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.
A Tehama County project is among the Wildlife Conservation
Board’s (WCB) selection of approved projects to be funded
through $24.46 million in grants to help restore and protect
fish and wildlife habitat throughout California. Some of the 16
approved projects will benefit fish and wildlife – including
some endangered species, while others will provide public
access to important natural resources. Several projects will
also demonstrate the importance of protecting working
landscapes that integrate economic, social and environmental
stewardship practices beneficial to the environment, landowners
and the local community.
Spring runs of a large minnow numbering in the millions have
nourished Pomo Indians since they first made their home
alongside Northern California’s Clear Lake more than 400
generations ago. The Clear Lake hitch glinted like silver
dollars as they headed up the lake’s tributaries to spawn, a
reliable squirming crop of plenty, steeped in history and tasty
when salted and dried like jerky. In all that time, the
hitch’s domain, about 110 miles northwest of Sacramento, had
never suffered the degradation of recent years. Now, with
a growing sense of sorrow, if not anger, the Pomo Indian tribes
of Clear Lake are watching the symbol of abundance and security
they call chi dwindle into extinction…. The
hitch is a 12-inch-long minnow found only in and around the
oldest, largest and perhaps most polluted and wildfire-prone
watershed in California.
December is cutting in line and bringing its entourage of rain,
wind and snow to Northern California this week. Bay Area
residents are already getting a taste of this
upcoming shift in the weather pattern as bitter, cold air
sweeps into the region today. This cold air will be
followed up by a winter storm that will bring strong winds and
rounds of rain to most of Northern California…. The
bitter cold air mass settling in Tuesday will help keep the
snowline in the Sierra Nevada close to 1,000 feet through the
rest of the week…. This means that parts of the Sierra
Nevada, including Donner Pass and several ski resorts above
7,000 feet like Kirkwood and Palisades could end up seeing as
much as 4 feet of snow between Thursday and Friday.
On Nov. 3, I had the pleasure of spending the day with a group
of unsung heroes cleaning up the shoreline of Borax Lake. This
day was in the planning for over a year by a small group of
residents that realized the drought and low lake level
presented the opportunity of a lifetime to clean up the
littered Borax Lake shoreline. Barbara Christwitz of Citizens
Caring for Clearlake contacted me one day and said that Calpine
had reached out to her and wanted to send some volunteers to
help. -Written by Dave Sena, a resident of Clearlake.
As California prepares for a fourth consecutive year of drought
and farmland across the Golden State increasingly goes idle,
growers continue to face mounting economic challenges. In a new
report about the financial toll of the state’s extreme drought
conditions, researchers estimated that the state’s irrigated
farmland dropped by 752,000 acres, or nearly 10%, from 2019 to
2022. Fields meant to harvest rice, almonds and other crops are
instead going unplanted, causing the level of fallowed land
across California to surpass the prior peak seen during the
state’s last drought that ran from 2012 to 2016. As a result,
the researchers found, California crop revenues fell by $1.7
billion, or 4.6%, during that time …
In the fall, rice fields in the Sacramento Valley usually shine
golden brown as they await harvesting. This year, however, many
fields were left covered with bare dirt. “It’s a disaster,”
said rice farmer Don Bransford. “This has never happened.
Never. And I’ve been farming since 1980.” … California
has just gone through the state’s driest three-year period on
record, and this year the drought has pushed the fallowing of
farmland to a new high. In a new report on the
drought’s economic effects, researchers estimated that
California’s irrigated farmland shrank by 752,000 acres, or
nearly 10%, in 2022 compared with 2019 — the year prior to the
drought. That was up from an estimated 563,000 acres of
fallowed farmland last year.
Sacramento County officials on Friday said that two fuel tanks
at a Sacramento gas station have leaked gasoline into soil and
groundwater, though the risk to the general public is “very
low.” The county said the leak happened with two
underground fuel tanks at Bonfare Market and Gas Station, which
is located at 2600 Rio Linda Boulevard. A third underground
tank was not found to be faulty. The tanks have since been
emptied and are offline, the county said. The issues stem
from an initial report of a leak in February 2022, county
spokesperson Samantha Mott said. One tank was immediately
emptied and put out of service and an initial assessment did
not reveal groundwater contamination. Later, an
investigation as part of a clean-up plan found that gasoline
contamination had migrated, exposing groundwater to
contamination.
The wheels keep turning in the large-scale Glenn County water
project to help those with dry and drying wells connect to the
city of Orland’s water lines. Over the course of the past year,
the city has been working to connect those on wells within city
limits to the source. Orland City Manager Pete Carr said the
city has connected roughly 12 out of 34 of those households so
far. Carr added that the city expects to have all 34 homes
connected within the next couple of months. As part of the
overall project, DWR has provided some additional funding to
help the city drill a second well and put in an additional
water tank to up the storage in anticipation of the new
customers outside of the county, which consists of about 160
households.
The latest drought monitor, released Thursday, showed some
minor improvements in drought status. Most of these
improvements came along California’s northern coast but the
areas experiencing the worst of the drought, like the San
Joaquin Valley, saw no improvement. The monitor stops
collecting data for its weekly updates at 4 a.m. Pacific time,
so much of the rain that fell from the early week storm was not
accounted for on this week’s update. This means the state may
be in a bit better shape on next week’s monitor, but still has
a long way to go to escape drought.
There are many wonderful attributes in the Sacramento Valley
with a central ingredient being the talented water resources
managers who work in this region and are devoted to ridgetop to
river mouth water management that serves water for multiple
benefits. To get a better glimpse into the region and see the
talented managers and the multi-disciplinary approach they
pursue every day to continually improve water management, we
encourage you to read this series, which starts below with
Kristin Sicke’s personal story, or you can listen to
the various personal stories on podcast at Stories You Haven’t Heard.
The Butte County Board of Supervisors will be unveiling,
discussing and likely approving its 2023 Infrastructure Master
Plan as compiled by its Public Works Department at its meeting
Tuesday. Each year the board goes through this process to
determine infrastructure needs. … Presentations will be
provided regarding the California drought as well as an update
on activities by Groundwater Sustainability Agencies.
For the first time since the water year began on Oct. 1,
measurable rain and snow fell across Northern California on
Tuesday. Of course, this isn’t the first time the region has
seen rain this fall season. Between Sept. 18 and 21, downtown
Sacramento picked up nearly half an inch of rain. Some spots in
the Foothills saw over an inch of rainfall during that same
stretch. … September’s rain was a very short break in an
otherwise relentless period of unusually warm weather. The
month was officially downtown Sacramento’s warmest September on
record with data going back to 1877. October got off to a
blazing fast start as well until a long-awaited cool-down last
week. … But as November begins, it appears as though the
overall atmospheric pattern will shift to favor cooler and
damper conditions in much of the U.S. West.
The foundation of California’s water supply and the catalyst
for the state’s 20th century population and economic growth is
cracking. More exactly, it’s disappearing. Climate change is
eroding the mountain snowpack that has traditionally melted in
the spring and summer to fill rivers and reservoirs across the
West. … California officials expect the state could lose
10 percent of its water supply by 2040 … Hoping to get
ahead of that dismal forecast, managers of a major Sierra
Nevada watershed east of Sacramento are replumbing their water
systems to better handle bursts of rain instead of trickling
snowmelt. Their “Supershed Approach” to replace the loss of the
once-reliable snowmelt calls for climate adaptation projects
that stretch from the headwaters of the American River west of
Lake Tahoe, to the foothills and down to the valley floor in
Sacramento.
Hundreds of wild pigs are destroying yards, flower beds and
more in the Lake area. However, this isn’t exactly a new thing
for Shasta County. The county has had a large population of
wild pigs for years—from Redding all the way to the Bay Area.
… Wild pigs are also nothing new for California as a
whole. In fact, even though the pigs are a nonnative species,
they have been around for years and are now as common as deer
in some places; causing chaos in local communities and forcing
residents to get creative while protecting their yards.
… There have been a lot more pigs within the Lake
community than ever before, but this can be another result of
California’s infamous drought.
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).
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
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.
