The Sacramento Valley, the northern part of the Central Valley,
spreads through 10 counties north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin
River Delta (Delta). Sacramento is an important agricultural
region, growing citrus, nuts and rice among many other crops.
Water flows from the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to the region’s
two major rivers — the Sacramento and American – and west into
the Delta. Other rivers include the Cosumnes, which is the
largest free-flowing river in the Central Valley, the lower
Feather, Bear and Yuba.
The Sacramento Valley attracts more than 2 million ducks and
geese each winter to its seasonal marshes along the Pacific
Flyway. Species include northern pintails, snow geese, tundra
swans, sandhill cranes, mallards, grebes, peregrine falcons,
heron, egrets, and hawks.
Wildlife officers with the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s (CDFW) Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) spearheaded
several enforcement investigations in August and September.
From Sept. 4-8, MET officers targeted several illegal cannabis
operations on rural private lands in Shasta, Tehama and Sutter
counties. Officers received a tip from a hunter who stumbled on
one of the trespass grow sites and reported it. As a result,
MET officers eradicated more than 5,500 illegal plants,
arrested four suspects, seized several firearms including one
stolen handgun, dismantled several water diversions and removed
thousands of pounds of trash.
In a proactive move to address the challenges posed by climate
change and to align with statewide water management objectives,
Roseville has received an $8 million grant from the California
Natural Resources Agency and Department of Water Resources.
This financial infusion, thanks to the efforts of the Regional
Water Authority and local water agencies, will help finance the
development of two groundwater wells within the city by
covering nearly half the cost. Roseville’s share is part
of a more extensive regional funding package totaling $55
million, dedicated to supporting essential groundwater
infrastructure initiatives spanning the Sacramento region.
As part of the Floodplain Forward Coalition, there are
significant efforts to re-imagine and better use our system of
flood control levees and bypasses, the farmlands in the
historic floodplain, and oxbows and other features within the
river to benefit salmon, birds, and agriculture while ensuring
the flood protection system functions well when needed. By
reactivating Sacramento River floodplains and allowing bypasses
to connect to the river more frequently and for longer
durations, the Sacramento Valley can better mimic historical
flood patterns and reintegrate natural wetland productivity
into the river ecosystem needed to promote salmon recovery
while simultaneously improving flood protection and enhancing
water security.
Jesus Campanero Jr. was a teenager when he noticed there was
something in the water. He once found a rash all over his body
after a swim in nearby Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake
in California. During summertime, an unbearable smell would
waft through the air. Then, in 2017, came the headlines, after
hundreds of fish washed up dead on the shore. “That’s when it
really started to click in my head that there’s a real issue
here,” says Campanero, now a tribal council member for the
Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians of California, whose
ancestors have called the lake home for thousands of years. The
culprit? Harmful algal blooms (HABs).
The California Department of Water Resources awarded
multimillion-dollar grants to two groundwater subbasins in
Butte County. DWR announced that the Vina subbasin, which
includes Chico and Durham, and the Wyandotte Creek subbasin,
which covers the Oroville area, are among 32 subbasins that
will receive a total of $187 million to “help support local
sustainable groundwater management.” Vina and Wyandotte Creek
each received $5.5 million. The county’s third subbasin, Butte,
did not get a grant in the funding announced this week. Tod
Kimmelshue, chair of the Butte County Board of Supervisors and
a member of the Vina subbasin board, praised the state for
supporting local efforts.
Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District (GCID) General Manager
Thaddeus L. Bettner announced his plans to resign from his
position, effective September 22, 2023. The District is
extremely appreciative of Bettner’s leadership, dedication, and
outstanding service to the District and the Sacramento Valley,
and extends to him best wishes going forward. Bettner has
worked for the District since 2006 as its General Manager. He
is a registered civil engineer and recognized expert on issues
of water and the environment. He has guided the District
through critical water policy changes while improving the
District’s infrastructure and building and investing in
partnerships. Bettner has used his 33 years of experience
across California in the water resources field to bring
innovative solutions to historically challenging problems.
Officials with the Department of Water Resources (DWR) said
maintenance work on Oroville Dam’s main spillway was expected
to start this week as construction staging equipment and
materials make their way to the worksite. Maintenance work is
expected to be performed on localized sections of the spillway
to address areas of deteriorated concrete and sealant
identified during annual inspections, DWR officials said. …
Other planned work includes the replacement of a “joint sealant
at select chute slab and wall joints that degrade over time due
to the spillway’s environment.” Officials also will inspect
51,000 feet of piping that supports the spillway’s drainage
system.
Reservoirs across the state of California remain
elevated as another wet season approaches. Following
the record wet winter, lakes and reservoirs were nearly full to
the brim as the melting snowpack made its way into them.
Following the melt-off period, Lake Shasta — the keystone of
the Central Valley Project — was at 98% capacity,
Oroville was at 100% capacity, and Folsom Lake was nearly full
as well at 95% capacity. These bodies of water were quite
parched heading into the winter due to the three years of
drought preceding the past winter’s deluge and ranged from
25-32% capacity before the atmospheric river events rolled in.
Cattle producers who own and manage land in Butte, Colusa,
Glenn, and Tehama counties are gravely concerned with the
approach adopted by Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA’s)
in our respective basin/counties, reports the California Farm
Bureau. In each of those basins, the farm bureau claims
non-extractors, or de minimis users who only pump stock water,
are reportedly being assessed acreage fees by the respective
GSAs to generate the funding required to comply with the
state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Cattle
producers are predominantly rangeland operations that do not
use groundwater, except for watering livestock, and in fact,
serve as a net recharge zone for the basins.
Think of it as water in the bank for not-so-rainy days. To help
bolster reserves, the City of Roseville and Placer County Water
Agency (PCWA) recently amended their longstanding water
agreement to allow Roseville to purchase and “bank” more water
during “wet” years. … That additional water will be stored in
the region’s vast underground aquifers for Roseville’s use as
needed.
A historic cattle ranch in California’s Solano County has been
a target of a secretive billionaire-backed group that’s been
buying up large swaths of land to create a new city northeast
of San Francisco. The latest offer of $17 million,
made in mid-July, by Flannery Associates LLC was for about 950
acres at a property known as Petersen Ranch, according to term
sheets, proposals and emails obtained by Bloomberg News through
the California Public Records Act. It was turned down by
the local water agency, which owns the land.
The Feather River Recreation and Parks District is inviting the
public to make a difference in the community by joining in the
annual Feather River Clean Up Day. … Volunteers along
with staff from FRRPD and Department of Water Resources will be
tasked with picking up trash and removing invasive plants along
the river trail from Riverbend Park to the Feather River Nature
Center and Native Plant Park. … The week prior to the
event FRRPD staff and members of the Butte County Housing
Navigation Center will be notifying homeless camped along the
river and in the parks that the clean up will be happening and
providing resources to them for relocation. The day of the
event, FRRPD staff and members of the Butte County Sheriff’s
Department will be removing homeless camps in the remote areas
of Riverbend Park.
Folsom Lake has plenty of water heading into the fall. As of
Wednesday morning, the reservoir is at 73% of capacity. That is
the highest the water level has been in early September since
2019. … At this point in the year, the reservoir is
drawn down as managers send water to local customers and
provide for environmental needs. At the same time, a notable
amount of water is lost to the dry air sitting just above it
through evaporation. … Last month, evaporation accounted
for 6,500 acre-feet of water loss at the lake, a rate of about
100 cubic feet per second. Lessard said that compared to the
size of Folsom, which can hold more than 900,000 acre-feet,
that loss is relatively small.
Lake Oroville is down 40 feet from the start of the summer when
the water level was at capacity thanks to a string of heavy
winter storms. The storms also boosted the snowpack, allowing
for consistent and often substantial runoff into the lake.
Earlier this year, the California Department of Water
Resources, which oversees the lake as well as the Oroville Dam,
began releasing water from the reservoir’s main spillway in an
effort to keep up with the inflows.
California is at yet another critical point in its struggle
toward a sustainable water future, and yet we’re still talking
about the wrong solutions. On Wednesday, the water rights
protest period for Sites Reservoir will come to a close. Sites
Reservoir is the latest in a long line of proposed dams
promising to end our cycle of water insecurity. However, Sites
won’t add much to California’s water portfolio, and its harm to
the Sacramento River, Delta ecosystem and communities that rely
on them could be irreversible and ongoing. -Written by Keiko Mertz, the Policy Director for
Friends of the River.
The saga surrounding a group of mysterious investors who have
spent more than $800 million to buy up thousands of acres of
farmland in rural Solano County has gripped Bay Area residents,
local politicians and federal government agencies. Last week,
the Chronicle reported that the investors were revealed to be a
group of Silicon Valley notables who seem to be gearing up to
build a new city. Here is what is known about the effort,
according to Chronicle reporting … And a myriad of
questions surround the project, including where its water will
come from, how developers would address the area’s risk for
flooding and extreme heat due to climate change, the impacts to
the state’s agriculture distribution chain, and transportation
concerns in an area currently serviced by a two-lane highway.
When you think about sources of planet-heating greenhouse
gases, dams and reservoirs probably aren’t some of the first
things that come to mind. But scientific research has
shown that reservoirs emit significant amounts of methane, a
potent greenhouse gas. It’s produced by decomposing plants and
other organic matter collecting near the bottom of reservoirs.
Methane bubbles up to the surface of reservoirs, and also
passes through dams and bubbles up downstream. Scientists call
these processes ebullition and degassing. …
[Experts] estimated that if [Sites] reservoir is built and
filled, it would annually emit approximately 362,000 metric
tons of emissions, measured as carbon dioxide equivalent.
The Butte County Board of Supervisors will be returning to
talks regarding a potential Flood Risk Reduction Feasibility
Study on Tuesday based on data gathered by its Public Works
Department. Stemming from discussions in both 2020 and 2021,
the public works staff was given direction by the board to work
with field experts and stakeholders to come up with a draft
study regarding Nord, Rock Creek and Keefer Slough. According
to the related agenda item, a presentation is planned for
Tuesday’s meeting that will go over the draft study, its
findings and what measures are possible for the county in
reducing the risk for these areas.
Since the city was founded in 1849, Sacramento’s drinking water
has been provided by the city. Currently, the Sacramento
Department of Utilities is currently in charge of producing the
water used by residents and businesses. According to the city,
about 80% of Sacramento’s water supply flows from the
Sacramento and American rivers with the remaining 20% coming
from 28 local groundwater wells. The Sacramento River, the
largest river in California, collects water from the Klamath
Mountains, the Cascade Range, the Coast Range and the western
slopes of the northern Sierra Nevada.
Explore the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues
associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
This tour guided participants on a virtual exploration of the Sacramento River and its tributaries and learn about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
To survive the next drought and meet
the looming demands of the state’s groundwater sustainability
law, California is going to have to put more water back in the
ground. But as other Western states have found, recharging
overpumped aquifers is no easy task.
Successfully recharging aquifers could bring multiple benefits
for farms and wildlife and help restore the vital interconnection
between groundwater and rivers or streams. As local areas around
California draft their groundwater sustainability plans, though,
landowners in the hardest hit regions of the state know they will
have to reduce pumping to address the chronic overdraft in which
millions of acre-feet more are withdrawn than are naturally
recharged.
The deadliest and most destructive
wildfire in California history had a severe impact on the water
system in the town of Paradise. Participants on our Oct. 2-4
Northern California
Tour will hear from Kevin Phillips, general manager of
Paradise Irrigation District, on the scope of the damages, the
obstacles to recovery and the future of the water district.
The Camp Fire destroyed 90 percent of the structures in Paradise,
and 90 percent of the irrigation district’s ratepayer base. The
fire did not destroy the irrigation district’s water storage or
treatment facilities, but it did melt plastic pipes, releasing
contaminants into parts of the system and prompting do-not-drink
advisories to water customers.
Get an up-close look at some of
California’s key water reservoirs and learn about farming
operations, salmon habitat restoration, flood management and
wetlands on our Northern California Water Tour Oct. 2-4.
Each year, participants on the tour enjoy three days exploring
the Sacramento Valley during the temperate fall. Join us as we
travel through a scenic landscape along the Sacramento and
Feather rivers to learn about issues associated with storing
and delivering the state’s water supply.
Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona
governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful,
provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most
high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including
groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of
California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former
California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to
work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
the Delta tunnels plan.
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the
issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour
participants got an on-site update of Oroville Dam spillway
repairs.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
An hour’s drive north of Sacramento sits a picture-perfect valley hugging the eastern foothills of Northern California’s Coast Range, with golden hills framing grasslands mostly used for cattle grazing.
Back in the late 1800s, pioneer John Sites built his ranch there and a small township, now gone, bore his name. Today, the community of a handful of families and ranchers still maintains a proud heritage.
Farmers in the Central Valley are broiling about California’s plan to increase flows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems to help struggling salmon runs avoid extinction. But in one corner of the fertile breadbasket, River Garden Farms is taking part in some extraordinary efforts to provide the embattled fish with refuge from predators and enough food to eat.
And while there is no direct benefit to one farm’s voluntary actions, the belief is what’s good for the fish is good for the farmers.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin
rivers are the two major Central Valley waterways that feed the
Delta, the hub of California’s water supply
network. Our last water tours of
2018 will look in-depth at how these rivers are managed and
used for agriculture, cities and the environment. You’ll see
infrastructure, learn about efforts to restore salmon runs and
talk to people with expertise on these rivers.
Get an up-close look at some of
California’s key water reservoirs and learn about farming
operations, habitat restoration, flood management and wetlands in
the Sacramento Valley on our Northern California Water Tour
Oct. 10-12.
Each year, participants on the Northern California Water Tour
enjoy three days exploring the Sacramento Valley during the
temperate fall. Join us as we travel through a scenic landscape
along the Sacramento and Feather rivers to learn about
issues associated with storing and delivering the state’s water
supply.
More than a decade in the making, an
ambitious plan to deal with the vexing problem of salt and
nitrates in the soils that seep into key groundwater basins of
the Central Valley is moving toward implementation. But its
authors are not who you might expect.
An unusual collaboration of agricultural interests, cities, water
agencies and environmental justice advocates collaborated for
years to find common ground to address a set of problems that
have rendered family wells undrinkable and some soil virtually
unusable for farming.
New water storage is the holy grail
primarily for agricultural interests in California, and in 2014
the door to achieving long-held ambitions opened with the passage
of Proposition
1, which included $2.7 billion for the public benefits
portion of new reservoirs and groundwater storage projects. The
statute stipulated that the money is specifically for the
benefits that a new storage project would offer to the ecosystem,
water quality, flood control, emergency response and recreation.
Despite the heat that often
accompanies debates over setting aside water for the environment,
there are instances where California stakeholders have forged
agreements to provide guaranteed water for fish. Here are two
examples cited by the Public Policy Institute of California in
its report arguing for an environmental water right.
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the
issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour
participants got an on-site update of repair efforts on the
Oroville Dam spillway.
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as we learned about the issues
associated with a key source for the state’s water supply. All
together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. This year,
special attention was paid to the flood event at Oroville Dam and
the efforts to repair the dam spillway before the next rainy
season.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin are the two major rivers in the
Central Valley that feed the Delta, the hub of
California’s water supply network.
Our last two water tours of 2017 will take in-depth looks at how
these rivers are managed and used for agriculture, cities and the
environment. You’ll see infrastructure, learn about efforts to
restore salmon runs and talk to people with expertise on these
rivers.
Each year, participants on the Northern California Water Tour
enjoy three days exploring the Sacramento Valley during the
temperate fall. Join us as we travel along the Sacramento and
Feather rivers through a scenic landscape and learn about
issues associated with storing and delivering the state’s water
supply.
Protecting and restoring California’s populations of threatened
and endangered Chinook salmon and steelhead trout have been a big
part of the state’s water management picture for more than 20
years. Significant resources have been dedicated to helping the
various runs of the iconic fish, with successes and setbacks. In
a landscape dramatically altered from its natural setting,
finding a balance between the competing demands for water is
challenging.
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.
Less than 50 miles northeast of Chico, California, begins the
93-mile Butte Creek – a tributary of the Sacramento River. It is named
after Butte County, which was in turn named for the nearby
volcanic plateaus, or “buttes,” and travels through a massive
canyon on its way southwest to the Sacramento Valley.
As a watershed, it drains about 800 square miles, both for
agricultural and residential use. The upper watershed is
dominated by forests, while the lower watershed is primarily
agricultural.
A new era of groundwater management
began in 2014 with the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA), which aims for local and regional agencies
to develop and implement sustainable groundwater management
plans with the state as the backstop.
SGMA defines “sustainable groundwater management” as the
“management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be
maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without
causing undesirable results.”
This handbook provides crucial
background information on the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act, signed into law in 2014 by Gov. Jerry Brown. The handbook
also includes a section on options for new governance.
This 24-page booklet traces the development of the
landmark Water Forum Agreement, signed in April 2000 by 40
Sacramento region water purveyors, public officials, community
group leaders, environmentalists and business representatives.
The publication also offers insight on lessons learned by
Water Forum participants.
This 24-page booklet details the conflict between
environmentalists, fish organizations and the Yuba County Water
Agency and how it was resolved through the Lower Yuba River
Accord – a unique agreement supported by 18 agencies and
non-governmental organizations. The publication details
the history and hydrology of the Yuba River, past and present
environmental concerns, and conflicts over dam operations and
protecting endangered fish is included.
This 30-minute documentary, produced in 2011, explores the past,
present and future of flood management in California’s Central
Valley. It features stories from residents who have experienced
the devastating effects of a California flood firsthand.
Interviews with long-time Central Valley water experts from
California Department of Water Resources (FloodSAFE), U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Central Valley Flood
Management Program and environmental groups are featured as they
discuss current efforts to improve the state’s 150-year old flood
protection system and develop a sustainable, integrated, holistic
flood management plan for the Central Valley.
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.
15-minute DVD that graphically portrays the potential disaster
should a major earthquake hit the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
“Delta Warning” depicts what would happen in the event of an
earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale: 30 levee breaks,
16 flooded islands and a 300 billion gallon intrusion of salt
water from the Bay – the “big gulp” – which would shut down the
State Water Project and Central Valley Project pumping plants.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
Fashioned after the popular California Water Map, this 24×36 inch
poster was extensively re-designed in 2017 to better illustrate
the value and use of groundwater in California, the main types of
aquifers, and the connection between groundwater and surface
water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Flood Management explains the
physical flood control system, including levees; discusses
previous flood events (including the 1997 flooding); explores
issues of floodplain management and development; provides an
overview of flood forecasting; and outlines ongoing flood control
projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various CVP facilities, CVP operations, the benefits the CVP
brought to the state and the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
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.
This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the
Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at
improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying
California’s long-term water supply reliability.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the issues
associated with the State Water Board’s proposed revision of the
water quality Bay-Delta Plan, most notably the question of
whether additional flows are needed for the system, and how they
might be provided.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the challenges facing
small water systems, including drought preparedness, limited
operating expenses and the hurdles of complying with costlier
regulations. Much of the article is based on presentations at the
November 2007 Small Systems Conference sponsored by the Water
Education Foundation and the California Department of Water
Resources.
