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Aquapedia banner
Banner May 22, 2014

Your Online Water Encyclopedia

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Overview January 30, 2014

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

A.D. Edmonston Pumping Plant

The world’s largest water lift, the Edmonston Pumping Plant is a State Water Project facility. The pumping plant plays a vital role in Southern California’s economy by supplying the semi-arid region with badly needed water.

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Acre Foot
Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Acre Foot

An acre foot of water equals about 326,000 gallons, or enough water to cover an acre of land 1-foot deep.

To put it another way, an acre foot of water is enough to flood a football field 1-foot deep (a football field is roughly an acre in size).

An acre foot of water is a common way to measure water volume and use. In California, an acre foot, or 326,000 gallons, can typically meet the annual indoor and outdoor needs of one to two average households. But, in more recent years, an acre foot began serving even more households.

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Agricultural Conservation
Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Agricultural Conservation

As the single largest water-consuming industry, agriculture has become a focal point for efforts to promote water conservation. In turn, discussions about agricultural water use often become polarized.

With this in mind, the drive for water use efficiency has become institutionalized in agriculture through numerous federal, state and local programs.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Agricultural Drainage

California’s rich agricultural productivity comes with a price. The dry climate that provides the almost year-round growing season also can require heavily irrigated soils. But such irrigation can degrade the local water quality.

Two of the state’s most productive farming areas in particular, the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and parts of the Imperial Valley in Southern California, have poorly drained and naturally saline soils.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Agricultural Drainage and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Few regions are as important to California water as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers converge to discharge into San Francisco Bay.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Agricultural Drainage Environmental Impacts

Agriculture drainage issues date back to the earliest farming. In ancient times, farmers let fields stay fallow hoping rain would flush out salt.

Today, salt and other contaminants continue to cause agricultural drainage problems, particularly in California. Whether a field is adequately drained, or saturated with water, the water still has to be removed.

The disposal of this often-contaminated water continues to be a challenge in California, with the environmental effects of selenium and other drainage-related elements changing the course of drainage planning.

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Aquapedia background September 8, 2016

Algal Blooms

Algal blooms in rivers, creeks and lakes are an increasing occurrence in California, threatening human health and safety as well as pets. Blue-green algal blooms (cyanobacteria) occur in California during the summer months because hot temperatures combined with low water levels stimulate growth. If there are excess nutrients present in their environment, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, algae populations grow at accelerated rates, creating algal blooms.

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Aquapedia background August 25, 2016

All-American Canal

As one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, the Imperial Valley receives its water from the Colorado River via the All-American Canal. Rainfall is scarce in the desert region at less than three inches per year and groundwater is of little value. 

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Aquapedia background August 25, 2016

Alluvium

Alluvium generally refers to the clay, silt, sand and gravel that are deposited by a stream, creek or other water body.  Alluvium is found around deltas and rivers, frequently making soils very fertile. Alternatively, “colluvium” refers to the accumulation at the base of hills, brought there from runoff (as opposed to a water body). The Oxnard Plain in Ventura County is a visible alluvial plain, where floodplains have drifted over time due to gradual deposits of alluvium, a feature also present in Red Rock Canyon State Park in Kern County.

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Aquapedia background August 25, 2016

American River

American RiverThe American River, with headwaters in the Tahoe and Eldorado national forests of the Sierra Nevada, is the birthplace of the California Gold Rush. It currently serves as a major water supply, recreational destination and habitat for hundreds of species. The geologically diverse North, Middle and South forks comprise the American River or the Río de los Americanos, as it was called during California’s Mexican rule.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014 Battle Creek

Anadromous Fish Restoration

Chinook salmon returning to Battle CreekAnadromous fish are freshwater fish that migrate to sea then return to spawn in fresh water.

In California, anadromous fish include coho salmon, chinook salmon and steelhead. Those inhabiting rivers across the Central Valley have experienced significant declines from historical populations. This is due to drought, habitat destruction, water diversions, migratory obstacles such as dams, unfavorable ocean conditions, pollution and introduced predator species.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Applied Water

Applied water refers to water delivered by an application to a user, either indoors or outdoors. Applied water use typically occurs in an agricultural or urban setting.

In agriculture, applied water is typically supplied through irrigation, which uses such devices as pipes and sprinklers. There are also different types of systems including gravity flow and pressurized systems.

With soil absorbing applied water and being porous (some water can move down below a plant’s root zone), it is necessary to apply more water than a crop might need.

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Appropriative Rights
Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Appropriative Rights

California law allows surface water to be diverted at one point and used (appropriated) beneficially at a separate point.

This is in contrast to a riparian right, which is based on ownership of the property adjacent to the water.

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Graphic: California DWR
Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Aquifers

Aquifers are an unseen but critical resource in California’s water supply system.

These natural basins that sit below the surface are found underneath 40 percent of California’s land area.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Area-of-Origin and California Water

The legal term “area-of-origin” dates back to 1931 in California.

At that time, concerns over water transfers prompted enactment of four “area-of-origin” statutes. With water transfers from Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley to supply water for San Francisco and from Owens Valley to Los Angeles fresh in mind, the statutes were intended to protect local areas against export of water.

In particular, counties in Northern California had concerns about the state tapping their water to develop California’s supply.

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Aquapedia background December 29, 2016 Layperson's Guide to Flood Management

ARkStorm

Sacramento's K Street during the 1862 flood that inundated the Central Valley.ARkStorm stands for an atmospheric river (“AR”) that carries precipitation levels expected to occur once every 1,000 years (“k”). The concept was presented in a 2011 report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) intended to elevate the visibility of the very real threats to human life, property and ecosystems posed by extreme storms on the West Coast.

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Aquapedia background September 7, 2016

Arsenic Contamination

Both the drought and high nitrate levels in shallow groundwater have necessitated deeper drilling of new wells in the San Joaquin Valley, only to expose water with heightened arsenic levels. Arsenic usually exists in water as arsenate or arsenite, the latter of which is more frequent in deep lake sediments or groundwater with little oxygen and is both more harmful and difficult to remove.

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Aquapedia background December 1, 2017 Layperson's Guide to Flood Management

Atmospheric Rivers

A massive 1986 Northern California flood near Marysville, north of Sacramento, caused the south levee of the Yuba River to breach, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.Atmospheric rivers are relatively narrow bands of moisture that ferry precipitation across the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast and are key to California’s water supply.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Auburn Dam

Auburn Dam, also known as the Auburn-Folsom South Unit, is an unfinished federal Central Valley Project facility on the north fork of the American River above Folsom Dam.

Work on the dam was halted in 1977 following a magnitude 5.7 earthquake in 1975 near Oroville Dam, some 50 miles away, raising questions about the Auburn Dam’s safety. The dam remains unbuilt.

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Aquapedia background February 10, 2014

Jean Auer

Jean Auer (1937-2005) was the first woman to serve on the California State Water Resources Control Board and a pioneer for women aspiring to be leaders in the water world.

She is described as a “woman of great spirit who made large contributions to improve the waters of California.” She was appointed as the State Water Board’s public member by then-Governor Ronald Reagan and served from 1972-1977 during a time period that included the passage of the federal Clean Water Act. She became part of the growing movement for water quality regulations to stop water pollution.

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