Watch our series of short videos on the importance of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, how it works as a water hub for
California and the challenges it is facing.
When a person opens a spigot to draw a glass of water, he or she
may be tapping a source close to home or hundreds of miles away.
Water gets to taps via a complex web of aqueducts, canals and
groundwater.
Learn more about our team in the office and on the Board of
Directors and how you can support our nonprofit mission by
donating in someone’s honor or memory, or becoming a regular
contributor or supporting specific projects.
Unlike California’s majestic rivers and massive dams and
conveyance systems, groundwater is out of sight and underground,
though no less plentiful. The state’s enormous cache of
underground water is a great natural resource and has contributed
to the state becoming the nation’s top agricultural producer and
leader in high-tech industries.
A new era of groundwater management began in 2014 in California
with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The landmark law
turned 10 in 2024, with many challenges still ahead.
Time is running out to register for this month’s Water
101 Workshop in Sacramento where you’ll
go beyond the headlines and gain a deeper understanding of
how water is managed and moved across California. And come one,
come all to our annual Open
House & Reception on May 7!
California’s water managers have long looked for ways to adapt to a hotter, drier future where the impacts of climate change leave less water to meet the state’s needs.
At our annual Water 101 Workshopon March 26 in Sacramento, participants will hear from Joel Metzger, deputy director for statewide water resources planning, on efforts underway by the California Department of Water Resources to achieve a target of identifying 9 million acre-feet of additional water supply by 2040, roughly equal to the capacity of two Shasta Reservoirs.
The agenda for the workshop features some of the leading policy and legal experts in California who will detail the historical, legal and political facets of water management in the state. Seating is limited and filling up quickly, so don’t miss out!
Both the Utah House and Senate signed off on a proposal to
require large data centers moving to Utah to report their
annual water use to state officials. … “The market itself has
reacted to the concern nationwide about water use,” said State
Representative Jill Koford, R-Ogden, who sponsored the bill.
“In the second-driest state in the nation, I think it’s good
for us to set the tone nationally.” … Koford’s bill
would require data centers that are at least 10,000 square feet
and use at least 75 acre-feet of water a year to report
their water usage tothe state. That
water usage data would also be accessible to the public.
The planet may experience a strong or even a super El Niño
later this year, one that could rival the strongest ones in
history. … [I]mpacts can include the frequency and location
of heat waves, the locations of flooding downpours and drought
could focus, where hurricanes may hit, and declining sea ice
concentrations. For example, the Western United States
could face a hotter than average summer. … Late
in the year, a stronger southern branch of the jet stream could
influence heavy downpours and the potential for flooding. …
That stronger southern jet stream can also increase the
chance for flooding wintertime downpours in
California.
This past winter was officially Utah’s warmest in over a
century, contributing to many of the snowpack challenges facing
the state. Utah posted a statewide average temperature of 36.4
degrees between Dec. 1 and Feb. 28, shattering the previous
meteorological record — set during the 2014-2015 winter — by
2.2 degrees, according to National Centers for Environmental
Information data released on Monday. … It could have
repercussions for later this year. The National Weather
Service’s Colorado Basin River Forecast Center updated its
spring runoff outlook on Friday, projecting that
snowmelt could be approximately 60% of normal or
lessat many of the major creeks and rivers in
the state.
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
Arizona will take nearly a $3 trillion total economic hit and
lose millions of jobs that would have come to the state by 2060
if Central Arizona Project deliveries are halted by the federal
government, a new report from the project’s governing agency
says. A CAP consultant’s report said the state’s total economic
output would by 2060 be 11% to 14% lower than it otherwise
would have been, under two proposed federal alternatives for
managing the Colorado River. At worst, the state’s total jobs
would shrink by 7.9% if the project’s supplies were eliminated,
the report said.
Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
Bay Model is a giant hydraulic replica of San Francisco
Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. It is housed in a converted World II-era
warehouse in Sausalito near San Francisco.
Hundreds of gallons of water are pumped through the
three-dimensional, 1.5-acre model to simulate a tidal ebb
and flow lasting 14 minutes.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
Drought—an extended period of
limited or no precipitation—is a fact of life in California and
the West, with water resources following boom-and-bust patterns.
During California’s 2012–2016 drought, much of the state
experienced severe drought conditions: significantly less
precipitation and snowpack, reduced streamflow and higher
temperatures. Those same conditions reappeared early in 2021
prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom in May to declare drought emergencies
in watersheds across 41 counties in California.
