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Announcement

Atmospheric River Scientist Marty Ralph to Give Latest Insight on Climate Whiplash & Impacts at Water 101 Workshop
Go Beyond the Headlines & Gain a Deeper Understanding of Water at April 10 Workshop & Join Central Valley Tour in April

Image shows Marty Ralph, Director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.Learn the importance of atmospheric rivers to California’s hydrology and the impacts of climate whiplash during a session at our Water 101 Workshop led by Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes.

The workshop, April 10 in Sacramento, is among the events, tours and publications the Water Education Foundation offers to help you get beyond the stream of recent national headlines and better understand how water is managed and moved across the Golden State:

Announcement

Go Beyond the Headlines to Gain a Deeper Understanding of Water in California
April Events Include Water 101 Workshop & Central Valley Tour

Photo of tour participants standing on top of Terminus Dam near VisaliaGo beyond the recent headlines and gain a deeper understanding of how water flows across California during our Water 101 Workshop on April 10. If you join our Central Valley Tour happening April 23-25, you can stand atop Terminus Dam where the federal government released water from Lake Kaweah in late January.

The Water Education Foundation, which celebrated its 48th birthday this week, is proud to be the only organization in California providing comprehensive, unbiased information about the most critical resource across the West. We provide myriad resources to help put issues in context and to inspire a deep understanding of and appreciation for water, including educational materials, tours of key watersheds, water news, water leadership training and events that bring together diverse voices.

Water News You Need to Know

Aquafornia news San Francisco Chronicle

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: Trump appointee takes reins of EPA’s San Francisco office

The Trump administration has appointed Josh F.W. Cook as head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Southwest Office, overseeing federal environmental policy in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, the Pacific Islands and 148 Tribal Nations. Cook, who lives in Chico (Butte County), is a government and tribal affairs consultant, according to his LinkedIn account, and has held a handful of government positions. He spent a decade as chief of staff for former Republican State Sen. Brian Dahle, R-Bieber (Lassen County) and has served on advisory committees for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. His resume also includes helping with the emergency response to California’s deadly Camp Fire in 2018.

Other EPA news:

Aquafornia news E&E News by Politico

California water agencies oppose Trump-proofing bill

The leading trade group representing California’s public water agencies came out Monday against a bill meant to protect the state from Trump administration rollbacks. The Association of California Water Agencies adopted an “oppose” position to Sen. Ben Allen’s SB 601, which would clarify state law to reclassify all waters that were previously defined as “waters of the state” prior to the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett v. EPA decision. ACWA senior policy advocate Soren Nelson said in an email the group has “serious concerns with SB 601, as it would needlessly complicate the state’s regulatory framework for protecting water quality, lead to frivolous litigation, and almost certainly translate into higher water bills for Californians.”

Aquafornia news KCRA (Sacramento, Calif.)

March storms help Sierra snowpack inch closer to normal for this time of year

After days of snow falling in the Sierra, the winter season is inching closer to recovering from a dry start to the year. According to snow sensor data from the California Department of Water Resources, the statewide Sierra snowpack fell to 66% of average on Jan. 30. On Feb. 28, the date of the last manual snow survey along Highway 50, the statewide snowpack stood at 85% of average.

Other snowpack and weather news around the West:

Aquafornia news Grist

Inside the decades-long fight to tear down the Klamath dams

… The removal of the four dams on the Klamath, which were owned by the power utility PacifiCorp, represents the first real attempt at the kind of river restoration that Indigenous nations and environmentalists have long demanded. It is the result of an improbable campaign that spanned close to half a century, roped in thousands of people, and came within an inch of collapse several times. Interviews with dozens of people on all sides of the dam removal fight, some of whom have never spoken publicly about their roles, reveal a collaborative achievement with few clear parallels in contemporary activism. 

Other dam removal news:

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.