Despite the wet start to 2023, drought conditions persist across
much of California, taking a toll on the state’s water resources.
Find resources to stay up-to-date with the latest on drought.
Some people in California and across the West struggle to access
safe, reliable and affordable water to meet their everyday needs
for drinking, cooking and sanitation.
There are many ways to support our nonprofit mission by donating
in someone’s honor or memory, becoming a regular contributor or
supporting specific projects.
Join us May 4 for our annual
Open
House & Reception at our office near the Sacramento
River to meet our team and learn more about what we do to educate
and foster understanding of California’s most precious natural
resource — water!
California’s climate whiplash has
been on full display in the San Joaquin Valley this winter as the
region has shifted from managing three years of drought
impacts to enduring widespread flooding following a series of
intense atmospheric rivers. Our Central Valley Tour at
the end of April is your best opportunity to
understand both the challenges and opportunities of water
management in the region.
The 3-day, 2-night tour tour weaves around and across the entire
valley to give you a firsthand look at farms, wetlands and
major infrastructure such as Friant Dam in the Sierra Nevada
foothills near Fresno and San Luis Reservoir in the
Coastal Range near Los Banos, the nation’s largest off-stream
reservoir and a key water facility serving both the State Water
Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Nothing says the end of drought like ending water restrictions
— and the pesky drought surcharges on utility bills. On the
heels of California’s remarkably wet winter, the Bay Area’s
biggest water agencies, including the San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission and East Bay Municipal Utility District,
have either rescinded their drought policies or are about to do
so. This means, in many places, no more fines for using too
much water, no more limiting outdoor watering to certain days
of the week and no more drought surcharges. The surcharges were
commonly adopted by water agencies to fill gaps in revenue as
water sales dropped amid rising conservation.
It took a major disaster and the prolonged displacement of
hundreds of farmworkers, but the small Monterey County
community of Pajaro is finally getting the help and attention
of federal, state and local lawmakers its residents have sought
for decades. On Tuesday, California lawmakers sent a letter to
Michael Connor, assistant secretary of the Army for Civil
Works, urging him to speed construction on a levee that failed
earlier this month, flooding the small town, and to provide
immediate emergency relief funds to shore up the damaged
infrastructure. In addition, Gov. Gavin Newsom requested a
presidential major disaster declaration that, if approved,
could bring support and relief to the more than 2,000 residents
who had to evacuate as the Pajaro River poured onto their
streets and into their homes.
Congress on Wednesday approved a resolution to overturn the
Biden administration’s protections for the nation’s waterways
that Republicans have criticized as a burden on business,
advancing a measure that President Biden has promised to veto.
Republicans have targeted the Biden administration’s
protections for thousands of small streams, wetlands and other
waterways, labeling it an environmental overreach that harms
businesses, developers and farmers. They used the Congressional
Review Act that allows Congress to block recently enacted
executive branch regulations. The Senate voted in favor 53 to
43 Wednesday to give final legislative approval to the measure.
Four Democrats and independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona
joined Republicans to vote in favor of the resolution.
California’s climate whiplash has been on full display in the
San Joaquin Valley this winter as the region has shifted from
managing three years of drought impacts to enduring
widespread flooding following a series of intense atmospheric
rivers. Our Central Valley Tour at
the end of April is your best opportunity to
understand both the challenges and opportunities of water
management in the region. The 3-day, 2-night tour tour
weaves around and across the entire valley to give you a
firsthand look at farms, wetlands and major
infrastructure such as Friant Dam in the Sierra Nevada
foothills near Fresno and San Luis Reservoir in the
Coastal Range near Los Banos, the nation’s largest off-stream
reservoir and a key water facility serving both the State Water
Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Wetlands are among the most
important and hardest-working ecosystems in the world, rivaling
rain forests and coral reefs in productivity of life.
They produce high levels of oxygen, filter toxic chemicals out of
water, sequester carbon, reduce flooding and erosion, recharge
groundwater and provide a
diverse range of recreational opportunities from fishing and
hunting to photography. They also serve as critical habitat for
wildlife, including a large percentage of plants and animals on
California’s endangered species
list.
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.
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.
