COEQWAL is the largest of 38 climate action grants totaling $80 million that were funded by the State of California via the University of California, with the goal of having “swift and measurable impacts on climate resilience.” The project aims to use sophisticated water and climate modeling to begin to provide California with state-of-the-art, transparent and publicly accessible water planning and stewardship tools.

The new initiative, called CARE Court — for Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment — is a cornerstone of California’s latest campaign to address the intertwined crises of mental illness and homelessness on the streets of communities up and down the state.

Under Proposition 1, counties will now be required to spend about two-thirds of the money on housing and programs for homeless people with serious mental illnesses or substance abuse problems.

Sacramento Judge Stephen Acquisto rejected lawsuits by water districts serving farms and cities that would be required to take less water under the standards adopted by regulators, and the challenges by environmental groups that had argued for requiring larger cutbacks to boost river flows.