Home

Announcement

Speaker List Grows for Oct. 30 Water Summit in Sacramento
Exclusive Sponsorship Opportunities Still Available; Last Call for Northern California Tour

Northern California Tour Nearly Sold Out!

Only a few seats are left on the bus for our Northern California Tour on Oct. 16-18 that explores the Sacramento Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to Oroville and Shasta dams!

Don’t miss this scenic journey through riparian woodland, rice fields, nut orchards and wildlife refuges while learning from experts about the history of the Sacramento River. Grab your ticket here before they’re gone!

Announcement

DWR Director Karla Nemeth to Keynote Water Summit; Application Window Opens Soon for 2025 California Water Leaders

Visit Shasta & Oroville Dams; Learn about Park Fire Impacts Firsthand during NorCal Tour

Only a few seats are left on the bus for our Northern California Tour October 16-18 that journeys across the Sacramento Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to Oroville and Shasta dams!

New Tour Stop! This year’s tour includes a stop at Battle Creek where participants will learn firsthand how the Park Fire, California’s fourth-largest wildfire on record, could push already threatened Chinook salmon populations closer to extinction by burning through tributaries to the Sacramento River that provide critical spawning habitat.

Don’t miss this scenic journey through riparian woodland, rice fields, nut orchards and wildlife refuges while learning from experts about the history of the Sacramento River. Grab your ticket here before they’re gone!

Water News You Need to Know

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

Friday Top of the Scroll: Klamath River dam removal brings hope for threatened salmon

Over the last month, salmon have gathered in clear pools in the Salmon River as they have returned to their spawning grounds. This undammed river, a tributary of the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border, is one of the last remaining strongholds of a type of salmon that is increasingly at risk of extinction: spring-run chinook. The salmon population here has sharply declined in the last decade. But the recent removal of four dams on the Klamath is bringing new hope among biologists, environmental activists and Indigenous leaders that the fish could begin to recover. … Biologists expect that with the dams now removed and the Klamath flowing freely, all types of native fish will benefit … 

Related salmon articles:

Aquafornia news Imperial Valley Press

Salton Sea shrinking rapidly as IID conserves more water

Monday marked the end of the Imperial Irrigation District’s 49-day Deficit Irrigation Program. Since the Imperial Irrigation District approved and implemented this additional water conservation program – expected to yield 170,000 acre-feet of water this year (and as much as 500,000 AF over the next two years) – the Salton Sea’s rate of decline increased 50% relative to the recent average rate, exposing thousands of additional acres of lakebed, Pacific Institute and Alianza Coachella Valley said in a joint press release. … Since August 12, 2024, the surface elevation of the Salton Sea has fallen by about 10 inches and the Sea has shrunk by about 3,500 acres, exposing even more dust-emitting playa, degrading the health of the surrounding communities.

Other Colorado River articles:

Aquafornia news Santa Cruz Sentinel

Soquel Creek Water District finishes Pure Water Soquel construction

The pipes are in, the filters are primed and the water is almost ready to flow at the Soquel Creek Water District’s Pure Water Soquel facility in Live Oak. Although the faucets won’t be turned on until early next year, the new facility’s nearly three-year construction effort was capped off Thursday at a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by district officials and featuring keynote addresses from a slough of regional, state and federal dignitaries. A decade in the making, the roughly $180 million facility is an integral part of the district’s effort to bring the Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Basin–the sole freshwater resource for its 40,600 customers–into sustainability by 2040.

Other water project articles:

Aquafornia news Water Education Foundation

Announcement: Speaker List Grows for Oct. 30 Water Summit in Sacramento

Our 40ᵗʰ annual Water Summit, an engaging day of discussions addressing critical water issues in California and across the West, will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 30, in Sacramento with the theme, Reflecting on Silver Linings in Western Water. Speakers and conversations will highlight the promising advances in managing the West’s most precious natural resource. Karla Nemeth, director of California’s Department of Water Resources, will kick off the day with an opening keynote. See how our speaker list is growing and how you can register here.

Online Water Encyclopedia

Aquapedia background Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map

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 levels of oxygen, 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.