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Rachel Becker

Water Reporter

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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, and the San Francisco Press Club. In 2025, her coverage of dwindling groundwater, polluted drinking water and deteriorating ecosystems won a Golden State Journalism Award for environmental reporting. 

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, bioGraphic and the YouTube series MinuteEarth.

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Latest Stories

A juvenile salmon is laid onto a white ruler to measure while inside a small net in a bucket of water.
Water
Endangered salmon returned to California’s far north — then the money dried up
Two years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a strategy to save declining salmon — spotlighting a historic partnership with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe to reintroduce endangered winter-run Chinook to the vital, cold waters upstream of Lake Shasta in far northern California.  Now, tribe officials say the state is ending its support, potentially causing salmon restoration […]
By • April 4, 2026
An aerial view of a large dam spanning a deep blue reservoir, surrounded by rolling green hills covered in trees and shrubs. The water extends into multiple inlets and peninsulas, creating an intricate shoreline. In the background, snow-capped mountains rise above the horizon under a clear blue sky. A hydroelectric facility and other infrastructure are visible near the base of the dam, along with winding roads leading through the landscape.
Water
Record heat, melting snow: What does it mean for California’s reservoirs?
A record-baking heat wave is scalding California, with major consequences for the state’s most important reservoir: its snowpack.  Providing about a third of the state’s water supply, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is a vital source of spring and summer runoff that refills reservoirs when the state needs the water most.  But a warm wet storm […]
By • March 20, 2026

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Rachel Becker - CalMatters
Rachel Becker is a journalist reporting on California’s complex water challenges and water policy issues for CalMatters.
CalMatters
California, explained
Rachel Becker
Rachel Becker is a journalist reporting on California’s complex water challenges and water policy issues for CalMatters. 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, and her byline has also appeared in outlets including National Geographic News, Smithsonian, Slate, Nature and the YouTube series MinuteEarth.