Rachel Becker

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.