Header link June 22, 2020

LinkedIn

  • Read more
Header link September 15, 2014

Cart

  • Read more
Header link November 3, 2015

Donate Now

  • Read more
Header link May 15, 2014

Twitter

  • Read more
Header link May 15, 2014

Facebook

  • Read more
Instagram
Header link May 15, 2014

Instagram

  • Read more
Header link May 15, 2014

Contact Us

  • Read more
More options
Water Education Foundation
Home
Water Education Foundation
Everything about California water that matters
  • Water Academy
    • Agriculture
      • Agricultural Conservation
      • Agricultural Drainage
    • Background Information
      • Legislation — California and Federal
      • Regulations — California and Federal
      • Water History
      • Water Rights
    • Bay-Delta
      • Bay Delta
      • Bay Delta Conservation Plan
      • Delta Issues
      • Delta Smelt
      • Sacramento San Joaquin Delta
      • San Francisco Bay
      • Suisun Marsh
    • Dams, Reservoirs and Water Projects
      • California Aqueduct
      • Central Valley Project
      • Folsom Dam
      • Friant Dam
      • Hetch Hetchy
      • Hoover Dam
      • Infrastructure
      • Lake Mead
      • Lake Powell
      • Oroville Dam
      • San Luis Dam
      • Shasta Dam
      • State Water Project
    • Environmental Issues
      • Anadromous Fish Restoration
      • Ecosystem
      • Endangered Species Act
      • Invasive species
      • Lake Tahoe
      • Mono Lake
      • Public Trust Doctrine
      • Salmon
      • San Joaquin River Restoration
      • Watershed
      • Wetlands
    • Leaders and Experts
    • Regions
      • Central Coast
      • Central Valley
      • Mexico
      • Nevada
      • North Coast
      • Pyramid Lake
      • Sacramento Valley
      • Salton Sea
      • San Joaquin Valley
      • Sierra Nevada
      • Southern California
      • Tulare Lake Basin
    • Rivers
      • Carson River
      • Colorado River
      • Klamath River
      • New River
      • North Coast Rivers
      • Russian River
      • Sacramento River
      • Truckee River
      • San Joaquin River
    • Water Issues
      • Climate Change
      • Coronavirus
      • Drought
      • Earthquakes
      • Energy and Water
      • Floods
      • Fracking
      • Growth
      • Hydropower
      • Levees
      • Tribal Water Issues
      • Water Conservation
      • Water Equity
    • Water Quality
      • Drinking Water
      • Nitrate contamination
      • Pollution
      • Stormwater
      • Wastewater
      • Water Quality
    • Water Supply and Management
      • Acre Foot
      • Aquifers
      • California Water Plan
      • Conjunctive Use
      • Desalination
      • Grey water
      • Groundwater
      • Integrated Regional Water Management
      • Recreation
      • Surface Water
      • Water Marketing and Banking
      • Water Rates
      • Water Recycling
      • Water Supply
      • Water Transfers
  • Tours & Events
    • Water Tours
      • 2023 Tour Sponsors
    • Events
    • Event Calendar
    • Past Tours & Events
      • Anne J. Schneider Fund Lecture Series
  • Specialized Programs
    • Water Leaders
      • Class Rosters
      • Yearly Class Reports
      • Your Alumni Network
      • Alumni Profiles
    • Project WET
      • Workshops
      • Special Workshops & Events
      • Supplementary Materials
      • California Content Standard Correlations
      • Facilitator's Trainings
      • Foundation School Programs
        • Elementary Programs
        • Secondary Programs
      • Water Kids
      • California Project WET Gazette
      • Gazette Archives
    • Colorado River Project
    • GRA Scholastic Fund Program
  • Maps & Guides
    • Maps & Posters
    • Layperson's Guides
    • Map & Guide Bundles
    • Books
    • Colorado River Materials
    • California Runoff Rundown
    • Other Publications
    • Water Awareness Materials
    • Downloadable Publications
    • Videos and DVDs
      • Video Clips
    • School Age Publications
    • Stickers
    • Free Programs and Publications
  • Newsroom
    • Western Water News
    • Aquafornia
      • About Aquafornia
    • Information Desk
    • Western Water Magazine Archive
      • Full Print Edition
      • Print Edition Excerpts
    • River Report Archive
  • Aquapedia
    • Alphabetical List of Subjects
      • A
      • B
      • C
      • D
      • E
      • F
      • G
      • H
      • I
      • J
      • K
      • L
      • M
      • N
      • O
      • P
      • Q
      • R
      • S
      • T
      • U
      • V
      • W
      • X
      • Y
      • Z
    • Historical Water People
    • Where Does My Water Come From?
      • Northern California
      • Sacramento
      • North Bay
      • South Bay
      • Central Valley
      • Los Angeles
      • Inland Empire
      • San Diego
      • All California Water Sources
    • Timelines
    • Videos
    • Image Gallery
    • Water Directory
      • Federal Agencies
      • State Agencies in California
      • Environmental Organizations
      • Other California Organizations
      • State and Federal Legislative Committees
      • Water Associations and Groups
      • Western States Water Agencies and Districts
    • Online Resources
    • Useful Acronyms
    • About Aquapedia
  • About
    • About Us
      • Board of Directors
      • Staff Biographies
      • Job Openings
    • Announcements
    • Support Our Mission
      • Become a Member
      • Donate in Honor/Memory
      • Donate to Aquapedia or Aquafornia
      • Shop Amazon
      • Planned Giving
    • Contact Us

Topic: Tribal Water Issues

Overview April 24, 2014

Tribal Water Issues

  • Read more
Aquafornia news May 31, 2023 Arizona Republic

Climate change adds questions to Supreme Court case on Navajo water

News of water shortages, exacerbated by climate change, population growth, mining and other development, is everywhere these days in the American Southwest. But on the Navajo Reservation, a sovereign tribal nation that sits on about 16 million acres in northeast Arizona, southern Utah and western New Mexico, nearly 10,000 homes have never had running water. How that can and should be resolved is one aspect of a case brought before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 20, with the justices’ decision due any day now.

Related article: 

  • Navajo-Hopi Observer: Tribes to receive $48 mil to repair and revitalize water systems 
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 30, 2023 North Bay Business Journal

Tribe taps Sonoma County wineries, farms to save Russian River water

To hear water stakeholders tell their stories, the connection to the Russian River is every bit as personal and spiritual as it is professional in nature. Take, for instance, Dry Creek Rancheria Tribal Chairman Chris Wright. The Pomo Indians tribal leader is spearheading a major grant-funded, multi-million-dollar, drought-resistant water capture plan. He hopes it will spark interest from Healdsburg-area wineries and farms in a 7,000-acre area to help with the water supply that keeps the Russian River economic microcosm going. … The phased-in project aims to replenish the groundwater basin with up to 9,000-acre feet of water savings annually, when the Russian River increases to high flows. Traditionally, that stormwater runoff represents a wasted supply.

Related article: 

  • The Press Democrat: Environmental nonprofits sue Sonoma County over groundwater well regulations
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 26, 2023 Herald and News

Reclamation releases surface flushing flow

Shortly after sunrise on April 19, employees of PacifiCorp and the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) opened all six outlet gates along with nine of the spillway bays on Link River Dam, initiating this year’s “surface flushing flow” for the Klamath River. … The surface flushing flow is based on 2017 “guidance document” prepared by scientists and policy advisors from the Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa Valley tribes. Reclamation formally adopted the surface flushing flow as part of Klamath Project operations in 2019, after being required by a federal court to implement these flows in 2017 and 2018. The purpose of the flushing flow is to disturb river sediment and thereby dislodge the colonies of microscopic worms that act as an intermediate host for Ceratanova shasta, a parasite that infects salmonids.

Related articles: 

  • CA Department of Fish and Wildlife: News release - CDFW announces $20.4 million in grant funding to protect salmon habitat and other California Fish and Wildlife species statewide
  • Daily Kos: The Karuk Tribe, PCFFA call on water board to mandate Scott River flows, avert extinction event
  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Tribes on the Klamath River struggle to save their salmon and way of life in the face of a changing climate
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 25, 2023 Delta Stewardship Council

Blog: How we can all be guardians of the Delta – What we heard at our Tribal Listening Session

Before colonial and American expansion, California’s Delta watershed was occupied by the original guardians of the Delta. These were the Native Peoples of the numerous villages and Tribes of the Bay Miwok, Coast Miwok, Plains Miwok, Maidu, Nisenan, Ohlone, Patwin, Pomo, Wappo, Wintun, and Yokuts. Today, those original villages and Tribes are represented by many local tribal groups that still have a deep connection to the Delta watershed from Mount Shasta to the Tulare Basin. As the Council works towards its mission of achieving the coequal goals, we must partner with Native American Tribes to ensure their lived experiences and perspectives are heard and reflected in our shared work to create a more resilient Delta. This is why the listening session the Council held in April was so crucial. 

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 25, 2023 Arizona Mirror

Gila River Indian Community breaks ground on pipeline project to address Colorado River drought

Only a month after finalizing funding agreements, the Gila River Indian Community broke ground on its new Reclaimed Water Pipeline Project to help the community with water resources and conserve more water in Lake Mead. The 19.4-mile pipeline was developed in record time, said Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis, and the community “continues to lead the way in addressing the historic drought impacting Arizona and the Southwest.” Tribal leaders, federal and state officials, and project and construction leaders gathered on May 19 for a groundbreaking ceremony at the construction site for the first phase of the Reclaimed Water Pipeline Project near Sacaton.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 19, 2023 Daily Kos

Blog: Groups, Tribes left out of Yuba River fish passage plan as salmon-killing water projects forge ahead

In a widely-broadcasted press conference held on the banks of the lower Yuba River yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom, the Yuba Water Agency, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced a controversial plan to build a fish passage canal around Daguerre Point Dam and begin a reintroduction trap-and- haul effort around New Bullards Bar Dam. Shockingly, no representatives of fishing groups, environmental groups and Tribes were invited to be part of the negotiations for the restoration effort nor invited to the press conference by a state government that has constantly gushed about “inclusion” and “diversity” but has done the very opposite in practice.

Related article: 

  • Northern California Water Association: Partnering to restore the Yuba River for native fish and water supply
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 19, 2023 Press Democrat

Russian-Eel river stakeholders launch new effort to find path forward without defunct power plant

They come from four counties and have only months to work. Their interests often diverge and sometimes even conflict with one another. But they have a common goal: Find a path forward in a world without Pacific Gas & Electric’s Potter Valley power plant. The stakeholders include water providers, agricultural users and elected officials whose constituents depend on diversions from the Eel River to help fill Lake Mendocino and feed the upper Russian River in Mendocino and Sonoma counties. They also include fishery interests that want two aging dams removed from the Eel River to improve fish passage and restore the river’s ecological function.

Related article: 

  • KRCR – Redding: Five groups sue PG&E, claim project harms endangered fish in Eel River 
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 19, 2023 Newswatch 12 - Medford

First Klamath River dam to be removed by end of summer

Preliminary construction work has begun as the Klamath River Renewal Corporation prepares to remove a total of four dams. Copco 2 — the first dam to go — will be removed from the Klamath River by the end of September, according to Mark Bransom, CEO of the KRRC. … The other three dams — Copco 1, Iron Gate Dam and the John C. Boyle Dam — will be removed by the end of 2024. Bransom says up to 400 crew members will be working on this project through the end of next year. Right now, multiple recreation sites near Copco 2 have been shut down to allow more room for construction teams and traffic. As a result, local recreation businesses like rafting companies may see fewer customers this summer.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 18, 2023 Herald and News

Klamath Tribes collaborates with other agencies to return Chinook salmon to Upper Klamath Basin

There is a stir of excitement at the Klamath Tribes Ambodat Department with the first steps being taken to bring Chinook salmon back to their Klamath homeland. Recently, Shahnie Rich and Lottie Riddle, Klamath Tribal members and employees at Ambodat, joined a team of biologists and partners in tagging juvenile Chinook in order to study their downstream movement through the Upper Klamath Basin. Rich was one of several fish surgeons that implanted acoustic tags in the juvenile salmon to track their movements from their release sites on the Wood and Williamson Rivers, through Upper Klamath Lake and downstream in the Klamath River. This was a collaborative effort involving the Klamath Tribes, Trout Unlimited, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Cal Poly Humboldt, Oregon State University, U.S. Geological Survey, National Marine Fisheries Service and U.C. Davis.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 17, 2023 The New York Times

Burning Man becomes latest adversary in geothermal feud

Burning Man and [the town of] Gerlach are more tightly aligned, joining conservationists and a Native American tribe in an alliance against a powerful adversary: Ormat Technology, the largest geothermal power company in the country. Both Burning Man and Ormat share a vision for a greener future, yet neither can agree on the road to get there. … Ormat has 15 plants in Nevada, which together contribute 433 megawatts to the state’s electrical grid — enough to power 325,000 homes. Geothermal environments, including hot springs, geysers and steam vents found along the “Ring of Fire,” the tectonic pathway encircling the Pacific Ocean, are home to a wide range of biodiverse ecosystems. They can also serve as sacred sites for Indigenous tribes and supply spring water to rural towns like Gerlach.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 15, 2023 Sentient Media

How Western cattle ranchers cut off indigenous water rights

The question of who has the right to use Colorado River water is determined by law. Allocations are determined according to priority — but some users have rights to more water because they have older rights or were awarded higher priority.  A 1908 U.S. Supreme Court decision established what became known as the Winters Doctrine, which recognized that tribes should have the right to enough water to establish a permanent homeland within their reservation boundaries. When interpreted fairly, this means Native tribes have some of the most senior rights to Colorado River water.  In practice, however, tribes have been granted a mere fraction of these rights.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 10, 2023 KUNC - Greeley, Colo.

Decades of effort have a Navajo community on the verge of clean water access

About 45 minutes west of Albuquerque, N.M., past miles of desert and a remote casino, is the turn off for To’Hajiilee, a non-contiguous part of the Navajo Nation. About 2,000 people live here and none of them have indoor access to good drinking water. … While To’Hajiilee’s isolation from the rest of the Navajo Nation makes it somewhat unique, its lack of access to clean drinking water is common across the sprawling reservation that stretches across parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Those living on the Navajo Nation are 67 times more likely to not have running water or a toilet than other Americans, according to the U.S. Water Alliance. It’s evident here that, as a 2021 national report by the alliance and DigDeep found, “race is the strongest predictor of water and sanitation access.”

Related articles: 

  • The Hill: High percentages of Black, Hispanic Americans worried about tainted water: poll
  • Colorado Public Radio: Indigenous tribes were pushed away from the Colorado River. A new generation is fighting to save it.
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 8, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Native tribe faces displacement after California wildfire

The land near Yosemite National Park had been tended by Irene Vasquez’s family for decades. They took care of their seven acres by setting small fires to thin vegetation and help some plants to grow. But the steep, chaparral-studded slopes surrounding the property hadn’t seen fire since Vasquez and fellow members of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation were barred from practicing cultural burning on a wider scale some 100 years before. When a wildfire swept through in July, the dense vegetation stoked flames that destroyed Vasquez’s home and transformed the land into a scarred moonscape. With that, she became one of many Indigenous residents to watch her ancestral territory burn in recent years, despite knowing the outcome could have been different.

Related articles: 

  • Yale Climate Connections: California’s forests are packed with dead trees. Harvesting them could cut wildfire risk.
  • EcoWatch: U.S. forests struggling to adapt fast enough to climate change, study finds
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 5, 2023 US Environmental Protection Agency

News release: EPA proposes to establish first-time clean water act protections for over 250 tribes

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced proposed federal baseline water quality standards for waterbodies on Indian reservations that do not have Clean Water Act standards, ensuring protections for over half a million people living on Indian reservations as well as critical aquatic ecosystems. Fifty years ago, Congress established a goal in the Clean Water Act (CWA) that waters should support fishing and swimming wherever attainable. All states and 47 Tribes have established standards consistent with that goal. However, the majority of U.S. Tribes with Indian reservations lack such water quality standards. This proposal would extend the same framework of water quality protection that currently exists for most other waters of the United States to waters of over 250 Tribes and is the result of decades of coordination and partnership with Tribes.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 4, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Seeking to save salmon, tribe signs pact with California

A California tribe has signed agreements with state and federal agencies to work together on efforts to return endangered Chinook salmon to their traditional spawning areas upstream of Shasta Dam, a deal that could advance the long-standing goal of tribal leaders to reintroduce fish that were transplanted from California to New Zealand more than a century ago and still thrive there. Members of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe have long sought to restore a wild salmon population in the McCloud River north of Redding, where their ancestors once lived. The agreements that were signed this week for the first time formally recognize the tribe as a partner participating in efforts to save the endangered winter-run Chinook salmon.

Related articles: 

  • Daily Kos: Winnemem Wintu and state and federal partners join to return endangered salmon to historic habitat
  • NOAA Fisheries news release: Central California Coast Coho Salmon Need Restored Habitat to Improve Resilience to Climate Change
  • NOAA Fisheries news release: South-Central California Coast Steelhead Maintain Threatened Listing Status
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 4, 2023 Arizona Daily Sun

In second annual trip, RIISE program to bring young Native Americans down Colorado River

As young Native Americans took the leap from the cliff next to Pumpkin Springs into the cold waters of the Colorado River, Amber Benally knew the trip had been special. It was the summer of 2022 and the last full day on the river as part of the Grand Canyon Trust’s Rising Leaders Program. Throughout the journey, the 14 Native Americans had navigated through more than just the white water. … Now, Benally said, the Grand Canyon Trust, collaborating with the Grand Canyon Youth, are organizing another trip as part of the Regional Intertribal Intergenerational Stewardship Expedition (RIISE). Benally said they are currently taking applications for the free trip from Native Americans aged 16 to 20 years old and associated with one of the 11 tribes with connections to the Grand Canyon.

Related article: 

  • Durango Herald: Q&A - Durango water-rights activist uses social media to educate 
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 4, 2023 Lake County News

Big Valley Pomo respond to federal decision not to give Clear Lake hitch emergency listing

In the wake of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saying it will not grant an emergency Endangered Species Act listing for the Clear Lake hitch, the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians voiced its disappointment with the decision. On Tuesday, Fish and Wildlife announced that it wouldn’t give the listing, which the California Fish and Game Commission, Lake County’s tribes and the Center for Biological Diversity asked for the agency to do last year. The hitch, a fish native to Clear Lake, is known as the “chi” to Lake County’s tribes, for whom it has had an important cultural role due to being a primary food source historically.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 3, 2023 American Bar Association

Blog: Tribal rights, water rights, states’ rights and the Colorado River: What’s at stake in the SCOTUS case, Arizona v. Navajo Nation

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Arizona v. Navajo Nation, No. 21-1484, a case consolidated with a separate petition for certiorari filed by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), No. 21-51. The consolidated cases involve a water rights case initially brought by the Navajo Nation against DOI. The states of Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado, along with six major municipal and agricultural water providers with adjudicated rights to the Colorado River in the Lower Basin, intervened in the case. Those states and public water providers (Intervenors) filed the petition for certiorari seeking review of the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 3, 2023 CBS - San Francisco

Historic partnership penned to help save endangered salmon

Over the past year we’ve been showing you California’s effort to save the winter run chinook salmon – a fish that has almost been lost to dammed rivers and warming waters. It’s part of a growing partnership between state and federal wildlife agencies – and a small California tribe that’s been fighting to save those fish for years, and bring them back home. On Monday, a historic pact was signed to expand on those efforts … For Sisk and the Winnemem Tribe this day would have seemed improbable, or impossible, just a few years ago. A tiny California tribe without federal recognition, signing a formal agreement with state and federal partners. When the moment arrived to actually sign the documents, the tribe’s spiritual leader couldn’t help but acknowledge generations of mistrust.

Related articles: 

  • Northern California Water Association: Ricelands Salmon Project Update
  • Record Searchlight: California, federal agencies and Native tribe sign agreement
  • KPCW – Park City, Utah: Healing the Eel River
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 2, 2023 CA Department of Fish and Wildlife

News release: Tribe, state and federal partners join to return endangered salmon to historic habitat

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Fisheries and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe signed agreements to restore Chinook salmon to the mountains north of Redding, California, on May 1, 2023. The agreements support a joint effort to return Chinook salmon to their original spawning areas in cold mountain rivers now blocked by Shasta Reservoir in northern California. The goal is ecological and cultural restoration which will one day renew fishing opportunities for the tribe that depended on the once-plentiful salmon for food and much more. The tribe signed a co-management agreement with CDFW and a co-stewardship agreement with NOAA Fisheries, reflecting the way the two agencies describe accords with tribes. This three-way collaboration is a historic achievement that advances our common goals.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 28, 2023 NPR

Tribal nations were once excluded from Colorado River talks. Now they’re key players

This Spring, a high level delegation met inside the Arizona Governor’s office to announce a huge water conservation deal. The crowd was a who’s who of the western water world, including top Biden administration officials, the head of Arizona’s powerful water department, the state’s Governor Katie Hobbs, and its senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema. But the man at the center of the announcement was someone who probably wouldn’t have even been invited to this type of event not too long ago: Governor Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 28, 2023 USC News

Colorado River water plan could trigger unprecedented supply cuts

Earlier this month, the Biden administration proposed a plan to distribute cuts from the Colorado River and resolve the centurylong legal dispute between states across the American Southwest that share its water supplies. Decades of drought and overuse have brought the river’s water levels to historic lows. States in the Lower Colorado River Basin — Arizona, California and Nevada — now must choose between one of three options proposed by the federal government. The outcome of these talks will have far-reaching implications for agriculture and energy in the region.

Related article

  • Forbes: Opinion: Sharing The Pain In The Colorado River
  • Discover Magazine: Water in the West: Before-and-After Satellite Images Reveal a Boom Year for Snow — But…
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 27, 2023 Colorado Sun

A conversation with Lorelei Cloud, the first-ever tribal member on Colorado’s water board

With Western water challenges in mind, Lorelei Cloud has a message for policymakers: There should be room for partnerships — not fear — when Native American tribes join the negotiating table. In March, Cloud became one of the newest members of the state’s top water agency, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, when Gov. Jared Polis appointed her to represent the San Miguel-Dolores-San Juan drainage basin in southwestern Colorado. She’s also the first known tribal member to hold a seat on the board since its creation in 1937. … Her appointment comes at a time when tensions over water in the West are high. The Colorado River Basin, which spans seven states in the Southwest and portions of northern Mexico, is two decades into a severe, prolonged drought. 

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 26, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

As lost California lake roars back, some want to make it permanent

Tulare Lake, the long dormant lake that made a surprise comeback in California’s San Joaquin Valley this year, has gotten so big with the wet weather that water experts say it won’t drain until at least next year, and maybe well after that. … While landowners as well as local, state and federal officials are focused on keeping major towns and infrastructure dry, the broader issue of whether there’s a better way to manage water in the basin looms. … the re-emergence of the lake, for some, has sparked a sense of awe and enthusiasm, if not the desire for a more natural, more resilient landscape. Nowhere does this sentiment run deeper than among the ancestors of the native Yokuts whose creation story was inspired by the historical waters.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 24, 2023 U.S. Department of the Interior

News release: Biden-Harris Administration announces over $140 million for water conservation and efficiency projects in the West

The Department of the Interior today announced a $140 million investment for water conservation and efficiency projects as part of the President’s Investing in America agenda to enhance the resilience of the West to drought and climate change. Funding for 84 projects in 15 western states, provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and annual appropriations, will go to irrigation and water districts, states, Tribes and other entities and are expected to conserve over 230,000 acre-feet of water when completed. … In the Colorado River Basin, 12 projects will receive more than $20 million in federal funding from today’s announcement, resulting in more than $44.7 million in infrastructure investments.

Related article:

  • U.S. Department of the Interior: News release: Biden-Harris Administration announces $35 million for national fish passage projects to address climate resilience and strengthen local economies 
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 24, 2023 Yale Climate Connections

Hoopa Tribal member fights to save California’s Trinity River and its salmon

For 19-year-old Danielle Frank, California’s Trinity River is a cultural lifeline. “We are water people. We are river people,” she says. “And we believe that when our river drains and there is no more water left, we will no longer be here.” Frank is a Hoopa tribal member and Yurok descendant. The Trinity River runs through her homeland. … The river has been dammed, and water from the Trinity is often diverted to the Central Valley. Frank says those diversions — combined with droughts and global warming — are causing fish kills. … So Frank is pushing for change. As the youth coordinator for the nonprofit Save California Salmon, Frank helps young people maintain their connection to the river and learn how to influence water policy.

Related articles: 

  • Mendocino Voice: Salmon habitat restoration, abalone breeding projects recommended for funding toward a climate-ready North Coast
  • Crosscut: Can the United Nations help save Pacific salmon?
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Western Water April 21, 2023 Nick Cahill Colorado River Bundle WESTERN WATER-Upper Colorado River States Add Muscle as Decisions Loom on the Shrinking River’s Future By Nick Cahill

Upper Colorado River States Add Muscle as Decisions Loom on the Shrinking River’s Future
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Upper Basin States Seek Added Leverage to Protect Their River Shares Amid Difficult Talks with California and the Lower Basin

The White River winds and meanders through a valley.The states of the Lower Colorado River Basin have traditionally played an oversized role in tapping the lifeline that supplies 40 million people in the West. California, Nevada and Arizona were quicker to build major canals and dams and negotiated a landmark deal that requires the Upper Basin to send predictable flows through the Grand Canyon, even during dry years.

But with the federal government threatening unprecedented water cuts amid decades of drought and declining reservoirs, the Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are muscling up to protect their shares of an overallocated river whose average flows in the Upper Basin have already dropped 20 percent over the last century.

They have formed new agencies to better monitor their interests, moved influential Colorado River veterans into top negotiating posts and improved their relationships with Native American tribes that also hold substantial claims to the river.

  • Read more
Western Water December 9, 2022 Nick Cahill Colorado River Basin Map WESTERN WATER-As Colorado River Flows Drop and Tensions Rise, Water Interests Struggle to Find Solutions That All Can Accept By Nick Cahill

As Colorado River Flows Drop and Tensions Rise, Water Interests Struggle to Find Solutions That All Can Accept
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Chorus of experts warn climate change has rendered old assumptions outdated about what the Colorado River can provide, leaving painful water cuts as the only way forward

Photo shows Hoover Dam’s intake towers protruding from the surface of Lake Mead near Las Vegas, where water levels have dropped to record lows amid a 22-year drought. When the Colorado River Compact was signed 100 years ago, the negotiators for seven Western states bet that the river they were dividing would have ample water to meet everyone’s needs – even those not seated around the table.

A century later, it’s clear the water they bet on is not there. More than two decades of drought, lake evaporation and overuse of water have nearly drained the river’s two anchor reservoirs, Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border and Lake Mead near Las Vegas. Climate change is rendering the basin drier, shrinking spring runoff that’s vital for river flows, farms, tribes and cities across the basin – and essential for refilling reservoirs.

The states that endorsed the Colorado River Compact in 1922 – and the tribes and nation of Mexico that were excluded from the table – are now straining to find, and perhaps more importantly accept, solutions on a river that may offer just half of the water that the Compact assumed would be available. And not only are solutions not coming easily, the relationships essential for compromise are getting more frayed.

  • Read more
Western Water September 16, 2022 Nick Cahill Colorado River Bundle WESTERN WATER-A Colorado River Veteran Moves Upstream and Plunges into the Drought-Stressed River's Mounting Woes By Nick Cahill

A Colorado River Veteran Moves Upstream and Plunges into The Drought-Stressed River’s Mounting Woes
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Chuck Cullom, a longtime Arizona water manager, brings a dual-basin perspective as top staffer at the Upper Colorado River Commission

Chuck Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission. With 25 years of experience working on the Colorado River, Chuck Cullom is used to responding to myriad challenges that arise on the vital lifeline that seven states, more than two dozen tribes and the country of Mexico depend on for water. But this summer problems on the drought-stressed river are piling up at a dizzying pace: Reservoirs plummeting to record low levels, whether Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam can continue to release water and produce hydropower, unprecedented water cuts and predatory smallmouth bass threatening native fish species in the Grand Canyon. 

“Holy buckets, Batman!,” said Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission. “I mean, it’s just on and on and on.”

  • Read more
Western Water July 7, 2022 Nick Cahill Colorado River Basin Map WESTERN WATER-A Colorado River Tribal Leader Seeks A Voice In the River's Future--And Freedom to Profit From Its Surplus Water By Nick Cahill

A Colorado River Tribal Leader Seeks A Voice In the River’s Future–And Freedom to Profit From Its Water
WESTERN WATER Q&A: CRIT Chair Amelia Flores Says Allowing Tribe to Lease Or Store Water Off Reservation Could Aid Broader Colorado River Drought Response and Fund Irrigation Repairs

Amelia Flores, chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes.As water interests in the Colorado River Basin prepare to negotiate a new set of operating guidelines for the drought-stressed river, Amelia Flores wants her Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) to be involved in the discussion. And she wants CRIT seated at the negotiating table with something invaluable to offer on a river facing steep cuts in use: its surplus water.

CRIT, whose reservation lands in California and Arizona are bisected by the Colorado River, has some of the most senior water rights on the river. But a federal law enacted in the late 1700s, decades before any southwestern state was established, prevents most tribes from sending any of its water off its reservation. The restrictions mean CRIT, which holds the rights to nearly a quarter of the entire state of Arizona’s yearly allotment of river water, is missing out on financial gain and the chance to help its river partners.

  • Read more
Western Water March 25, 2022 California Water Bundle WESTERN WATER-New EPA Regional Administrator Tackles Water Needs with a Wealth of Experience and $1 Billion in Federal Funding By Douglas E. Beeman

New EPA Regional Administrator Tackles Water Needs with a Wealth of Experience and $1 Billion in Federal Funding
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Martha Guzman says surge of federal dollars offers 'greatest opportunity' to address longstanding water needs, including for tribes & disadvantaged communities in EPA Region 9

EPA Region 9 Administrator Martha Guzman.Martha Guzman recalls those awful days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible time.”

She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely greatest opportunity.”

  • Read more
Tour March 8, 2023 - 7:30am - March 10, 2023 - 6:30pm Nick Gray

Lower Colorado River Tour 2023
Field Trip - March 8-10

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
View map
  • Read more
Western Water January 14, 2022 Colorado River Basin Map By Douglas E. Beeman

As the Colorado River Shrinks, Can the Basin Find an Equitable Solution in Sharing the River’s Waters?
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Drought and climate change are raising concerns that a century-old Compact that divided the river’s waters could force unwelcome cuts in use for the upper watershed

Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, a key Colorado River reservoir that has seen its water level plummet after two decades of drought. Climate scientist Brad Udall calls himself the skunk in the room when it comes to the Colorado River. Armed with a deck of PowerPoint slides and charts that highlight the Colorado River’s worsening math, the Colorado State University scientist offers a grim assessment of the river’s future: Runoff from the river’s headwaters is declining, less water is flowing into Lake Powell – the key reservoir near the Arizona-Utah border – and at the same time, more water is being released from the reservoir than it can sustainably provide.

  • Read more
Tour March 16, 2022 - 7:30am - March 18, 2022 - 6:30pm Nick Gray

Lower Colorado River Tour 2022
Field Trip - March 16-18

The lower Colorado River has virtually every drop 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, 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
View map
  • Read more
Western Water December 10, 2021 Colorado River Basin Map WESTERN WATER-A Colorado River Veteran Takes on Top Water & Science Post at Interior Department By Douglas E. Beeman

A Colorado River Veteran Takes on the Top Water & Science Post at Interior Department
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Tanya Trujillo brings two decades of experience on Colorado River issues as she takes on the challenges of a river basin stressed by climate change

Tanya Trujillo, Assistant Interior Secretary for Water and Science For more than 20 years, Tanya Trujillo has been immersed in the many challenges of the Colorado River, the drought-stressed lifeline for 40 million people from Denver to Los Angeles and the source of irrigation water for more than 5 million acres of winter lettuce, supermarket melons and other crops.

Trujillo has experience working in both the Upper and Lower Basins of the Colorado River, basins that split the river’s water evenly but are sometimes at odds with each other. She was a lawyer for the state of New Mexico, one of four states in the Upper Colorado River Basin, when key operating guidelines for sharing shortages on the river were negotiated in 2007. She later worked as executive director for the Colorado River Board of California, exposing her to the different perspectives and challenges facing California and the other states in the river’s Lower Basin.

  • Read more
Tour May 20, 2021 - 2:30pm - 5:30pm Nick Gray Learn About Infrastructure and Environmental Restoration During Lower Colorado River Tour

Lower Colorado River Tour 2021
A Virtual Journey - May 20

This event 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. 

  • Read more
Western Water December 13, 2019 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

Can a Grand Vision Solve the Colorado River’s Challenges? Or Will Incremental Change Offer Best Hope for Success?
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: With talks looming on a new operating agreement for the river, a debate has emerged over the best approach to address its challenges

Photo of Lake Mead and Hoover DamThe Colorado River is arguably one of the hardest working rivers on the planet, supplying water to 40 million people and a large agricultural economy in the West. But it’s under duress from two decades of drought and decisions made about its management will have exceptional ramifications for the future, especially as impacts from climate change are felt.

  • Read more
Western Water May 23, 2019 Colorado River Bundle Gary Pitzer

150 Years After John Wesley Powell Ventured Down the Colorado River, How Should We Assess His Legacy in the West?
WESTERN WATER Q&A: University of Colorado’s Charles Wilkinson on Powell, Water and the American West

We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! We may conjecture many things.

~John Wesley Powell

Explorer John Wesley Powell and Paiute Chief Tau-Gu looking over the Virgin River in 1873.Powell scrawled those words in his journal as he and his expedition paddled their way into the deep walls of the Grand Canyon on a stretch of the Colorado River in August 1869. Three months earlier, the 10-man group had set out on their exploration of the iconic Southwest river by hauling their wooden boats into a major tributary of the Colorado, the Green River in Wyoming, for their trip into the “great unknown,” as Powell described it.

  • Read more
Western Water May 9, 2019 Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

With Drought Plan in Place, Colorado River Stakeholders Face Even Tougher Talks Ahead On The River’s Future
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Talks are about to begin on a potentially sweeping agreement that could reimagine how the Colorado River is managed

Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam, shows the effects of nearly two decades of drought. Even as stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin celebrate the recent completion of an unprecedented drought plan intended to stave off a crashing Lake Mead, there is little time to rest. An even larger hurdle lies ahead as they prepare to hammer out the next set of rules that could vastly reshape the river’s future.

Set to expire in 2026, the current guidelines for water deliveries and shortage sharing, launched in 2007 amid a multiyear drought, were designed to prevent disputes that could provoke conflict.

  • Read more
Tour March 11, 2020 - 7:30am - March 13, 2020 - 6:30pm Nick Gray New Experience Announced for Lower Colorado River Tour: Topock Gorge Boat Trip Get a 'Hard Hat' Tour of Hoover Dam and Visit Lake Mead on Lower Colorado River Tour Take the Pulse of the ‘Lifeline of the Southwest’ on the Lower Colorado River Tour

Lower Colorado River Tour 2020
Field Trip - March 11-13

This tour 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 is the focus of this tour. 

Silverton Hotel
3333 Blue Diamond Road
Las Vegas, NV 89139
View map
  • Dan Bunk & Mike Bernardo Presentation
  • Seth Shanahan Presentation
  • Chuck Cullom Presentation
  • Vineetha Kartha Presentation
  • Tina Shields Presentation
  • Kevin Hempe Presentation
  • Read more
Western Water January 4, 2019 Douglas E. Beeman

Women Leading in Water, Colorado River Drought and Promising Solutions — Western Water Year in Review

Dear Western Water readers:

Women named in the last year to water leadership roles (clockwise, from top left): Karla Nemeth, director, California Department of Water Resources; Gloria Gray,  chair, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Brenda Burman, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner; Jayne Harkins,  commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico; Amy Haas, executive director, Upper Colorado River Commission.The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.

These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.

We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:

  • Read more
Western Water November 2, 2018 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

As Shortages Loom in the Colorado River Basin, Indian Tribes Seek to Secure Their Water Rights
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: A study of tribal water rights could shed light on future Indian water use

Aerial view of the lower Colorado RiverAs the Colorado River Basin becomes drier and shortage conditions loom, one great variable remains: How much of the river’s water belongs to Native American tribes?

Native Americans already use water from the Colorado River and its tributaries for a variety of purposes, including leasing it to non-Indian users. But some tribes aren’t using their full federal Indian reserved water right and others have water rights claims that have yet to be resolved. Combined, tribes have rights to more water than some states in the Colorado River Basin.

  • Read more
Western Water August 10, 2018 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Gary Pitzer

New Leader Takes Over as the Upper Colorado River Commission Grapples With Less Water and a Drier Climate
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Amy Haas, executive director, Upper Colorado River Commission

Amy Haas, executive director, Upper Colorado River CommissionAmy Haas recently became the first non-engineer and the first woman to serve as executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission in its 70-year history, putting her smack in the center of a host of daunting challenges facing the Upper Colorado River Basin.

Yet those challenges will be quite familiar to Haas, an attorney who for the past year has served as deputy director and general counsel of the commission. (She replaced longtime Executive Director Don Ostler). She has a long history of working within interstate Colorado River governance, including representing New Mexico as its Upper Colorado River commissioner and playing a central role in the negotiation of the recently signed U.S.-Mexico agreement known as Minute 323.

  • Read more
Tour April 11, 2018 - April 13, 2018

Lower Colorado River Tour 2018

Lower Colorado River Tour participants at Hoover Dam.

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
View map
  • Read more about Lower Colorado River Tour
  • Read more
River Reports December 19, 2017

Winter 2017-18 River Report
A Warmer Future and Increased Risk

Rising temperatures from climate change are having a noticeable effect on how much water is flowing down the Colorado River. Read the latest River Report to learn more about what’s happening, and how water managers are responding.

  • Read River Report Winter 2017-18 here
  • Read more
Western Water Magazine December 11, 2017

The Colorado River: Living with Risk, Avoiding Curtailment
Fall 2017

This issue of Western Water discusses the challenges facing the Colorado River Basin resulting from persistent drought, climate change and an overallocated river, and how water managers and others are trying to face the future. 

  • Read more
Tour February 27, 2019 - 7:30am - March 1, 2019 - 6:30pm Nick Gray

Lower Colorado River Tour 2019

This three-day, two-night tour 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 is the focus of this tour. 

Best Western McCarran Inn
4970 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
View map
  • Warren Turkett
  • Dan Bunk
  • Seth Shanahan
  • Deanna Ikeya
  • Doyle Wilson
  • Gerald Filipiak
  • Sarah Bartlett
  • Tina Shields
  • Read more
Aquapedia background August 25, 2016

American River

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

  • Read more
Publication August 19, 2014

Protecting Drinking Water: A Workbook for Tribes

This 109-page publication details the importance of protecting source water – surface water and groundwater – on reservations from pollution and includes a step-by-step work plan for tribes interested in developing a protection plan for their drinking water. The workbook is designed to serve as a template for such programs, with forms and tables for photocopying. It also offers a simplified approach for assessment and protection that focuses on identifying and managing immediate contamination threats.

  • Read more
Video May 27, 2014

The Klamath Basin: A Restoration for the Ages (20 min. DVD)

20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at community forums and speaking engagements to help the public understand the complex issues related to complex water management disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances Fisher.

  • Read more
Video May 27, 2014

The Klamath Basin: A Restoration for the Ages (60 min. DVD)

For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and California border has faced complex water management disputes. As relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp, farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists – all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water. After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the documentary here.

  • Read more
Video May 21, 2014

Protecting Drinking Water on Tribal Lands

This 30-minute DVD explains the importance of developing a source water assessment program (SWAP) for tribal lands and by profiling three tribes that have created SWAPs. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the video complements the Foundation’s 109-page workbook, Protecting Drinking Water: A Workbook for Tribes, which includes a step-by-step work plan for Tribes interested in developing a protection plan for their drinking water.

  • Read more
Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Klamath River Watershed Map
Published 2011

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.

  • Read more
Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Truckee River Basin Map
Published 2005

This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many of these issues. 

  • Read more
Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Nevada Water Map
Published 2004

This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the environment. It features natural and manmade water resources throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers, Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River that forms the state’s eastern boundary.

  • Read more
Maps & Posters May 20, 2014 Colorado River Bundle

Colorado River Basin Map
Redesigned in 2017

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 the country of 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.

  • Read more
Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law
Updated 2020

The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of California water rights law available to non-lawyers, traces the authority for water flowing in a stream or reservoir, from a faucet or into an irrigation ditch through the complex web of California water rights.

  • Read more
Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water Management
Published 2013

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.

  • Read more
Publication May 20, 2014 Colorado River Basin Map

Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River
Updated 2018

Cover page for the Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River .

The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people and 4 million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some 246,000 square miles in the southwestern United States. The 32-page Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River covers the history of the river’s development; negotiations over division of its water; the items that comprise the Law of the River; and a chronology of significant Colorado River events.

  • Read more
Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Coachella Valley

The Coachella Valley in Southern California’s Inland Empire is one of several valleys throughout the state with a water district established to support agriculture.

Like the others, the Coachella Valley Water District in Riverside County delivers water to arid agricultural lands and constructs, operates and maintains a regional agricultural drainage system. These systems collect drainage water from individual farm drain outlets and convey the water to a point of reuse, disposal or dilution.

  • Read more
Western Water Magazine November 1, 2011

Solving the Colorado River Basin’s Math Problem: Adapting to Change
November/December 2011

This printed issue of Western Water explores the historic nature of some of the key agreements in recent years, future challenges, and what leading state representatives identify as potential “worst-case scenarios.” Much of the content for this issue of Western Water came from the in-depth panel discussions at the Colorado River Symposium. The Foundation will publish the full proceedings of the Symposium in 2012.

  • Read more
Western Water Magazine November 1, 2009

The Colorado River: Building a Sustainable Future
November/December 2009

This printed issue of Western Water explores some of the major challenges facing Colorado River stakeholders: preparing for climate change, forging U.S.-Mexico water supply solutions and dealing with continued growth in the basins states. Much of the content for this issue of Western Water came from the in-depth panel discussions at the September 2009 Colorado River Symposium.

  • Read more
Western Water Magazine January 1, 2004

Remnants of the Past: Management Challenges of Terminal Lakes
January/February 2005

This issue of Western Water examines the challenges facing state, federal and tribal officials and other stakeholders as they work to manage terminal lakes. It includes background information on the formation of these lakes, and overviews of the water quality, habitat and political issues surrounding these distinctive bodies of water. Much of the information in this article originated at the September 2004 StateManagement Issues at Terminal Water Bodies/Closed Basins conference.

  • Read more

Water Academy

  • Agriculture
  • Background Information
  • Bay-Delta
  • Dams, Reservoirs and Water Projects
  • Environmental Issues
  • Leaders and Experts
  • Regions
  • Rivers
  • Water Issues
    • Climate Change
    • Coronavirus
    • Drought
    • Earthquakes
    • Energy and Water
    • Floods
    • Fracking
    • Growth
    • Hydropower
    • Levees
    • Tribal Water Issues
    • Water Conservation
    • Water Equity
  • Water Quality
  • Water Supply and Management
Footer pod May 20, 2014

Water Education Foundation

Copyright © 2023 Water Education Foundation. All rights reserved.

The Water Education Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, 501(c)3 organization, federal tax ID #942419885.

Privacy Policy

Donor Privacy Policy

  • Read more
Footer pod May 20, 2014

Contact Information

2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento CA 95833

Telephone (916) 444-6240

Contact Us via email

  • Read more

Quicklinks

Footer quicklink May 20, 2014

Contact Us

  • Read more
Footer quicklink May 20, 2014

Donate Today

  • Read more
Footer quicklink May 20, 2014

Tours

  • Read more
Footer quicklink May 20, 2014

Newsletter Signup

  • Read more
Footer quicklink May 20, 2014

Foundation News

  • Read more
Footer quicklink May 20, 2014

Calendar

  • Read more

Log in

  • Create new account
  • Request new password

Commands

  • Support portal
  • Log in