Assembly Member Juan Arambula, D-Fresno, will deliver the closing comments during lunch at 12:45 p.m.
Zoldoske joined Fresno State in 1983. The California Water Institute was founded to be a forum for unbiased, open, collaborative discussion on policy, research and education on water-related issues benefiting the entire state. The institute’s startup funding came with voter approval in 2000 of Proposition 13, a $2 billion water bond measure in 2000 co-authored by then-State Sen. Jim Costa, now a member of Congress representing the central San Joaquin Valley.
The institute’s laboratories are home for technical research to assist California in answering critical questions and resolving issues related to water supply and quality. Fresno State students get an opportunity to be at the forefront of this technology and increasingly important research.
Zoldoske also was vice chair of the AB 2717 Landscape Task Force, appointed by the California Urban Water Conservation Council to find ways to cut the amount of water used on landscaping. The task force estimated up to 1 million acre-feet — about one-third of the water used to irrigate plantings now — could be saved through a mix of legislative, administrative and regulatory changes.
For more information about the Latino Issues Water Forum, contact Stephanie Camoroda at 559.241 6561 or stephanie(@.lif.org. For more information about the California Water Institute, 559.298.6072.
