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Banner May 22, 2014

Your Online Water Encyclopedia

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Overview February 11, 2014

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014 California Water Map Layperson's Guide to California Water

Pacific Flyway

The Pacific Flyway is one of four major North American migration routes for birds, especially waterfowl, and extends from Alaska and Canada, through California, to Mexico and South America. Each year, birds follow ancestral patterns as they travel the flyway on their annual north-south migration. Along the way, they need stopover sites such as wetlands with suitable habitat and food supplies. In California, 90 percent of historic wetlands have been lost.

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Aquapedia background August 30, 2016

Lake Havasu & Parker Dam

Lake Havasu is a reservoir on the Colorado River that supplies water to the Colorado River Aqueduct and Central Arizona Project. It is located at the California/Arizona border, approximately 150 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada and 30 miles southeast of Needles, California.

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  • Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River
Aquapedia background September 8, 2016

Parts-per Notation

For both small and large concentrations, parts-per notation is a very convenient way to communicate numbers that would ordinarily have many zeros (either before or after a decimal point). For example, 3 ppt (parts per trillion) is much cleaner than reporting 0.000000000003. Additionally, it is important to distinguish what units are being described. Is it 3 particles per trillion particles? 3 grams per trillion grams? In other words, parts-per notation offers a unit-less ratio, and in scientific literature the true units are either directly stated or implied from context.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Pelagic Fish

Pelagic fish are those that live near the water’s surface rather than on the bottom. In California, pelagic fish species include the Delta smelt, longfin smelt, striped bass and salmon.

In California, the fate of pelagic fish has been closely tied to the use of the water that supports them.

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Aquapedia background August 15, 2016

Percolation

Movement of water down through the soil toward the water table.

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Permeability

Capability of soil or rock to transmit water.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Fred T. Perris

Fred T. Perris (1837-1916) became the chief engineer and superintendent of construction of the California Southern Railway. A civil engineer, he also played a role in surveying and taking water measurements in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties. The Lake Perris State Recreation Area and the city of Perris are named after him.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Lake Perris

The State Water Project facility Lake Perris, below the San Bernardino Mountains, stores water for Inland Empire cities such as San Bernardino and Riverside. [See also Santa Ana River.]

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Aquapedia background September 8, 2016

Pesticide Contamination

Pesticides find their way into creeks, rivers and the oceans, threatening aquatic life and the safety of drinking water.

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Aquapedia background September 1, 2016

Pit River

The Pit River is the longest tributary of the Sacramento River and largest river in northeast California. It connects to the Sacramento River at Shasta Lake and has headwaters at the confluence of its two tributaries – the North and South Forks.

  • Read the California Department of Fish and Game's 2008 Pit River Summary Report
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Aquapedia background August 30, 2016

Point Source vs. Nonpoint Source Pollution

Point Source Pollution

Point sources release pollutants from discrete conveyances, such as a discharge pipe, and are regulated by federal and state agencies. The main point source dischargers are factories and sewage treatment plants, which release treated wastewater.

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  • Layperson's Guide to California Wastewater
Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Carley V. Porter

Carley V. Porter (1906-1972) was the longtime chairman of the California Legislature’s Assembly Committee on Water who has two historical and important water laws named after him. He was a Democrat from Compton in Los Angeles County and a teacher before being elected to the Assembly.

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Aquapedia background September 7, 2016

Potable Water

Photo of drinking water filling a glass over the kitchen sink. Potable water, also known as drinking water, comes from surface and ground sources and is treated to levels that that meet state and federal standards for consumption.

Water from natural sources is treated for microorganisms, bacteria, toxic chemicals, viruses and fecal matter. Drinking raw, untreated water can cause gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea, vomiting or fever.

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Aquapedia background February 10, 2014

John Wesley Powell

John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) was historic and heroic for being first to lead an expedition down the Colorado River in 1869. A major who lost an arm in the Civil War Battle of Shiloh, he was an explorer, geologist, geographer and ethnologist.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River

Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam

Image shows Glen Canyon Dam with Lake Powell in the background.The construction of Glen Canyon Dam in 1964 created Lake Powell. Both are located in north-central Arizona near the Utah border. Lake Powell acts as a holding tank for outflow from the Colorado River Upper Basin States: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The water stored in Lake Powell is used for recreation, power generation and delivering water to the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona, and Nevada. 

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Aquapedia background August 30, 2016 Seven Oaks Dam

Prado Dam

Prado Dam in Southern CaliforniaPrado Dam – built in 1941 in response to the Santa Ana River’s flood-prone past – separates the river into its upper and lower watersheds. After the devastation of the deadly Los Angeles Flood of 1938 that impacted much of Southern California, it became evident that flood protection was woefully inadequate, prompting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct Prado Dam.

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  • Layperson's Guide to Flood Management
Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Prescriptive Rights

Prescriptive Rights are water use rights gained illicitly that evolve into a title. Typically this occurs with rights to chronically overdrafted groundwater basins gained through trespass or unauthorized use.

In California, the California Supreme Court developed the doctrine of prescriptive rights in 1949.

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Public Trust Doctrine
Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Public Trust Doctrine

Rooted in Roman law, the public trust doctrine recognizes the public right to many natural resources including “the air, running water, the sea and its shore.”

The public trust doctrine requires the sovereign, or state, to hold in trust designated resources for the benefit of the people. Traditionally, the public trust applied to commerce and fishing in navigable waters, but its uses were expanded in California in 1971 to include fish, wildlife, habitat and recreation.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Pueblo Water Rights

In addition to riparian and appropriative water rights, there are two other types of surface water rights in California: pueblo rights and federal reserved rights.

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