Home

Announcement

RSVP for Our Annual Open House on May 4th
Meet our team & learn about tours, events, publications, teacher training workshops & leadership programs for up-and-coming water professionals

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!

Announcement

Explore Breadth & Depth of the ‘Nation’s Breadbasket’ on the Central Valley Tour April 26-28
Our Journey Across the San Joaquin Valley Proceeding as Planned - Only a Few Seats Remain!

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.

Water News You Need to Know

Aquafornia news San Francisco Chronicle

Thursday Top of the Scroll: Bay Area water agencies end water restrictions, drought surcharges

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agencies, including the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and East Bay Municipal Utility District, have either rescinded their drought policies or are about to do so.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.

Related articles: 

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

California tells Army Corps to speed up Pajaro levee repairs

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.

Related articles: 

Aquafornia news Associated Press

Congress approves measure to reverse Biden’s water protections

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.

Aquafornia news Water Education Foundation

Announcement: Explore breadth & depth of the ‘nation’s breadbasket’ on the Central Valley Tour April 26-28

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.

Online Water Encyclopedia

Aquapedia background Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map

Wetlands

Sacramento National Wildlife RefugeWetlands 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.

Aquapedia background

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.

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.

Pod

Important People in California Water History

Read about the history people who played a significant role in the water history of California.