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.
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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.
The Water Education Foundation’s
2025 Annual
Reportis now available in an interactive,
digital format and recaps how we accomplished a lot of
“firsts” last year.
A standout moment was our first-ever Klamath River
Tour, where we brought 45 participants into the heart of
the watershed that underwent the nation’s largest dam removal
project.
… Local fights are flaring over proposed data centers in Kern
and Imperial Counties, some of California’s most
water-parched regions. The ratcheting up of tension
comes as two bills from Assemblymember Diane Papan that would
force earlier disclosure of data centers’ projected and
actual water use are winding their way through
the Legislature, with a first hearing in the Senate
scheduled next Tuesday. AB 2469 would require data
centers to provide more information on water supply, use and
planning before cities or counties can approve new or expanded
data centers. AB 2619 would require data centers to report
projected and actual water use as a requirement for renewing a
local business license.
Federal agriculture and interior officials convened a meeting
Monday at the White House with PG&E and a Southern
California water district over the future of the Eel River —
and the tribe with senior water rights on that river was not in
the room. The Round Valley Indian Tribes said Wednesday that
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins had called the meeting,
which also included Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and
representatives of the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water
District. The subject was the Potter Valley Project, a
hydroelectric complex on the Eel River. … Round
Valley has spent years at the negotiating table with Russian
River water users working out what the parties call the
Two-Basin Solution — a plan to allow salmon recovery on the Eel
while keeping water flowing to communities that had come to
rely on diversions from the north.
For the 18 ranchers who rely on the Maybell Irrigation
District’s canal to funnel water to their fields, the
127-year-old headgate that diverted flow from the Yampa River
meant a two-hour round trip through a rocky canyon whenever
they needed water. … Then legalized sports betting came
along, and, with it, millions of dollars for Colorado
water projects. … Since sports betting became legal
in May 2020, the state has collected more than $154 million in
taxes, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board has
funneled $140 million to various projects that preserve and
conserve Colorado’s precious water. Supporters say the
gambling money is a godsend for ranchers, fishermen, paddlers
and others who want to protect the state’s water and those who
depend on it for their livelihoods. Critics, however, say
legalized sports betting has come at a cost.
Facing a looming water crisis that could slash deliveries from
the Colorado River by hundreds of millions of cubic meters,
agricultural officials in Baja California are urging
local farmers to pivot toward climate-resilient crops.
The warning comes as the region braces for sharp reductions in
its water supply. According to Alfonso Cortez Lara, director of
the El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef) in Mexicali, Baja
California expects its annual quota from the Colorado River to
be cut by 350 million cubic meters by 2027, La Voz newspaper
reported. Mónica Vargas Núñez, head of Baja California’s
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER BC), said
the state is working alongside Mexico’s federal agriculture
ministry and the National Water Commission (Conagua) to
mitigate the impact.
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.
