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.
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At the Foundation, we believe that education is as precious as
water. Your donations help us empower next-generation
leaders from all sectors of the water world to broaden their
knowledge and build their collaborative skills through our
popular Water Leader programs in
California and the Colorado River Basin.
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Colorado lawmakers abandoned a last-minute effort Monday to
pass environmental regulations for data center development in
the state. … The bill, also sponsored by Rep. Kyle
Brown, D-Louisville, would have required data center companies
to pay the full cost for the power needed to run their
facilities. It also would have ensured that data centers don’t
blow the state’s greenhouse gas emission reductions targets,
intended to stave off the worst effects of climate
change. Data center companies would have had to compete
for two available 15-year sales and use tax exemptions per
year, on criteria like clean energy and participation in grid
resiliency programs. They would have also been judged on the
quality of jobs created, community benefits and investments and
water efficiency.
Environmentalists and a salmon fishing group unsuccessfully
lobbied a California Senate committee to reject Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s reappointment of a veteran State Water Resources
Control Board member last week, as tensions over the board’s
upcoming vote on a controversial update to water policy for the
Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds spilled into the
gubernatorial appointment process. Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated
Dorene D’Adamo to her fourth term on the board earlier this
year, ahead of an expected September vote on the Bay-Delta
Plan. … D’Adamo has been a voice on the board for
powerful interests such as the agricultural industry and urban
water districts interests, her opponents charged at a May 6
hearing of the Senate Rules Committee.
The debate over Sacramento’s water has been going on for
decades. From farming to urban uses, it’s a natural resource
that is in high demand, especially during droughts. On Monday
night, a celebration was held to announce that a new signed
agreement in place to make sure there’s enough water in the
future. Ashlee Casey with the Sacramento Water Forum said that
opposing groups including environmentalists, developers,
farmers and cities have all reached an agreement on how to best
use water that’s released from Folsom Dam and flows
down the American River. … Water usage is
outlined in a 334-page document that will guide the region over
the next 25 years.
Spring is a critical time for the Colorado River Basin
watershed, when snowmelt flows into major reservoirs. But after
a hot and dry winter, the state of spring runoff is grim,
especially at Lake Powell, where forecasters are
predicting the lowest water flows ever recorded. The
Colorado River Basin Forecast Center expects 800,000 acre feet
of water to flow into Lake Powell in the period between April
and July this year. That’s just 13% of the 30-year
average, between 1991 and 2020. What’s more,
about half of that water has already showed up to Lake Powell,
thanks to a record-breaking warmup in March that triggered an
early runoff, said Cody Moser, senior hydrologist at the
Colorado River Basin Forecast Center, in a webinar on
Thursday.
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.
