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.
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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.
One of the major rationales for building California’s two biggest surface water supply projects was to provide a supplemental source of water from Northern California so San Joaquin Valley farmers could reduce their reliance on groundwater.
The imported water, it was hoped, would lessen reliance on local groundwater and slow or even halt land subsidence caused by excessive pumping from the aquifers.
The growing likelihood of a historic El Niño season has already triggered statewide emergency preparations, raising important questions about what lies ahead for California’s water systems, infrastructure and communities.
At the Foundation’s 42nd Annual Water Summit on October 29 in Sacramento, renowned weather and climate scientist Daniel Swain will share the latest outlook on El Niño conditions and what the recent forecast of the heaviest precipitation hitting in January could mean for California.
California Supreme Court justices wasted no time Wednesday
jumping into the deep end of several complex issues at the
heart of an ongoing lawsuit over flows in the Kern
River. Within a few minutes of Attorney Kevin
Bundy’s opening address on behalf of plaintiffs Bring Back the
Kern and Water Audit California, Chief Justice Patricia
Guerrero interrupted to ask about one of the main issues in the
case: Whether a particular water use must be found
“reasonable” when compared to other, competing
uses. Her question was aimed at the relationship
between California Fish and Game Code Section 5937 – which
requires dam owners to allow enough water downstream
for fish – and Article X, Section 2 of the state
constitution – which requires all water uses to be
reasonable.
As El Niño breaks news records one week after the next, a new
suite of data points to a wetter winter for the entire
state of California, even wetter than previously
thought. … Most of the state, and the vast
majority of populated areas, looks primed for rainfall
of at least 150% of normal throughout the winter
months, with some areas likely receiving double their winter
average along the coast, where El Niño is already expected to
raise sea levels thanks to warmer ocean temperatures and an
ongoing marine heat wave. … Despite a warmer
than expected winter from El Niño, snow will still fall at
elevation. … Fitting the new European climate
data to terrain, a clear picture emerges: a bit less
snow in the foothills, but significantly more snow at
elevation. This is especially true for the Klamath Mountains
and the Sierra.
Several changes to an ocean desalination project proposed near
Doheny State Beach to help generate drinking water for
South Orange County were discussed Wednesday, Oct. 7,
by the California Coastal Commission, with the modifications
given the green light. Approved changes will move the
slant wells, which will source water from subsurface
intake wells buried beneath the ocean floor, to the north day
use area of the state beach,away from
the campgrounds as previously proposed. The project
aims to tap seawater to lessen the dependence on
imported water, with the South County Water District
estimating the ability to make up to 5 million gallons per day
of drinking water supply using a first-of-its-kind
system in the state.
One of the last two wild runs of spring Chinook salmon
in the Klamath Basin depends on roadless country along
the South Fork Trinity River in Six Rivers National Forest. A
federal proposal would scrap the rule that keeps that land free
of new roads, and the public comment period closes October 6.
The Pew Charitable Trusts laid out the stakes in an analysis
published Monday, noting that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture proposed on August 24 to rescind the Forest
Service’s 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which restricts
road building and timber harvest on 44.7 million acres of
national forest. A final decision is expected in 2027. … The
federal analysis found the change is likely to
adversely affect 327 threatened and endangered species and 71
critical habitats.
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.
No portion of the West has been immune to drought during the last
century and it occurs with much greater frequency in the West
than in any other region of the country.
