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.
Start making arrangements now to attend our first-ever
Kern River Tour and annual Water
Summit so you don’t miss out. These popular fall
programs have limited seating and will fill up quickly!
Kern River Tour | November 4-6
Join us on this special journey as
we examine water issues along the Kern
River, from its mountain-fed headwaters in the
southern Sierra Nevada to its terminus in the Central Valley west
of Bakersfield. Among the planned stops are both upper forks of
the Kern River, Lake Isabella, lower Kern River canyon, the
Friant-Kern Canal, irrigated agriculture in the valley, the Kern
Water Bank and more. Click here for more
details.
Tom Gibson, new director of
California’s Department of Water Resources, will serve as the
keynote speaker for our 42ⁿᵈ annual Water
Summit on Oct. 29.
Guided by this year’s theme, Stewarding a New Era in
Western Water,Gibson and
other leading policymakers and experts will address emerging
topics related to the challenges and opportunities facing water
resource management in California and the West.
Gibson,
an attorney who has held several roles in the state’s Natural
Resources Agency and its various departments, was appointed by
Gov. Newsom on June 29 and sworn in on July 6 to lead DWR and its
nearly 4,000 employees.
Denver Water has begun issuing fines to customers who
violate watering restrictions as a prolonged drought
continues to strain the region’s water supply with no signs of
improvement. Denver Water customers are currently limited to
watering lawns two days a week. Despite those restrictions
being in place for most of the summer, the measures have not
made a significant difference, according to the
agency. Last week, Denver Water issued more than 50
warnings and six or seven fines to customers who did not follow
watering rules. The agency said it has shifted from
educating customers about restrictions to actively enforcing
them.
Other drought impact and response news around the West:
The coordinated series of cyberattacks launched on U.S.
drinking water and wastewater utilities across the country in
recent weeks has alarmed lawmakers on Capitol Hill — but it
remains to be seen whether the threat will be enough to break
the impasse over mandating basic security standards for the
sector. … Two Democratic senators introduced legislation
Monday that would give EPA clear authority to assess
cybersecurity threats across the water and wastewater
sector. The bill from Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and
Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is effectively a second attempt at an
approach the Biden administration tried three years ago but was
foiled by opposition from Republican states and industry
groups. The Water Cyber Shield Act of 2026 would
allow EPA to require utilities to address vulnerabilities it
identifies and mandate cybersecurity evaluations for large
utilities.
The Bureau of Reclamation is increasing Central Valley Project
2026 water supply allocations for south-of-Delta contractors,
reflecting improved water supply conditions and operational
flexibility. … Based on current hydrology and updated
forecasts, irrigation water service and repayment contractors
south-of-Delta are increased from 25% to 28% of their contract
total. Municipal and Industrial water service and repayment
contractors are increased from 75% to 78% of their historic
use, or public health and safety needs, whichever is
greater. All other allocation amounts announced May 19
remain unchanged.
A contested lithium extraction facility in Imperial County was
dealt a setback in court Tuesday. The California Fourth
Appellate District said that Imperial County officials
unlawfully approved Controlled Thermal Resources’ Hell’s
Kitchen project and asked a lower court to overturn its earlier
ruling in favor of the project. The appeals court said there
was insufficient evidence that the company had secured
water for its 50-year life span and that an
environmental impact report didn’t address the impact of
water use on air quality in the area just east
of the Salton Sea that the county has branded “Lithium
Valley.” The ruling, written by Associate Justice Julia
Kelety, also said that the environmental review did not
adequately address possible future mandated water
supply reductions from the Colorado River.
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.
