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.
In December 2012, dam operators at Northern California’s Lake Mendocino watched as a series of intense winter storms bore down on them. The dam there is run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ San Francisco District, whose primary responsibility in the Russian River watershed is flood control. To make room in the reservoir for the expected deluge, the Army Corps released some 25,000 acre-feet of water downstream — enough to supply nearly 90,000 families for a year.
Registration is now open for
the Water Education Foundation’s 41ˢᵗ annual
Water Summitfeaturing leading
policymakers and experts in conversation about the latest
information and insights on water in California and the West.
Aquafornia is off for the July 4th holiday and the
following Monday. But we will return with a full slate of news
on Tuesday, July 8.
In the meantime, follow us on X/Twitter where we post
breaking water news, and on Facebook,Instagram and
LinkedIn,
where we post other water-related news.
The team at the Water
Education Foundation wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable
Independence Day!
… Forecasters say it has been a wet start to this year’s
monsoon season, which officially began June 15 and runs through
the end of September. Parts of New Mexico and West Texas have
been doused with rain, while Arizona and Nevada have been hit
with dust storms, which are a common hazard of the season.
… Just ahead of the monsoon, officials with the Navajo
Nation declared an emergency because of worsening drought
conditions across the reservation, which spans parts of New
Mexico, Arizona and Utah. … Forecasters with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the
National Integrated Drought Information System say monsoonal
rainfall only provides a fraction of the West’s water
supplies, with the majority coming from snowpack.
Still, summer rains can reduce drought impacts by lessening the
demand for water stored in reservoirs, recharging soil moisture
and groundwater, and reducing the risk of wildfires.
Harmful “forever chemicals” flow from wastewater treatment
plants into surface water across the U.S., according to a new
report by a clean-water advocacy group. Weekslong sampling by
the Waterkeeper Alliance both upstream and downstream of 22
wastewater treatment facilities in 19 states saw total per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) concentrations increase in 95
percent of tested waterways after receiving discharge from the
facilities. … While advanced treatment technology to remove
PFAS from wastewater exists, most facilities do not have it.
None of the 22 facilities included in the study employed PFAS
removal technology, the Waterkeeper Alliance said.
Utah state officials last month approved the creation of a new
city near Moab that has been the focus of intense scrutiny and
controversy, ostensibly paving the way for the new locale in
the outdoor recreation mecca to take shape. … Foes, though,
filed a lawsuit late last week against the project sponsors to
halt development of the new municipality, Echo Canyon, charging
that they don’t have the needed water rights. They also
maintain that the new city, abutting the Colorado
River, would “diametrically change” the character of
the zone. … While the city’s potential impact on the nature
of the area — a major recreational draw in Utah — is a big
point of concern for project critics, the suit, filed last
Friday, June 27, in Utah’s 7th District Court in Moab, focuses
on water rights issues. More specifically,
Kane Creek Development Watch and Living Rivers, the nonprofit
groups behind the suit, charge that the developers’ water
rights have essentially lapsed due to lack of use and the
passage of time.
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.
