Take an interactive online tour of the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta and learn more about its importance as a water delivery
hub, an agricultural cornucopia, a haven for fish and wildlife,
Some people in California and across the West struggle to access
safe, reliable and affordable water to meet their everyday needs
for drinking, cooking and sanitation.
There are many ways to support our nonprofit mission by donating
in someone’s honor or memory, becoming a regular contributor or
supporting specific projects.
As atmospheric rivers blasted across California this year, they
brought epic amounts of rain and snow follwing a three-year
drought.
Devastating and deadly floods hit parts of the state and now all
eyes are on the potential for more flooding, particularly in
the San Joaquin Valley as the record amount of snow in the
Sierras melts with warmer temperatures.
With anticipated sea level rise and other impacts of a changing
climate, flood management is increasingly critical in California.
Exclusive Water Summit Sponsorship Opportunities Available
The Water Education Foundation’s
39th annual Water
Summit will be held Wednesday, Oct. 25,
in Sacramento with the theme, Taking On the
Improbable in Western Water. Exclusive sponsorships
are available for the breaks, lunch and evening reception, all of
which are prime networking opportunities for the water
professionals in attendance.
In this Issue: Water leader applications for
2024 will be coming out soon! And don’t forget to join us at our
annual Water Summit Oct. 25 when we’ll be talking about taking on
the improbable; and check out our latest Western Water
article about a little-known change in law that will benefit
groundwater in California.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has
announced the availability of up to $2 million in grant funding
for non-lethal beaver damage management (PDF)(opens in new
tab), in support of ecosystem restoration and protection under
the Nature-Based Solutions Initiative and CDFW’s beaver
restoration and human-wildlife conflict program objectives. The
North American beaver’s critically important role as an
ecosystem engineer and keystone species, particularly as
climate change, drought and wildfires increase in severity, has
gained rapidly growing recognition in recent years. Because
they are crucial to restoring and maintaining healthy
ecosystems and their functions, CDFW has implemented new
measures to maintain healthy beaver populations in suitable
habitat throughout California.
A fast-forming and strengthening El Niño climate pattern could
peak this winter as one of the most intense ever observed,
according to an experimental forecast released Tuesday. The new
prediction system suggested it could reach top-tier “super” El
Niño strength, a level that in the past has unleashed deadly
fires, drought, heat waves, floods and mudslides around the
world. This time, El Niño is developing alongside an
unprecedented surge in global temperatures that scientists
say has increased the likelihood of brutal heat
waves and deadly floods of the kind seen in
recent weeks. Will that make El Niño’s typical extremes
even more dramatic in the winter?
ExxonMobil lost a court bid Wednesday to truck millions of
gallons of crude oil through central California — a crucial
part of its efforts to restart offshore oil wells that were
shut in 2015 after a pipeline leak caused the worst coastal
spill in 25 years. A federal judge refused to overturn a 2022
decision by the Santa Barbara County Board Supervisors that
denied ExxonMobil’s request to use trucks to carry crude from
the three wells. A request for comment from ExxonMobil about
the decision wasn’t immediately returned. … But county
supervisors voted against issuing a permit amid concerns over
the effect on local traffic and the potential for spills and
accidents.
Across Monterey County, there are few topics more talked about
or litigated than water. David Schmalz here, and I’ve
covered water in most corners of the county for the better part
of the last decade, and in my opinion, the topic has never been
more interesting or eventful than it is right now, at least on
the Monterey Peninsula. I’m going to be covering a lot of
ground here—err, water, I mean—but I’ll keep it as tight as I
can. There’s a lot to catch you up on. First, on Sept. 13, the
Monterey Peninsula Water Management District released its draft
“resolution of necessity,” a document that, if approved,
is the first step in the eminent domain process for a public
buyout of Cal Am’s Monterey service area. -Written by columnist David Schmalz.
Wetlands 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.
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.
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.
