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Lester A. Snow, Director 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 has extensive 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. 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. 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 United States. It provides a supplemental water source for 23 million Californians and about 750,000 acres of irrigated farmland and directly sustains over $400 billion of the state's economy. 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. In recent years, with the passage of Propositions 1E and 84, DWR has the additional responsibility of administering over $5 billion in bond funding for the purposes of flood protection and ecosystem restoration. Faced with the challenges of population growth and changing climate, DWR is taking an active role in the promotion of sustainable resource management through its implementation of grants and other programs. DWR also plays a major role in the management of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and is committed to achieving the goal of a healthy, resilient Delta. 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.
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