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Last Tickets for Klamath Tour Up for Grabs; Theme Announced for Annual Water Summit; Read the Latest About FIRO and Atmospheric Rivers

Tickets for Klamath River Tour Now Up for Grabs

The remaining handful of tickets for our first-ever Klamath River Tour are now up for grabs! This special water tour, Sept. 8 through Sept. 12, will not be offered every year so check out the tour details here.

You don’t want to miss this opportunity to examine water issues along the 263-mile Klamath River, from its spring-fed headwaters in south-central Oregon to its redwood-lined estuary on the Pacific Ocean in California.

Among the planned stops is the former site of Iron Gate Dam & Reservoir for a firsthand look at restoration efforts. The dam was one of four obsolete structures taken down in the nation’s largest dam removal project aimed at restoring fish passage. Grab your ticket here while they last!

California’s Quest to Turn a Winter Menace Into a Water Supply Bonus is Gaining Favor Across the West
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: For years, atmospheric rivers were a mystery. Now, an innovative dam management approach is putting them to work

Image shows Lake Mendocino, the proving ground for Forecast-Informed Reservoir OperationsIn 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.

Water News You Need to Know

Aquafornia news Politico

Thursday Top of the Scroll: NOAA nominee pledges full weather service staffing

President Donald Trump’s nominee to head NOAA pledged Wednesday to fully staff the National Weather Service, after catastrophic Texas floods triggered a new wave of criticism over the president’s deep cuts across government. Administration critics have wondered whether efforts to reduce the federal workforce and eliminate programs affected the government’s ability to warn residents. … Jacobs, whose background is in weather modeling, has advocated for retooling NOAA’s weather data collection processes, including through greater engagement with private-sector companies that operate their own satellites and would benefit from multibillion-dollar government contracts. … Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told Jacobs that the nation cannot afford to retrench on climate change given its direct impacts on communities facing rising frequency and intensity of storms, floods, droughts, wildfire and other natural disasters.

Other NOAA news:

Aquafornia news The Colorado Sun (Denver)

Zebra mussel larvae spreading fast in Colorado River and nearby lakes on Western Slope

The Colorado River is now officially “positive” for invasive zebra mussels in the latest failure of containment for the voracious species, after three new samples came up with larvae July 3, from between Glenwood Springs and Silt. The main stem Colorado River discoveries piled on top of a confirmed “large number” of adult zebra mussels in a private body of water in western Eagle County, and two more positive larvae tests, at Highline Lake and Mack Mesa Lake, both near the Utah border, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said Wednesday. Sampling was redoubled throughout June after tests found a single zebra mussel larvae, or veliger, in the Colorado River from a June 9 collection. It’s the second year in a row veligers are being discovered in the West’s key river channel through Colorado, and now CPW officials are also dealing with a full-blown adult zebra mussel invasion in the privately owned Eagle County water. 

Related articles:

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

Warnings ignored: The grim connection between the L.A. wildfires and Texas floods

Two major climate disasters of 2025 — the Texas flooding that killed more than 100 people and the L.A. wildfires in January that resulted in 30 deaths and wiped out more than 15,000 homes and businesses — highlight the struggles officials face in fully preparing for extreme weather conditions. In both cases, the National Weather Service offered clear warnings of potentially life-threatening weather events; in Los Angeles, warnings were given days before extraordinary winds — of up to 100 mph — slammed a region already suffering from a record-dry fall. … Since then, there have been calls for sweeping reforms of how Los Angeles County prepares for disasters, and investigations into what went wrong. … With climate change bringing more extreme deadly weather, local emergency management officials around the nation are trying to keep up.

Other flood risk and emergency management news around the West:

Aquafornia news Water Education Foundation

Announcement: Last tickets for Klamath Tour up for grabs; theme announced for annual Water Summit; read the latest about FIRO and atmospheric rivers

The remaining handful of tickets for our first-ever Klamath River Tour are now up for grabs! This special water tour, Sept. 8 through Sept. 12, will not be offered every year, so check out the tour details here. Plus, register for the 41st annual Water Summit Oct. 1, themed Embracing Uncertainty in the West, and read our latest Western Water story on how FIRO is helping harness the power of atmospheric rivers.

Online Water Encyclopedia

Wetlands

Sacramento National Wildlife RefugeWetlands are among the world’s most important and hardest-working ecosystems, rivaling rainforests and coral reefs in productivity. 

They produce high oxygen levels, filter water pollutants, sequester carbon, reduce flooding and erosion and recharge groundwater.

Bay-Delta Tour participants viewing the Bay Model

Bay Model

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.

Aquapedia background Colorado River Basin Map

Salton Sea

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

Lake Oroville shows the effects of drought in 2014.

Drought

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.