![Sprinklers water a patch of grass near a sidewalk in Fresno on July 16, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/071624-Fresno-Sprinklers-LV_14.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
Rachel Becker is a journalist reporting on California’s complex water challenges and water policy issues for CalMatters. She’s covered drought, water standoffs, groundwater depletion, water quality and the world’s biggest dam removal.
In 2021 she won first place for Outstanding Beat Reporting from the Society of Environmental Journalists for stories that included deep dives into water contamination in the wake of wildfires and from widespread industrial chemicals.
In 2022 Rachel was the inaugural recipient of the Water Education Foundation’s Rita Schmidt Sudman Award for Excellence in Water Journalism, “honoring outstanding work that illuminates complicated water issues in California and the West.”
Her reporting has also been recognized by the California News Publishers Association, the Online Journalism Awards, the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists, the Sacramento Press Club and the San Francisco Press Club.
Rachel has a background in biology, with master’s degrees in both immunology and science journalism. She previously reported on climate change and air pollution for CalMatters, and contributed to early coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well.
Before joining CalMatters, Rachel was a staff reporter at The Verge, where she covered science and health for the news site and for its Webby Award-winning video series, Verge Science. Her byline has also appeared in outlets including National Geographic News, Smithsonian, Slate, Nature and the YouTube series MinuteEarth.
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Latest Stories
![Sprinklers water a patch of grass near a sidewalk in Fresno on July 16, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/071624-Fresno-Sprinklers-LV_14.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![J.G. Boswell Ranch's main office and facility in Corcoran on April 4, 2024. California water officials are poised to crack down on growers in the Tulare Lake Basin in Kings County for what they say are inadequate plans to curb groundwater overpumping under the state’s landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/040424-Armona-Water-LV_05.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![J.G. Boswell Ranch's main office and facility in Corcoran on April 4, 2024. California water officials are poised to crack down on growers in the Tulare Lake Basin in Kings County for what they say are inadequate plans to curb groundwater overpumping under the state’s landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/040424-Armona-Water-LV_05.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![Sprinklers water a lawn in Sacramento on June 29, 2022. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/062922-Drought-Sprinklers-Sacramento-MG-CM-04.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![Sprinklers water a lawn in Sacramento on June 29, 2022. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/062922-Drought-Sprinklers-Sacramento-MG-CM-04.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![Aracel Fernandez fills a cup with tap water at her home on Nov. 10, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/111020_Tap_Water_AW_CM_02.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![Aracel Fernandez fills a cup with tap water at her home on Nov. 10, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/111020_Tap_Water_AW_CM_02.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/061924-White-Sturgeon-CM-01.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![San Diego’s Lake Hodges Dam under repair in fall of 2022. The dam is expected to be replaced in the next decade. The dam, built as a multiple arch design, was completed in 1918, and purchased by the City of San Diego in 1925. Photo courtesy of John Gastaldo](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/060724-Lake-Hodges-DamnJG-CM-10.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
![Building a controversial tunnel on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, shown here on June 22, 2023, would cost $20 billion. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/062223-Sacramento-San-Joaquin-Delta-MG-CM-007.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)