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.
Learn more about our team in the office and on the Board of
Directors and how you can support our nonprofit mission by
donating in someone’s honor or memory, or becoming a regular
contributor or supporting specific projects.
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.
Our Layperson’s
Guide to California Water has been completely
updated for 2026, providing a comprehensive overview of the
ways water is used, as well as its critical ecological role,
throughout the state. The 24-page publication traces the history
of the vital resource at the core of California’s identity,
politics and culture since its founding in 1850.
Time is running out to register for next Thursday’s Water
101 Workshop and go beyond the headlines to gain a
deeper understanding of how water is managed and moved across
California. Plus, only a handful of seats remain for the
opportunity to extend your ‘beyond the headlines’ water education
experience on the optional watershed tour the next day!
What many would hope was an April Fool’s Day joke is anything
but, as Utah has recorded its lowest-ever snowpack conditions
as of April 1. In a special report issued Friday, the Natural
Resources Conservation Service said that at no point
since measurements began in 1930 has the snowpack been as low
in Utah. The report was issued ahead of what is
expected to be a dismal Water Supply Outlook Report. The
agency called the 2026 snowpack “truly unprecedented,” with the
next lowest having been recorded in 2015, but it was
approximately five times higher than the current snowpack
conditions.
… [A] group of residents is gathering signatures for a
potential November 2026 ballot initiative that would block data
centers in Imperial County altogether. They’re calling it the
“Imperial County Data Center Prohibition Act.” …
[Developer Sebastian] Rucci has proposed obtaining 6
million gallons per day of reclaimed water from
Imperial and El Centro to cool a massive data center, which
would use 750,000 gallons a day. Rucci said the unused
water would be funneled into the Salton Sea to
ameliorate environmental damage there. Reclaimed water from
both cities is already channeled into the sea, though at a
lesser level of treatment, so the project would ultimately
result in less water in the sea.
… For Colorado River Indian Tribes, one way to be good
stewards was to unanimously approve a resolution to give the
river personhood status under tribal law. The resolution
acknowledges the Colorado River as a living entity whose health
and well-being are linked to the well-being of tribal
members. CRIT’s water rights are some of the most
powerful in the Colorado River Basin. The tribe is
also near growing communities in Arizona looking for
predictable water supplies in the face of potential water cuts
and a changing climate. People have come to CRIT seeking
agreements to lease the tribes’ water. Now, with the
resolution, the tribal council can require them to acknowledge
the river’s personhood as part of the agreement.
Two years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a strategy to save
declining salmon — spotlighting a historic partnership with the
Winnemem Wintu Tribe to reintroduce endangered winter-run
Chinook to the vital, cold waters upstream of Lake Shasta in
far northern California. Now, tribe officials say the
state is ending its support, potentially causing salmon
restoration efforts on the McCloud River to die
mid-stream. The tribe is now grappling with the sudden
loss of jobs, along with the dimming of hope that the
culturally sacred fish will be restored to their ancestral
waters. … State officials say the one-time funds were
tied to the state’s drought response and have now been used
up.
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.
