Gov. Jerry Brown addresses drought conference at Stanford on Monday

Jerry Brown spoke at a drought conference co-sponsored by the Hamilton Project and Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. (Courtesy of Joseph Garappolo)

Gov. Jerry Brown was the featured speaker at a drought conference at Stanford on Monday, co-sponsored by The Hamilton Project and Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Brown focused on the $7.5 billion water bond measure on the Nov. 4 ballot as an opportunity to increase water storage and delivery.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg made welcoming remarks, followed by an introduction of the event by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin.

California is in the third year of a drought, with 82 percent of the state experiencing extreme drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The Governor declared a state of emergency in January and called for residents to cut water use by 20 percent.  In response to the Governor’s request, Stanford has taken additional measures to further reduce water usage on campus.

Other participants at the four-hour conference included Thomas Iseman of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Barton “Buzz” Thompson of The Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Michael Markus of Orange County Water District and Solomon Hsiang of UC-Berkeley. Closing remarks were by Steven Denning of General Atlantic and Chairman of the Board at Stanford University.

The co-sponsors released three papers which highlighted opportunities for improving water management in the United States in the face of scarce water supplies:  “In Times of Drought:  Nine Economic Facts about Water in the United States,” “Shopping for Water: How the Market can Mitigate Water Shortages in the American West” and “The Path to Water Innovation.”