Water and energy are interconnected. A frequent term to describe
this relationship is the “water-energy nexus.”
Energy for Water: Energy is needed to store water, get it where
it is needed and also treat it to be used:
* Extracting water from rivers and streams or pumping it
from aquifers, and then conveying it over hills and into storage
facilities is a highly energy intensive process. The State Water
Project (SWP) pumps water 700 miles, including up nearly 2,000
feet over the Tehachapi Mountains. The SWP is the largest single
user of energy in California. It consumes an average of 5 billion
kWh per year. That’s about 2 to 3 percent of all electricity
consumed in California
* Water treatment facilities use energy to pump and process
water for use in homes, businesses and industry
* Consumers use energy to treat water with softeners or
filters, to circulate and pressurize water and to heat and cool
water
* Wastewater plants use energy to pump wastewater to
treatment plants, and also to aerate and filter it at the plant.
Different end uses require more electricity for delivery than
others. Water for residential, commercial and industrial end-use
needs the most energy (11 percent), followed by agricultural
end-use (3 percent), residential, commercial and industrial
supply and treatment (3 percent), agricultural water supply and
treatment (1 percent) and wastewater treatment (1 percent),
according to the California Energy Commission.
Water for Energy: Water is used to generate electricity
* Water is needed either to process raw materials used in a
facility or maintaining a plant,or to just generate electricity
itself.
Overall, the electricity industry is second only to agriculture
as the largest user of water in the United States. Electricity
production from fossil fuels and nuclear energy requires 190,000
million gallons of water per day, accounting for 39 percent of
all freshwater withdrawals in the nation. Coal, the most abundant
fossil fuel, currently accounts for 52 percent of U.S.
electricity generation, and each kWh generated from coal requires
withdrawal of 25 gallons of water.
For all the talk about data centers, they can be pretty
unassuming up close. … Generally, researchers say, the amount
of water used inside the four walls of these nondescript
buildings is lower than most people think. However, they demand
massive amounts of electricity, and power plants can use a lot
of water while working to meet that demand. Ultimately, though,
there is relatively little data on how much water is used to
make electricity in Arizona, and analysts say it is hard to get
a complete understanding of data centers’ water demands without
more transparency from electric utilities. … Data
centers use massive amounts of electricity. The amount of
electricity it takes to power an average data center is roughly
equivalent to the power needed for 400 Costco warehouses,
according to an APS official. It takes a lot of water to
generate that power, and the need for those generating stations
is growing.
Iron County is moving ahead with new regulations for
data centers in the southwestern Utah county — months
after passing a temporary moratorium on the controversial
projects. The Iron County Commission unanimously approved the
new rules during a meeting in Cedar City on Monday after
hearing from residents for more than an hour. Notably,
the new rules do not set hard limits on water use for
data centers. Instead, data center sites that would
use more than 50,000 gallons of water per day would have
to submit a plan to prove the additional water use
won’t harm the aquifer. … In another vote
Monday, the commission repealed the previous moratorium on data
centers, with no debate. Commissioners took public comment
before voting Monday and heard from residents who were
concerned about noise pollution, air quality, water
use and the longtime environmental effect of data
centers.
Aircraft manufacturer Boom Supersonic announced plans Thursday
to hire 500 people and open a new manufacturing plant near
Centennial Airport. But the factory isn’t for its supersonic
jets, which are expected to be used in commercial flights in
2030. Rather, the engine is the star. The engine technology
developed for supersonic aircraft has found an
alternative use as a natural gas turbine engine to power data
centers without relying on the electrical grid — or
water. Boom calls it Superpower. “The easiest way to
overcome those problems is to enable data centers to make their
own electricity and do it without a drop of
water. That is absolutely what Superpower is about,”
said Blake Scholl, Boom’s CEO and founder, during a news
conference on Thursday at the company’s headquarters. “This is
a 42-megawatt natural gas turbine that runs on that same
supersonic technology, which means it’s used to being hot and
it doesn’t need cooling water. Not a drop.”
Although California lawmakers recently passed a suite of laws
intended to bring transparency to the development of new data
centers, local communities across the state are signaling that
disclosure isn’t enough. California currently ranks
third among U.S. states in overall data center
density, according to independent trackers like the US
Data Center Map, with the state home to 366 of such
facilities that are either fully operational, under
construction, or moving through the planning process.
Local elected officials are proposing data center moratoriums
to slow that momentum — if not stop it in its tracks.
… Opponents say these energy-hungry facilities strain
power grids, potentially deplete water
supplies and pollute the air, and contribute to
broader economic anxieties around AI-driven job
elimination.
Celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary’s massive data center project
in northern Utah has refiled an application for water, the Utah
Division of Water Rights confirmed to FOX 13 News. The
application was filed on Oct. 15, seeking 1,712 acre-feet of
water a year on the property purchased in Box Elder County. It
will be reviewed, and the Utah State Engineer will determine if
it can be granted the water based upon state statute.
… The last time the Stratos Project, as it’s known,
sought a water rights application, the state engineer was
besieged with formal protests. Hundreds were lodged before the
water rights application was withdrawn. Environmental and
community groups opposed to the data center project are
expected to lodge more formal protests again.
… This summer, outgoing Gov. Mark Gordon signed an executive
order titled “Data Centers the Wyoming Way” that he said would
“guide responsible development in Wyoming,” while keeping the
state an attractive landing spot for the enormous server
warehouses that power the AI industry. Data centers’
potential impacts on Wyoming’s precious water
supply, already-rising electricity prices and prized
public lands have rankled many corners of the state. Gordon
acknowledged those concerns in a statement accompanying the
release of the order, which is not binding. Environmental
groups in Wyoming agree that there need to be more guardrails
on data center development, but they are not fully aligned on
how to achieve that goal.
Ahwatukee residents flooded a town hall in Mesa with Attorney
General Kris Mayes on Wednesday to voice their concerns about
a massive data center under construction in their
community near homes, businesses, health offices and a
preschool. … Some in the audience were concerned the
facility’s cooling systems could leech toxic chemicals into
local water supplies and that emissions from the generators
could result in higher rates of cancer or heart disease.
… Mayes told residents her team would be
exploring whether a nuisance lawsuit could be wielded
as a final community backstop. Mayes previously used
nuisance law to challenge a Saudi alfalfa farming
operation that was draining groundwater supplies in La Paz
County.
A self-imposed timeline for the Stratos data center in Box
Elder County has come and gone with few new details about the
project. Despite the project receiving approval from Utah’s
Military Installation Development Authority and the Box Elder
County Commission, little information has been made public
about factors that could have a major impact, including
how much water the data center will use. It’s
information Utahns have been waiting on for months. When KSL
Investigators spoke with developer Kevin O’Leary on July 1, he
said details about water demand would be included in a
water permit application expected to be publicly
available by the end of August. … [O'Leary Digital CEO
Paul] Palandjian said the application will include detailed
hydrological studies and engineering analysis for water
treatment and recycling. … Palandjian said on
Tuesday that it is complete, in final review, and will be
submitted “shortly.”
… Ormat Technologies, one of the biggest geothermal
operators in the world, could begin exploratory drilling in
Surprise Valley by the end of the year. The
Reno-based company is preparing to develop up to 11 geothermal
test wells on nine well pads across a nearly 40-acre span in
the valley. … Some see it as a harmless, renewable
energy that’s safe and heavily regulated by the state. A power
plant could also kick-start the sluggish economy by bringing
jobs and families back to the area. Others worry that if a
plant comes online, it would disrupt the valley’s rural
character. Some even fear it could be a detriment to the
geothermal reservoir. … Ormat representatives fielded
questions in March from residents who worried about threats to
the groundwater from drilling and chemicals.
The Poway City Council unanimously approved to ban large,
third-party data centers used for artificial intelligence
applications throughout the city. The ordinance approved by
council members on a second reading Oct. 6 amends the Poway
Municipal Code and the South Poway Specific Plan to prohibit
data centers in all zones of the city. … A staff report
stated there is increasing evidence that these types of data
centers use significant water and electricity and
result in a strain on water and electricity
infrastructure, and have an adverse impact on utility
rates. Additionally, concerns include potential negative
impacts on air quality, noise and increased fire risks.
The Riverbank City Council could vote Tuesday to extend
its data center moratorium for 10 1/2 months.
… Aemetis Inc. has been developing a 60-megawatt data
center proposed at the Riverbank Industrial Complex and the
city has received other inquiries in the past year. A city
staff report for Tuesday’s meeting says data centers may cause
significant impacts “related to energy consumption,
water, wastewater, land use, air emissions,
noise, infrastructure demands, environmental quality and
community aesthetics.” … Since passage of the
45-day pause in September, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed bills
with requirements for data center projects, including
disclosure of projected electricity and water consumption and
assuming financial responsibility for electrical grid and water
system upgrades needed for projects.
… Companies are racing to draw out lithium from brine
bubbling below the Salton Sea. … A
recent study concludes that most lithium mining areas
won’t have enough water by mid-century to meet the
industry’s demands. “Those regions are already
water-stressed,” said co-author Jennifer Dunn, director of the
Center for Engineering Sustainability and Resilience at
Northwestern University. Adding lithium mining onto them
without reducing water consumption across the board will make
it extremely challenging for those mines to operate in the near
future, not to mention meeting everyone’s water needs.
… As the warming planet shrinks freshwater resources,
experts say, the clean-energy transition driving demand
for lithium may ultimately be constrained by the water
scarcity that decades of fossil fuel use have
accelerated.
San Joaquin County supervisors have temporarily halted
approvals for new large-scale data centers, giving
county officials time to study how the rapidly growing industry
could affect electricity, groundwater,
agriculture and surrounding communities. The Board of
Supervisors voted 5-0 Tuesday to adopt an urgency ordinance
establishing a 45-day moratorium on new land-use
approvals for data centers in unincorporated San Joaquin
County. … County staff identified several issues it
plans to examine, including potential strains on the electrical
grid, increased electricity costs for residents,
groundwater demands, emergency response needs
and effects from heat, noise, vibration and diesel backup
generators. Water is one of the county’s concerns because
portions of San Joaquin County are within the
critically overdrafted Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Basin
and the Tracy Subbasin.
An industrial park in Irvine, California, may seem an odd spot
to show off technology that wouldn’t be out of place in Dune,
but that’s what’s happening on a sweltering September morning.
… Engineers open panels to check systems and an iPad
that shows a steadily ascending line that reveals the device’s
purpose: harvesting water from thin air using special materials
known as metal organic frameworks, or MOFs. … The materials
won Omar Yaghi, the company’s founder, the Nobel Prize for
chemistry in 2025, and Atoco has shown they work in prototypes
capable of producing gallons of water per day. What’s unique
about this iteration of Atoco’s technology is what it doesn’t
require. No grid connection or even electricity is needed to
grab water from the air at the microscopic level, nor is it
required to in turn wring the water out of the materials in a
form useful for humans.
Casa Grande held its first public hearing on a data center, but
it did not go as residents had hoped. Now, a data center,
battery and natural gas facility — roughly the same size as New
York City’s Central Park — will be allowed to take shape 8
miles from the city’s downtown. … The city has limited
the Grande Valley Data Center complex to 300 acre-feet of water
— or 97 million gallons of water use per year. That includes
water for cooling servers in the facilities and for generating
natural gas power on-site. We don’t know how much energy the
site will use, if it will connect to the state’s grid, or
when. Speakers were particularly disturbed by the
project’s intended water use amid major Colorado River cuts
that have impacted farmers in the community and across Central
Arizona.
Data centers can look like little more than large, windowless
warehouses. But the questions they create for a city can extend
far beyond where to put the building, or if beauty is indeed in
the eye of the beholder. … For Alison McNally, who teaches
geography and environmental resources at Stanislaus State, one
question immediately rises to the top in the San Joaquin
Valley: “Where would the water come from?” The
region already has competing demands from agriculture, homes,
businesses and environmental needs, while groundwater users are
adjusting to California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act. McNally said the impact of any particular data
center would depend heavily on its size, location and water
source.
The corporate technology giants building data centers to power
the artificial intelligence boom are changing America’s natural
landscape. Although data centers long predate generative AI,
hundreds of massive, or “hyperscale,” facilities are now
sprouting up around the country. Many of these data centers are
going up in areas that were once farmland or desert.
… The surge in data center construction has sparked
significant public backlash, with communities citing concerns
about their impact on local water and power supplies, among
other issues. … Thirty states have introduced or adopted
legislation or taken other actions to address some of these
concerns, including the impact of data centers on utility
costs.
Conservationists sued the Trump administration Tuesday to
challenge the expansion of a heavy metal mine they say will
carve up one of Arizona’s ecologically important mountain
ranges. In consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, the U.S. Forest Service approved the expansion of
Australian company South32 Hermosa’s mineral extraction
operations to 52,438 acres in the Patagonia Mountains
of southern Arizona. … The plaintiffs claim the
Forest Service also violated the National Environmental Policy
Act by failing to provide an adequate analysis of the project’s
threats, including its effects on groundwater and other public
resources. … Groundwater pumping would draw down
the water table by as much as 250 feet and may reduce
or even eliminate surface water flows.
Pima County staff held an open house downtown Monday, to
discuss the proposed rules. The meeting came just days after
the county approved a 120-day moratorium on new data center
developments. Currently, Pima County only allows data centers
in its most intensive industrial zones The proposed rules would
formally define what data centers are and establish guidelines
regarding the energy and water used by data centers as well as
noise levels. … Under the draft regulations, the county
would require data centers to use closed-loop water cooling
systems. This technology allows water to be recirculated and
reused. Projects would also need certified access to an
adequate supply of both water and energy.
A tech developer has asked a Nye County judge to toss out a
ban on data centers in one of the state’s most
overstressed water basins that serves Pahrump. In a
statement, developer Sean Dalesandro said his company is asking
for a judge to uphold a principle of fairness, adding that he
believes the ban unlawfully disregarded a significant
investment into zoning. His company’s previously proposed data
center project, the Manse Technology Campus, drew protests from
hundreds of residents. … The legal petition is in
response to a ban on data centers in basin 162, the
Pahrump Valley Hydrographic Basin, where water rights
committed on paper to property owners outweigh
the annual yield by more than three to one.
U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) on Thursday issued a
call for a “pause” on data centers in New Mexico, and released
a set of standards she said such developments should meet
before receiving approval. … Leger Fernández’s
announcement also comes as state lawmakers gear up to consider
a data center moratorium during next year’s legislative
session. … Leger Fernández, in a news release, said data
centers should abide by certain provisions if elected, which
she titled the No Blank Checks for Data Centers Principles.
Those principles include being able to demonstrate that a data
center won’t increase electricity bills or negatively impact
water resources and must meet the state’s renewable energy
requirements.
Two New Mexico Supreme Court rulings will
allow water to flow and permitting to continue for
the Project Jupiter data center, which is
currently under construction. Meanwhile, one of the
conservation groups that lost its effort to cut off the water
says it is gearing up for a long legal fight. The site is
being built by Oracle and is expected to house
OpenAI, known for its ChatGPT platform. … The
recent rulings restore Oracle’s access to non-potable
groundwater via a private supplier. The Center for
Biological Diversity sued New Mexico State Engineer Elizabeth
Anderson in one case over water use, and the group New Energy
Economy sued New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney in
another, over air quality permitting.
Gilbert leaders want strict rules on data
centers, making it as hard as possible for the massive
server farms to set up shop in town. Councilmembers were
expected to take up those new rules in September. However, a
town spokesperson said the new rules won’t be addressed until
sometime in October or November. The move comes amid
pushback from residents across the Valley and the
country about data center development raising concerns about
pollution, water and energy use. Arizona Attorney
General Kris Mayes called for a halt to new data center
development in late August, citingColorado River water cuts, and a new state law
in June that put a three-year moratorium on tax breaks for data
center development.
Beneath the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the deserts
in between, lies a massive energy source — and it isn’t a
fossil fuel. The smashing and separating of tectonic plates
that produced many of the West’s most dramatic landscapes have
also allowed heat from the planet’s core to rise nearly to the
surface. Now, an explosion of new geothermal energy companies
wants to drill into the Earth and capture that heat for clean
electricity. … These new geothermal projects are located
in dry Western states because of their geology, but they face
an ironic practical challenge: Most new geothermal technologies
need water to produce power. … A company called XGS
Energy is trying to provide geothermal energy that requires
nearly no water to New Mexico, which is currently suffering a
decades-long drought.
… Project Nexus tests not one, but three different solar
canal models. A wide-span canopy rises over one of Turlock’s
115-foot canals, resembling the top of a barn. A more classic
set of slanting solar panels sits atop a 20-foot canal. And
accordion-like retractable panels are positioned low across the
narrow canal, ready to roll up at a moment’s notice.
… Roger Bales, a professor at UC Merced who co-authored
a 2021 study that helped convince the state to invest in this
pilot, said his initial calculations indicate that putting
panels over 100 miles of Turlock’s narrow canals could
save enough water for 2,700 households annually.
… Bales said shading the canals led to less
algal growth and less fixed aquatic weed growth — reducing
maintenance and improving water quality.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signedseven new data center regulations into
law Monday, as public concerns about the facilities’ demands
for water and electricity have reached a fever pitch. Newsom
signed a raft of bills that require data center
operators to report their water consumption and pay
for upgrades to offset any increased electricity grid demands.
… One of the measures was a resurrected measure from
Assemblymember Diane Papan, D-San Mateo. The governor vetoed a
similar bill last year that would have required data centers to
disclose their water usage when applying for licenses.
In Silicon Valley’s biggest city, residents and environmental
groups are organizing against a wave of proposed data center
projects that officials have courted in a bid to position the
city as a hub for AI infrastructure. The clash highlights a
challenge confronting policymakers nationwide: how to support
an industry viewed by government and business leaders as
critical to economic competitiveness while responding
to growing public concerns about the electricity, water and
pollution impacts of the infrastructure required to
power it. … The fight comes as California Governor Gavin
Newsom weighs a package of bills intended to
protect state residents from the costs of powering data centers
and increase transparency around their energy and water
use.
… [Iron] county has been developing a new ordinance for
approving such projects and other large developments like
natural gas plants or solar farms. The proposed rules
would cap water use for most data centers at 50,000
gallons per day, set limits on noise and light
pollution, require more efficient cooling systems and give the
county more control over where those projects can be built.
… Developers would have to meet criteria governing where
projects could be built and how close they can be to homes,
show that water, power and transportation are available
nearby, and minimize impacts on the environment or
agriculture. … If a project needs more than 56 acre-feet
per year, a developer could acquire more water
rights, retire them and use that as credit for more
water use, according to the draft ordinance.
La Guía para el Público en General sobre el Agua en California,
de 24 páginas, ofrece una visión integral de la historia del
desarrollo de los recursos hídricos en California y de la gestión
de los numerosos desafíos que enfrenta el estado en la
actualidad.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides a
comprehensive overview of the history of water development in
California and management of its many challenges today.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River firsthand where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to some 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hilton Garden Inn Las Vegas Strip South
7830 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89123
On this first-ever Foundation water tourwe examined water issues along the 263-mile Klamath River, from its spring-fed headwaters in south-central Oregon to its redwood-lined estuary on the Pacific Ocean in California.
Running Y Resort
5500 Running Y Rd
Klamath Falls, OR 97601
This tour explored the lower Colorado River firsthand where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to some 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hilton Garden Inn Las Vegas Strip South
7830 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89123
Learn the history and challenges facing the West’s most dramatic
and developed river.
The Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River Basin introduces the
1,450-mile river that sustains 40 million people and millions of
acres of farmland spanning seven states and parts of northern
Mexico.
The 28-page primer explains how the river’s water is shared and
managed as the Southwest transitions to a hotter and drier
climate.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River firsthand where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to some 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hilton Garden Inn Las Vegas Strip South
7830 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89123
This special Foundation water tour journeyed along the Eastern Sierra from the Truckee River to Mono Lake, through the Owens Valley and into the Mojave Desert to explore a major source of water for Southern California, this year’s snowpack and challenges for towns, farms and the environment.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River firsthand where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to some 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hyatt Place Las Vegas At Silverton Village
8380 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139
The majestic beauty of the Sierra
Nevada forest is awe-inspiring, but beneath the dazzling blue
sky, there is a problem: A century of fire suppression and
logging practices have left trees too close together. Millions of
trees have died, stricken by drought and beetle infestation.
Combined with a forest floor cluttered with dry brush and debris,
it’s a wildfire waiting to happen.
Fires devastate the Sierra watersheds upon which millions of
Californians depend — scorching the ground, unleashing a
battering ram of debris and turning hillsides into gelatinous,
stream-choking mudflows.
We explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop
of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad
sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and
climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs was the focus of this tour.
Hampton Inn Tropicana
4975 Dean Martin Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89118
This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current
state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an
overview of the geography and history of the river, historical
and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of
the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was
agreed to.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
20-minute DVD that explains the problem with polluted stormwater,
and steps that can be taken to help prevent such pollution and
turn what is often viewed as a “nuisance” into a water resource
through various activities.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
Water truly has shaped California into the great state it is
today. And if it is water that made California great, it’s the
fight over – and with – water that also makes it so critically
important. In efforts to remap California’s circulatory system,
there have been some critical events that had a profound impact
on California’s water history. These turning points not only
forced a re-evaluation of water, but continue to impact the lives
of every Californian. This 2005 PBS documentary offers a
historical and current look at the major water issues that shaped
the state we know today. Includes a 12-page viewer’s guide with
background information, historic timeline and a teacher’s lesson.
This beautiful 24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The
map text explains the many issues facing this vast,
15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration;
agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are
descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement,
and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development
of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this
24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson
River, and its link to the Truckee River. The map includes the
Lahontan Dam and reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming
areas in the basin. Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and
geography, the Newlands Project, land and water use within the
basin and wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant
from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan
Basin Area Office.
Redesigned in 2017, this beautiful map depicts the seven
Western states that share the Colorado River with Mexico. The
Colorado River supplies water to nearly 40 million people in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
and Mexico. Text on this beautiful, 24×36-inch map, which is
suitable for framing, explains the river’s apportionment, history
and the need to adapt its management for urban growth and
expected climate change impacts.
The Water Education Foundation’s second edition of
the Layperson’s Guide to The Klamath River Basin is
hot off the press and available for purchase.
Updated and redesigned, the easy-to-read overview covers the
history of the region’s tribal, agricultural and environmental
relationships with one of the West’s largest rivers — and a
vast watershed that hosts one of the nation’s oldest and
largest reclamation projects.
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.
Every five years the California Department of Water Resources
updates its strategic plan for managing the state’s water
resources, as required by state law.
The California Water Plan, or Bulletin 160, projects the
status and trends of the state’s water supplies and demands
under a range of future scenarios.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” in California. Much of the information
in the article was presented at a conference hosted by the
Groundwater Resources Association of California.
The connection between water and energy is more relevant than
ever. After existing in separate realms for years, the maxim that
it takes water to produce energy and energy to produce water has
prompted a re-thinking of management strategies, including an
emphasis on renewable energy use by water agencies.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at the energy
requirements associated with water use and the means by which
state and local agencies are working to increase their knowledge
and improve the management of both resources.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
desalination – an issue that is marked by great optimism and
controversy – and the expected role it might play as an
alternative water supply strategy.
This printed copy of Western Water examines climate change –
what’s known about it, the remaining uncertainty and what steps
water agencies are talking to prepare for its impact. Much of the
information comes from the October 2007 California Climate Change
and Water Adaptation Summit sponsored by the Water Education
Foundation and DWR and the November 2007 California Water Policy
Conference sponsored by Public Officials for Water and
Environmental Reform.
Hydropower generation is prevalent in the West, where rapidly
flowing river systems have been tapped for generations to produce
electricity. Hydropower is a clean, steady and reliable energy
source, but the damming of rivers has exacted a toll on the
environment, affecting, among other things, the migration of fish
to vestigial spawning grounds. Many of those projects are due to
be relicensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The California power crisis has made international headlines. But
what is the link between water and power in California? How is
the state’s dry spell affecting its hydropower generation? How
has the electric crisis affected water users in the state? These
questions and others are addressed in this issue of Western
Water.
