Lester Snow, Director, Department of Water Resources

 

            Lester A. Snow, an experienced California water policymaker and leader of public water agencies in the West, was appointed Director of the California Department of Water Resources by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on February 24, 2004.  Snow, 52, has experience as a water agency manager at the regional, State and federal levels.

                Snow was Executive Director of CALFED, now the California Bay-Delta Authority, from 1995 to 1999, leading the coalition of State and federal agencies working to “fix” the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  He left CALFED to become regional director for the Bureau of Reclamation, a post he held for almost two years.  At Reclamation, he led operations of the federal Central Valley Project in California.  Immediately prior to joining DWR, Snow was a water consultant in the private sector. 

                As DWR Director, Snow heads a Department that protects, conserves and manages the State’s water supply, including operation of the California State Water Project.  The SWP is the largest state-run, multi-purpose water and power system in the nation.  It provides a supplemental water source for 23 million Californians and about 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland. 

DWR forecasts future water needs, evaluates and inventories existing water supplies, explores conservation and storage options, and supervises flood management, including emergency response to floods. 

                Before heading CALFED, Snow spent seven years as General Manager of the San Diego County Water Authority.  His prior experience included six years with the Arizona Department of Water Resources, including four years as Tucson area director.  In both those posts, he dealt with Colorado River water issues.

DWR is a key agency in modernizing California’s use of Colorado River water, under the recent Quantification Settlement Agreement.  Pursuant to the QSA and recent State legislation, DWR plays a major role also in new State efforts to restore the ecosystem of the Salton Sea, an important Southern California desert lake that nurtures fish and about 400 species of birds.

                Snow earned a Master of Science degree in Water Resources Administration at the University of Arizona and a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth Sciences from Pennsylvania State University.