California’s water history during the past two centuries is
fraught with conflicts as agricultural, recreational,
environmental and urban users have fought, and continue to fight,
to secure finite water supplies for their ever-growing needs.
The Colorado River runs more than 1,400 miles starting as a
trickle of snowmelt in northern Colorado. It becomes a roaring
torrent as it cuts through canyons and five Western states. Now
after more than a century of dam building and development along
the river, it ends as a trickle again at the Arizona-Mexico
border. The river was once the lifeblood of the Cocopah, or
River People. The Cocopah Tribe has begun trying to return a
sliver of that landscape to what it once was. On this day you
hear the wind blowing and the traffic from Interstate 8 as cars
and trucks cross the Arizona-California border less than a mile
away. The Colorado River, or what’s left of it, meanders south
to Mexico with hardly any sound.
When Sen. Dianne Feinstein weighed complex water policy
decisions that stood to impact the livelihood of farmers and
fish, she often dialed Tom Birmingham. On visits to Washington,
the longtime head of the state’s most influential farmland
water agency would meet in her office over glasses of chilled
California chardonnay. Cultivating relationships with power is
a hallmark of Birmingham’s 36-year career at the Westlands
Water District, the nation’s largest farm water utility that
serves a few hundred Central Valley families and corporations
growing nearly $2 billion in nuts, fruit, and vegetables a
year. Birmingham spearheaded the agency’s quest to keep
water flowing as its longest serving general manager, largely
through attempts to loosen environmental regulations.
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Native people had been living in California’s Owens Valley
since time immemorial when the first permanent settler arrived
in 1860. More followed, and within a year, fences erected
around homesteads blocked access to traditional sources of food
and water. The Indigenous Paiute who crossed fence lines were
shot, a sudden clash between a culture built on partnership
with nature and one striving to profit from what the natural
world had to offer. This pattern was repeated over and over as
Americans pushed westward to fulfill the country’s “manifest
destiny” and natural resources were harnessed to grow its
capitalist economy.
Fortunes are made and lost on the weather. In 1588 Spain went
to attack England and a storm wiped out its armada. The loss
was so devastating even with its New World holdings Spain never
again arose to its former place of prominence as the greatest
European power. From 1930 to 1936 a drought centered in the
Texas and Oklahoma panhandles caused 2.5 million people to
leave the center of the country for other parts. And while
bad weather can lead to major problems, what about the good
weather? California is blessed with a Mediterranean climate.
Hot summers, cool but not frozen winters, plenty of sunshine
and good soil. And due to the foresight of others since gone,
California’s fickle water supply has been harnessed for the
beneficial use of us all.
As drought dried up rivers and reservoirs across Europe this
year, grim warnings from the past surfaced from the depths.
Wenn du mich siehst, dann weine, read the inscription on a
“Hunger Stone” exposed on a bank of the River Elbe in the Czech
Republic: “If you see me, then weep.” Still, as bad as the
drought appeared on the surface, a new satellite analysis
estimating freshwater availability in Europe shows that “what’s
even worse is the groundwater story that people cannot see,”
says the hydrologist Jay Famiglietti, director of the Global
Institute for Water Security at Canada’s University of
Saskatchewan. Famiglietti and collaborators analyzed two
decades of data from the U.S./German satellite missions known
as GRACE to find the rate of change in freshwater stored on the
European continent.
In America’s rush to build the nuclear arsenal that won the
Cold War, safety was sacrificed for speed. Uranium mills that
helped fuel the weapons also dumped radioactive and toxic waste
into rivers like the Cheyenne in South Dakota and the Animas in
Colorado. … The U.S. government bankrolled the industry, and
mining companies rushed to profit, building more than 50 mills
and processing sites to refine uranium ore. But the
government didn’t have a plan for the toxic byproducts of this
nuclear assembly line. Some of the more than 250 million tons
of toxic and radioactive detritus, known as tailings, scattered
into nearby communities, some spilled into streams and some
leaked into aquifers. … But the government has fallen
down in addressing another lingering threat from the industry’s
byproducts: widespread water pollution.
It was major news in August when a hazardous algae bloom turned
San Francisco Bay water a murky brown color and killed a
reported 10,000 yellowfin goby, hundreds of striped bass and
white sturgeon, and a small number of endangered green
sturgeon. That kind of attention may seem understandable today,
but just a couple of generations ago, it’s likely barely anyone
would have noticed. Why? Because fish die-offs used to be far
more common. During the 1960s and early 1970s, huge fish
die-offs were reported in San Francisco Bay almost every year,
with over 100,000 fish dying in 1965 alone. Our bay
had become a dumping ground for minimally treated sewage,
industrial wastewater, polluted runoff and solid waste — unfit
for aquatic life and unsafe for swimming. -Written by Andrew Gunther and Alexis Strauss
Hacker, members of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water
Quality Control Board; and Jay Davis, a senior scientist
at the San Francisco Estuary Institute.
Colorado River water was virtually free in the early 20th
Century when pioneers dug the valley’s first canals that would
later transform this desert landscape into a $2 billion
agricultural industry. Imperial Valley farmers now pay about
$20 an acre foot to transport Colorado River water to their
fields, a price unchanged since 2011. … Farmers next door in
San Diego County pay between $799 and $1,109 per acre foot.
Even the Coachella Valley Water District, just north of
Imperial Valley, charges farmers about $37 per acre foot,
nearly twice what the Imperial Irrigation District charges its
farmers…. Because water is so cheap, Imperial Irrigation
District doesn’t make enough selling it to cover expenses on
water revenues alone….
The Colorado River Compact is 100 years old. A University of
Arizona conference and the upcoming Colorado River Water Users
Association will mark the anniversary. But there’s no reason to
celebrate. Twenty-two years into a drought and with reservoirs
at all-time lows, the federal government may soon intervene in
the states’ management of the river. The Compact has failed.
Don’t blame the river. We need a new system that manages with
the river and provides all users with fair shares. In 1922, the
seven Colorado Basin states used an optimistic estimate of the
river’s annual flow to allocate the waters. The states chose
the biggest estimate because that made it easy to agree.
Everyone could pretend the river could satisfy all anticipated
demands. That was the first mistake. -Written by Karl Flessa, an Arizona resident since
1977 and an emeritus professor of geosciences at the
University of Arizona.
Corn goes back to their very creation story. As the Hopi people
emerged into this world, the Creator gave them three things: a
gourd of water, a planting stick and a short ear of blue corn.
… Clark grows heirloom Hopi blue, gray, red and white
corn in the valley between First Mesa and Second Mesa in the
middle of the 2,532 square mile Hopi Reservation in northern
Arizona. The seeds that he plants have been cultivated over
countless generations to grow in this dry climate of the high
desert. He, like most Hopi farmers, uses traditional dryland
farming methods in which, rather than irrigating crops, he
relies solely on snowmelt and the rain that falls directly on
his fields. … But now, more than two decades into the
worst drought in the southwestern United States in a millennia,
making the desert bloom is harder than ever.
The Colorado River has long been regarded as the “lifeline of
the Southwest.” It supplies water to 40 million people in
seven states, 29 Native American tribes and parts of
Mexico. Farmers use it to irrigate nearly 5.5 million acres of
agricultural land. One hundred years ago this month, the
signing of the Colorado River Compact laid the foundation for
how water from the river is used today. But the signers of the
1922 agreement had no way of knowing what the future would
bring. Decades of overuse because of faulty science and
population growth—along with climate change—have all reduced
the river’s flow and the water levels in the nation’s largest
reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Now, the basin is facing
a crisis.
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The West uses too much water. For such a simple problem, the
obvious solution — use less — lies frustratingly out of reach.
That inability to change may seem hard to understand, but the
root of the problem becomes clearer if we consider the role of
the West in the historical development of the United States:
The purpose of our system of “free water” — heavily subsidized
water for irrigation — was to provide opportunities to
settlers. … With the New Deal, the Bureau of Reclamation
came into its own: Hoover Dam, completed in 1935 as the world’s
largest dam, served as a symbol for the country’s ability to
conquer nature. Progressives championed desert reclamation at
the turn of the century, but the federal government’s
willingness to build infrastructure and give water away on
extravagantly lenient terms was just as appealing for
conservatives after World War II. -Written by Revelator contributor Nate Housley.
To many of the 100 or so full-time residents of Red Mountain, a
historic mining town on the northwestern tip of San Bernardino
County’s desert, John Hall is unofficially known as mayor.
Hall, 75, isn’t quite sure why. Maybe it’s because he’s lasted
more than 30 years in this hard-scrap place, where locals truck
in water to avoid the arsenic that decades of mining left in
the ground and their tap water. … It’s estimated the
state has about 47,000 abandoned mines. And of the roughly
24,400 sites on BLM-managed land, some 84% present physical
hazards, such as open mine shafts, while 11% present
environmental hazards such as contamination. Red Mountain
has both. Soil testing has found as much as 10,000
milligrams of arsenic per kilogram in some parts of Red
Mountain.
In a deep muddy creek near Silicon Valley’s busiest freeway, a
large furry head pokes up. And then quickly submerges. The
brief sighting, along with a growing collection of video
footage, confirms something remarkable: After being hunted to
extinction in the 1800s, the North American beaver is returning
to the creeks of the San Francisco Bay Area. Ecosystem
explorers, beavers were re-introduced to Lexington Reservoir in
Los Gatos about four decades ago, and made homes in upper Los
Gatos Creek. Since then, they’ve expanded their range north
along the edge of the Bay to the Guadalupe River, Coyote Creek,
San Tomas Aquino Creek in the wetlands by Sunnyvale’s Water
Pollution Control Plant – and, now, Palo Alto’s Matadero Creek.
Thomas Birmingham, general manager of the massive Westlands
Water District since 2000, Wednesday announced plans to step
down at the end of 2022. His announcement follows the election
of four new members to the Westlands Board of Directors on Nov.
8 who would give a so-called “change coalition” a solid
majority of six seats on the nine-member board. The top
priority for the coalition is “a change in leadership,”
according to Sarah Woolf, who along with Jon Reiter helped
coordinate a group of increasingly frustrated Westlands farmers
to run the slate of change candidates, SJV Water
reported.
On November 24, 1922, representatives of the seven Colorado
River basin states—Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico,
Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming—gathered in Santa Fe, N.M., to sign
the Colorado River Compact, cementing into law a regime for
dividing the river’s water. Without exception, these men were
newcomers to a region inhabited since time immemorial by Native
American Tribes. Two of them represented states just a decade
old, none represented states more than 75-years-old, and their
purpose was to enable colonial settlers to establish a foothold
through irrigation-driven economic development.
When an irrigation canal was breached in the early 1900s, the
resulting flood created Southern California’s Salton Sea. It
was a rare event that quickly created a beneficial presence in
the Imperial Valley, as the lake provided recreation
opportunities, tamped down dust, and became a stopover for
birds on the Pacific Flyway. But now, with inflows declining,
this hundred-year-old sea is drying up, and that’s having a
host of negative consequences for wildlife and air quality in
the region. We spoke with Kurt Schwabe—professor of public
policy at the University of California, Riverside and adjunct
fellow at the PPIC Water Policy Center—about some of the
biggest issues facing the sea, as well as potential solutions.
Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District board of directors and
staff were saddened by the death of Board Director Phil
Williams. Director Phil Williams served on EVMWD’s board of
director since 2001, representing EVMWD’s Division 4, which
includes areas of Corona and western Lake Elsinore, as well as
the unincorporated communities of Horsethief Canyon and
Alberhill. “We have lost an admired and respected member of the
EVMWD family” said Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District
General Manager Greg Thomas. … Williams, a local real estate
broker and licensed general contractor, was a lifelong resident
of Lake Elsinore. As a board member for EVMWD, Williams served
as board president seven times over his 21 year tenure on the
board.
The fierce struggle for water in a drought-stricken West
continues to roil politics — and embroil a host of tribal water
claims. The decades-long drought has dried up reservoirs and
forced federal water cutbacks for the 40 million people in
seven states who rely on the Colorado River for water. But it
has also dramatically increased the stakes for the region in
decades-old water claims by a host of tribes — including the
Navajo and the White Mountain Apache. The Tonto Apache Tribe
also has a decades-old claim to water from the Colorado River.
Efforts to settle that claim with water from the C.C. Cragin
Reservoir with a payment from the federal government to buy
into Payson’s pipeline have been stalled for years — and missed
out on a gush of federal pandemic and infrastructure aid to
tribes. -Written by contributor Peter Aleshire.
California water policy is often discussed and depicted as
being impossibly complex. In its essentials, it can be
seen much more simply, as in the flow chart below.
Without extreme events (such as floods and droughts), the
policy process would be simpler, but ironically less effective,
and less well funded. … California’s remarkable water
history shows that frequent extreme events have activated
enough innovation and preparations over 170 years such that
floods, droughts, and earthquakes are now much less threatening
to California’s population and economy. However, frequent
failures have not yet motivated adequate preparation and
management for ecosystems and rural water supplies.
Today we’ll start with a short history lesson about one of Los
Angeles’s most vital (and most forgotten) landmarks: the Los
Angeles River. For centuries, the river, which begins in the
San Fernando Valley and ends in the ocean in Long Beach,
sustained small communities of Native peoples. In the 1800s it
nurtured hundreds of vineyards and orange groves, and exporting
the harvests helped expand the Southland’s reputation around
the globe. … But determining exactly how to redesign the
river is a tall task. There are competing demands from some
environmentalists, who want the concrete removed; from
community activists, who worry that any new development would
lead to the displacement of poor residents; and from
engineering experts, who say the risk of flooding remains too
high to restore anything like the original river.
100 years ago, Wyoming signed onto a deal to divide the water
that flows through the Colorado River basin among seven
states. It’s based on a formula — one likely based on
mistaken beliefs about the river itself — that did not award
extra credit for living in the mountains where the snow piles
up. Instead, the states signed a compact allocating the
water where it would readily be put to work. It meant the
more populated states of California, Colorado and
Arizona would get the biggest shares.
… But more than two decades into a punishing
drought that climate scientists say will likely intensify with
more warming, the system can no longer supply everything
that some 40 million people in a warming and drying region
desire from it, or that grocers nationwide sell from its
verdant fields.
John Wesley Powell offered a poignant message for Western U.S.
communities when he was the featured speaker in a room full of
developers and government leaders at a major irrigation
conference held in Los Angeles in October 1893. Powell, then
director of the U.S. Geological Survey, started off strong,
receiving applause from those listening to him, noted Greg
Smoak, a professor of history and director of the American West
Center at the University of Utah. … “There is not enough
water to irrigate all the lands … There is but a small portion
of the irrigable land which can be irrigated when all the
water, every drop of water, is utilized,” Powell warned the
crowd, adding that he foresaw a future filled with battles over
water rights.
Colorado River Commission Chairman Herbert Hoover gathered the
seven states’ representatives at opened at 11:00 a.m. Nov. 15,
1922, for the 17th meeting in their efforts to forge an
agreement to share the Colorado River. They had been holed up
at Bishop’s Lodge outside Santa Fe for five days, wrestling
with how to divide the river. By that point in the negotiations
they had settled on a general framework, dividing the river
into an “upper” and “lower” basin, but were stuck on the
question of how much water the upper states would be required
to send each year to the lower states. Hoover intentionally set
a later starting time that day to give the upper river states
plenty of time to caucus among themselves to consider his
proposal from the previous day that the Upper Basin deliver 82
million acre-feet every ten years plus a 4 and ½ million acre
foot minimum annual flow.
Consider California’s Stanislaus River. In the 1970s, people of
all ages and abilities reveled in running its 13 miles of
rapids bearing scary names like Widowmaker and Devil’s
Staircase. Not far from Sacramento and San Francisco, the
limestone canyon offered renewal and adventure to people nearly
year-round. But back in 1944, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
authorized 625-foot-high New Melones Dam for the Stan, though
filling it would drown the beloved canyon…. Now, with
New Melones logging its fourth decade of broken promises in
water delivery, flood control and energy production, hundreds
of river advocates from the old campaign hope to reclaim the
Stan. In their teens and 20s back then, and today in their 60s
and 70s, they believe the timing has never been better.
When the Colorado River Compact Commission’s members returned
to negotiations on the morning of Nov. 14 , 1922, they were
presented with three important questions – one which survived
as language in the final compact and two which did not, but all
three of which remain important to the river’s management
today. As they convened that morning at Bishop’s Lodge, outside
Santa Fe, Commission Chairman Herbert Hoover laid out what he
called “our three main propositions” – a division of the use of
the water between an upper and lower basin the term of a
multi-year upstream-to-downstrom flow commitment (flow at Lee’s
Ferry)and a minimum delivery for any one year the question of
whether the compact should be made contingent on construction
of large storage reservoirs on the river.
A new film about the transfer of water from the high desert to
Los Angeles – called “Without Water” – has just been released
on the internet. The film highlights the struggle between the
community around Long Valley, which is between Mammoth and
Bishop California – and the Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power. The D-W-P has court permission to terminate longstanding
water leases and limit irrigation water in Long and Little
Round valleys. Matt McClain, campaign manager the Keep Long
Valley Green Coalition, said that would endanger wildlife,
fish, cattle grazing, tourism and Native American cultural
sites. So advocates are asking for at least 2.8 acre feet of
water per year going forward.
The last time San Luis Obispo ran critically short of water,
the city pumped heavily from wells along Los Osos Valley Road.
The aquifer was so overtaxed by residents and farmers that the
ground sank, resulting multi-million dollar lawsuit settlements
over damaged businesses and homes. Since the 1990s, the city
has adopted a series of water measures — including rebates for
more efficient fixtures, upgrading the sewer plant to deliver
treated water to landscaping, and building a pipeline
delivering water from Lake Nacimiento…. The city is
currently leading the Groundwater Enhancement Project, which it
described as “an initiative to to ensure responsible use of
groundwater in the San Luis Obispo Valley Groundwater Basin.”
Even as worsening drought and aridification force Los Angeles
to end its overwhelming dependence on imported water, Angelenos
may soon realize that weaning themselves off supplies from the
rugged eastern Sierra Nevada doesn’t mean they will stop paying
for the city’s long, complicated history there. That’s because,
even if the city is able to make good on a pledge by Mayor Eric
Garcetti to recycle 100% of its water by 2035 and increase its
ability to capture storm water, Los Angeles will still have to
pay millions of dollars to control the region’s hazardous dust
pollution — an environmental consequence of L.A.’s draining of
Owens Lake more than a century ago, as well as recent
diversions that have lowered the level of Mono Lake farther
north.
After generations of Chacoans had painstakingly built the
elaborate settlement that became the cultural and economic
center of the people living in what’s now New Mexico, Arizona,
Utah and Colorado, suddenly it was abandoned. Obviously,
no one survives to explain why, but theories abound.
… Drought followed around 1100 and competition for
scarce resources was rampant and brutal, leading to political
and social upheaval. Mass graves reveal skeletons with clear
evidence of blunt-force trauma, mutilation and burning of
bodies. -Written by Diane Carman, a Denver communications
consultant.
A California tribe has renewed its lawsuit accusing the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation of violating its sovereignty and fishing
rights in California’s Trinity River after settlement talks
with the Biden Administration collapsed.
As California trudges through its second year of intense
drought, forcing local communities to raid contingency funds to
pay sky-high retail prices for water supplies, Federal
lawmakers are revisiting a deal with the City of San Francisco
deemed to be “too-good-to-be-true.” A new bill, introduced by
Rep. Connie Conway (R-Tulare), seeks to bring some equity back
to one of California’s oldest and biggest water storage deals
between the Federal government and the state’s historic big
city. For a century, Hetch Hetchy, a dammed up valley deep in
Yosemite National Park, has served as a singular lifeline for
San Francisco’s water and energy supplies. … The
law set San Francisco’s rent for the sprawling
valley-turned-dam at $30,000 … Despite decades of
inflation, the cost for renting the space has never inched
beyond that $30,000 sum.
Raymond Naranjo sings for rain, his voice rising and falling as
he softly strikes his rawhide-covered drum. The 99-year-old
invites the cloud spirits, rain children, mist, thunder and
lightning to join him at Santa Clara Pueblo, where Tewa people
have lived for thousands of years on land they call Kha’p’o
Owingeh, the Valley of the Wild Roses. “Without water, you
don’t live,” says Naranjo’s son Gilbert … With unsettling
speed, climate change has taken a toll on the the pueblo’s 89
square miles (230 square kilometers) that climb from the gently
rolling Rio Grande Valley to Santa Clara Canyon in the rugged
Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico.
Defenders of Wildlife applauded a decision by the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation to request a renegotiation of a decades-old use
contract for the San Joaquin River that could spark stronger
protection for wildlife and drought management. Defenders and
the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) urged the Bureau
of Reclamation to reform its water supply contract with the San
Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority before the
conclusion of the renegotiation period. On Oct. 14, the Bureau
sent a letter to the Exchange Contractors, four days before the
deadline, with its intent to renegotiate. Though the contract
may be reviewed every five years, it has not been reviewed
since 1968.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Congress passed a series of
laws that profoundly affected Western ecosystems and human
relationships to them. The Clean Air Act, designed to reduce
air pollution, led the way in 1963, and in 1970, the National
Environmental Policy Act, sometimes called the Magna Carta of
environmental protection, created a review process for federal
projects. In 1972, the Clean Water Act established requirements
for the restoration and maintenance of waterways, and one year
later, the Endangered Species Act created protections and
required recovery plans for fish, wildlife and plants deemed
threatened or endangered. Conservation finally seemed to have a
solid legal foundation. Six decades later, that foundation
is in serious need of retrofitting.
In 1994, under court orders, the state finalized a plan to
repair the damage to the 780-square mile Mono Basin watershed
driven by the human-caused drought. Without protection, the
lake’s ecosystem probably would have collapsed sometime early
in the 2000s under the combined pressure of water diversions
and global warming. Its persistence suggests that protected
ecosystems are more resilient than vulnerable ones, and that
helping nature heal itself more effectively prevents their
decline than drastic technological and engineering
interventions.
The streaks of white on the rock ringing the nation’s largest
reservoir show how far its water levels have dropped since it
was last full. Lake Mead and nearby Lake Powell, which send
water to 40 million people in the Southwest, are at their
lowest levels since they were filled in the 1930s as part of
the Hoover Dam’s construction on the Colorado River. The
lake actually overflowed in 1983 and nearly hit capacity in
1999. Now, it’s at only 26% of its capacity — and losing
altitude monthly as a decades-long drought brought on by a
changing climate keeps it from replenishing the
supply. Yet in a crucial U.S. Senate campaign primarily
being waged a short drive away that could sway control of the
chamber, the candidates are barely mentioning the disappearing
water levels and the drought that’s causing it.
For centuries people from across the region have observed
Camarguaise bull festivities in the Rhone delta, where the
Rhone river and the Mediterranean Sea meet. But now the
tradition is under threat by rising sea levels, heat waves and
droughts which are making water sources salty and lands
infertile. At the same time, there are efforts by authorities
to preserve more land, leaving less for bulls to graze.
… During summers plagued by high temperatures and
diminished rainfall, the sea water can reach up to 20
kilometers (12 miles) into the Rhone river. During a heat wave
in August this year, the Raynaud family’s water pump in the
Petite Rhone, an offshoot of the main river, began pumping salt
water.
John Wesley Powell offered a poignant message for Western U.S.
communities when he was the featured speaker in a room full of
developers and government leaders at a major irrigation
conference held in Los Angeles in October 1893. … Powell
began to caution his audience about the water limitations in
the West … ”There is not enough water to irrigate all
the lands. … There is but a small portion of the irrigable
land which can be irrigated when all the water, every drop of
water, is utilized,” Powell warned the crowd, adding that he
foresaw a future filled with battles over water rights.
… This context can be very important when coming up with
solutions to any situation, such as helping the struggling
Great Salt Lake, adds Jennifer Ortiz, executive director at
the Utah Division of State History.
This tour traveled along the San Joaquin River to learn firsthand
about one of the nation’s largest and most expensive river
restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
Hampton Inn & Suites Fresno
327 E Fir Ave
Fresno, CA 93720
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
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.
Our Water 101 Workshop, one of our most popular events, offered attendees the opportunity to deepen their understanding of California’s water history, laws, geography and politics.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the state, the workshop was held as an engaging online event on the afternoons of Thursday, April 22 and Friday, April 23.
The Water Education Foundation’s Water 101 Workshop, one of our most popular events, offered attendees the opportunity to deepen their understanding of California’s water history, laws, geography and politics.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the state, the one-day workshop held on Feb. 20, 2020 covered the latest on the most compelling issues in California water.
McGeorge School of Law
3327 5th Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95817
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
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.
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
The 1992 election to the United
States Senate was famously coined the “Year of the Woman” for the
record number of women elected to the upper chamber.
In the water world, 2018 has been a similar banner year, with
noteworthy appointments of women to top leadership posts in
California — Karla Nemeth at the California Department of Water
Resources and Gloria Gray at the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California.
In the universe of California water, Tim Quinn is a professor emeritus. Quinn has seen — and been a key player in — a lot of major California water issues since he began his water career 40 years ago as a young economist with the Rand Corporation, then later as deputy general manager with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and finally as executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. In December, the 66-year-old will retire from ACWA.
In 1983, a landmark California Supreme Court ruling extended the public trust doctrine to tributary creeks that feed Mono Lake, which is a navigable water body even though the creeks themselves were not. The ruling marked a dramatic shift in water law and forced Los Angeles to cut back its take of water from those creeks in the Eastern Sierra to preserve the lake.
Now, a state appellate court has for the first time extended that same public trust doctrine to groundwater that feeds a navigable river, in this case the Scott River flowing through a picturesque valley of farms and alfalfa in Siskiyou County in the northern reaches of California.
One of our most popular events, our annual Water 101 Workshop
details the history, geography, legal and political facets
of water in California as well as hot topics currently facing the
state.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the
state, the one-day workshop on Feb. 7 gave attendees a
deeper understanding of the state’s most precious natural
resources.
Optional Groundwater Tour
On Feb. 8, we jumped aboard a bus to explore groundwater, a key
resource in California. Led by Foundation staff and groundwater
experts Thomas
Harter and Carl Hauge, retired DWR chief hydrogeologist, the
tour visited cities and farms using groundwater, examined a
subsidence measuring station and provided the latest updates
on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
McGeorge School of Law
3327 5th Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Nowhere is the domino effect in
Western water policy played out more than on the Colorado River,
and specifically when it involves the Lower Basin states of
California, Nevada and Arizona. We are seeing that play out now
as the three states strive to forge a Drought Contingency Plan.
Yet that plan can’t be finalized until Arizona finds a unifying
voice between its major water players, an effort you can read
more about in the latest in-depth article of Western Water.
Even then, there are some issues to resolve just within
California.
Lake
Tahoe, the iconic high Sierra water body that straddles
California and Nevada, has sat for more than 10,000 years at the
heart of the Washoe tribe’s territory. In fact, the name Tahoe
came from the tribal word dá’aw, meaning lake.
The lake’s English name was the source of debate for about 100
years after it was first “discovered” in 1844 by people of
European descent when Gen. John C. Fremont’s expedition made its
way into the region. Not long after, a man who carried mail on
snowshoes from Placerville to Nevada City named it Lake Bigler in
honor of John Bigler, who served as California’s third governor.
But because Bigler was an ardent secessionist, the federal
Interior Department during the Civil War introduced the name
Tahoe in 1862. Meanwhile, California kept it as Lake Bigler and
didn’t officially recognize the name as Lake Tahoe until 1945.
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
Along the banks of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in Oakley, about 50 miles southwest
of Sacramento, is a park that harkens back to the days when the
Delta lured Native Americans, Spanish explorers, French fur
trappers, and later farmers to its abundant wildlife and rich
soil.
That historical Delta was an enormous marsh linked to the two
freshwater rivers entering from the north and south, and tidal
flows coming from the San Francisco Bay. After the Gold Rush,
settlers began building levees and farms, changing the landscape
and altering the habitat.
One of our most popular events, Water 101 details the history,
geography, legal and political facets of water in California
as well as hot topics currently facing the state.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the
state, the one-day workshop gives attendees a deeper
understanding of the state’s most precious natural resource.
McGeorge School of Law
3285 5th Ave, Classroom C
Sacramento, CA 95817
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
Participants of this tour snaked along the San Joaquin River to
learn firsthand about one of the nation’s largest and most
expensive river restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
The 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.
A written transcript of a 1992 interview with six major figures
in the early development of California water whose work ranged
from Shasta Dam to the Imperial Valley as they shaped the state’s
water story beginning in the 1920s.
The Reclamation Act of 1902, which could arguably be described as
a progression of the credo, Manifest Destiny, transformed the
West. This issue of Western Water provides a glimpse of the past
100 years of the Reclamation Act, from the early visionaries who
sought to turn the arid West into productive farmland, to the
modern day task of providing a limited amount of water to homes,
farms and the environment. Included are discussions of various
Bureau projects and what the next century may bring in terms of
challenges and success.
This issue of Western Water examines the presence of mercury in
the environment and the challenge of limiting the threat posed to
human health and wildlife. In addition to outlining the extent of
the problem and its resistance to conventional pollution
remedies, the article presents a glimpse of some possible courses
of action for what promises to be a long-term problem.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the area
of origin laws, what they mean to those who claim their
protections and the possible implications of the Tehama Colusa
Canal Authority’s lawsuit against the Bureau of Reclamation.
This printed issue of Western Water discusses several
flood-related issues, including the proposed Central Valley Flood
Protection Plan, the FEMA remapping process and the dispute
between the state and the Corps regarding the levee vegetation
policy.
This printed issue of Western Water examines how the various
stakeholders have begun working together to meet the planning
challenges for the Colorado River Basin, including agreements
with Mexico, increased use of conservation and water marketing,
and the goal of accomplishing binational environmental
restoration and water-sharing programs.
This issue updates progress on crafting and implementing
California’s 4.4 plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water
by 800,000 acre-feet. The state has used as much as 5.2 million
acre-feet of Colorado River water annually, but under pressure
from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the other six states
that share this resource, California’s Colorado River parties
have been trying to close the gap between demand and supply.
Drawn from a special stakeholder symposium held in September 1999
in Keystone, Colorado, this issue explores how we got to where we
are today on the Colorado River; an era in which the traditional
water development of the past has given way to a more
collaborative approach that tries to protect the environment
while stretching available water supplies.
In 1997, the Foundation sponsored a three-day, invitation-only
symposium at Bishop’s Lodge, New Mexico, site of the 1922
Colorado River Compact signing, to discuss the historical
implications of that agreement, current Colorado River issues and
future challenges. The 204-page proceedings features the panel
discussions and presentations on such issues as the Law of the
River, water marketing and environmental restoration.
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.
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.
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.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
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.
Water truly has shaped California into the great state it is
today. And if it is water that made California great, it’s the
fight over – and with – water that also makes it so critically
important. In efforts to remap California’s circulatory system,
there have been some critical events that had a profound impact
on California’s water history. These turning points not only
forced a re-evaluation of water, but continue to impact the lives
of every Californian. This 2005 PBS documentary offers a
historical and current look at the major water issues that shaped
the state we know today. Includes a 12-page viewer’s guide with
background information, historic timeline and a teacher’s lesson.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The
map text explains the many issues facing this vast,
15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration;
agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are
descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement,
and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development
of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this 24×36
inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson River, and
its link to the Truckee River. The map includes Lahontan Dam and
Reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming areas in the basin.
Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and geography, the
Newlands Project, land and water use within the basin and
wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan Basin
Area Office.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As the state’s population continues to grow and traditional water
supplies grow tighter, there is increased interest in reusing
treated wastewater for a variety of activities, including
irrigation of crops, parks and golf courses, groundwater recharge
and industrial uses.
The 20-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing provides
background information on water rights, types of transfers and
critical policy issues surrounding this topic. First published in
1996, the 2005 version offers expanded information on
groundwater banking and conjunctive use, Colorado River
transfers and the role of private companies in California’s
developing water market.
Order in bulk (25 or more copies of the same guide) for a reduced
fee. Contact the Foundation, 916-444-6240, for details.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Nevada Water provides an
overview of the history of water development and use in Nevada.
It includes sections on Nevada’s water rights laws, the history
of the Truckee and Carson rivers, water supplies for the Las
Vegas area, groundwater, water quality, environmental issues and
today’s water supply challenges.
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 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.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
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).
In the Northern California community of Redding, he was a justice
of peace, a renowned water rights attorney in the law firm of
Carr and Kennedy and helped form the Anderson-Cottonwood
Irrigation District. He was often in the nation’s Capitol in
Washington, D.C., advocating for funds from Congress to get this
visionary project built for the benefit of all of California. In
his honor, the Judge Francis Carr Powerplant was named after him.
William R. “Bill” Gianelli
(1919-2020) was a civil engineer who served not only as
director of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR)
from 1967-1973 during Gov. Ronald Reagan’s administration, but
worked as a civil servant under Govs. Earl Warren, Goodwin Knight
and Edmund G. “Pat”
Brown during all phases of the California State Water Project (SWP):
its design, planning and construction.
William Hammond Hall (1846-1934) is credited with the first
proposal of an integrated flood control system with levees, weirs
and bypass channels for the Sacramento Valley after his
appointment as the first California state engineer.
William Mulholland (1855-1935), an immigrant from Ireland, is
infamous in the history of California water and the state’s water
wars for both his far-sightedness and no-holds-barred approach to
delivering a controversial water supply to Southern California.
He is a love-hate character with a story that has many tellings,
including in the 1974 fictional movie, Chinatown.
William E. “Bill” Warne (1905-1996) had a career for the record
books that prominently featured water issues at state, federal
and international levels.
He served under Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown as the second
director of the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) from
1961-1967 along with also being the first Resources Agency
secretary from 1961-1963 at the beginning of the construction of
the California State
Water Project.
Thomas J. “Tom” Graff (1944-2009) opened up the California office
of the Environmental Defense Fund in 1971 and was its regional
director for more than 35 years.
Throughout his life, he was committed to the environment and the
mentorship of environmental leaders. He was revered as an
influential environmental lawyer on the state and federal water
circuits and public forums and used strategic acumen to build
partnerships to solve water problems with long-lasting solutions.
Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858-1919) was the 26th president of
the United States who established the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
and created the U.S. Forest Service.
During his term of office from 1901-1909, he is credited for his
efforts on conservation, increasing the number of national
forests, protecting land for the public and promoting irrigation
projects. For Roosevelt, water was instrumental to developing the
Western states.
Stephen K. Hall (1951-2010) led the Association of California
Water Agencies (ACWA) as its executive director from 1993 until
retiring in 2007 from the effects of Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Hall continued to stay
current on water issues and to advocate for legislation on ALS at
the state Capitol until he died.
His motto became “As much as I can for as long as I can.”
Ron Stork, the award-winning policy director of the Friends of
the River, joined the statewide California river conservation
group in 1987 as its associate conservation director. Previously
he was executive director of the Merced Canyon Committee, where
he directed the successful effort to obtain the National Wild and
Scenic River designation for the Merced River.
Robert “Bob” M. Hagan, Ph.D. (1917-2002), internationally
renowned for his expertise in the relationships between plants,
water, soil and water use efficiency — specifically in the area
of agricultural water use — was a professor of water science, an
irrigationist in the California Agricultural Experiment Station
and a statewide extension specialist in the California
Agricultural Extension Service during a 50-year career with the
University of California, Davis.
Ronald B. Robie, an associate justice on the California Court of
Appeal, Third Appellate District, has made his mark on state
water issues during a career in public service that has spanned
all three branches of government.
Robert A. Skinner (1895-1986) was the Metropolitan Water District
of Southern California general manager from 1962-1967. An
engineer, he was instrumental in negotiating the district’s
contract with the California Department of Water Resources for
delivery of water from Northern California. Both Lake Skinner and
a treatment plant in southwestern Riverside County were named in
his honor.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) authored Silent Spring, a book
published in 1962 about the impacts of pesticides on
the ecosystem and credited with beginning the modern
environmental movement.
Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked at the U.S. Bureau
of Fisheries, renamed the Fish and Wildlife Service, from
1935-1952 as a biologist and then editor-in-chief of
publications.
Marc Reisner (1948-2000), an environmental writer who became a
celebrity in the water world, was the author of Cadillac Desert:
The American West and Its Disappearing Water (1986), a
best-seller about Western water history and politics and a
full-blown critique of 20th century water development, especially
in California and the West. “Based on 10 years of research,
Cadillac Desert is a stunning expose and a dramatic, provocative
history of the creation of an Eden — an Eden that may be only a
mirage,” according to the book’s back flap.
Lester A. Snow, the mastermind behind
countless water resources management projects, has been involved
in water issues in two states, both the public and private
sectors and on regional, state and federal levels of government.
In a timeline of his career, Snow served from 1988-1995 as the
general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority after
leaving the Arizona Department of Water Resources. From
1995-1999, he was the executive director of the CALFED Bay-Delta
Program, which included a team of both federal and state
agencies.
Julian B. Hinds (1881-1977) was Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California’s general manager and chief engineer from
1941-1951, but began work on the Colorado River Aqueduct in 1929
soon after the district was organized.
John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) was historic and heroic for being
first to lead an expedition down the Colorado River in 1869. A major
who lost an arm in the Civil War Battle of Shiloh, he was an
explorer, geologist, geographer and ethnologist.
John R. Teerink (1921-1992) was the director of the California
Department of Water Resources (DWR) from 1973-1975 during
Governor Ronald Reagan’s administration.He had various lead roles
in the implementation of the State Water Project during his
29-year career at DWR. He progressed through the ranks as junior
engineer, assistant chief engineer and then deputy director until
his appointment to head the department.
John Muir (1838-1914) was a famous
and influential naturalist and conservationist who founded the
Sierra Club in 1892 and was its president until he died.
Throughout his life, this man from Scotland was also a farmer,
inventor, sheepherder, explorer and writer.
Joan Didion (1934-2021) was a native California author and
playwright whose famous writings have featured California water
issues.
Born and reared in Sacramento, she wrote extensively and
personally about her feelings on the subject of water. In her
memoir, Where I Was From, she told not only the story about her
pioneering family’s roots in the Sacramento area but also of the
seasonal flooding, the water politics and controversies, and the
California State Water Project (SWP) and federal Central Valley
Project (CVP).
Jean Auer (1937-2005) was the first woman to serve on the
California State Water Resources Control Board and a pioneer for
women aspiring to be leaders in the water world.
She is described as a “woman of great spirit who made large
contributions to improve the waters of California.” She was
appointed as the State Water Board’s public member by
then-Governor Ronald Reagan and served from 1972-1977 during a
time period that included the passage of the federal Clean Water
Act. She became part of the growing movement for water quality
regulations to stop water pollution.
Ira J. “Jack” Chrisman (1910-1988) became a well-known force in
California’s water history beginning back in 1955 after his
family home was flooded in the San Joaquin Valley town of
Visalia.
Hiram W. Wadsworth (1862-1939) is known as the father of
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. As the mayor
of Pasadena, he called for a regional partnership of
municipalities to bring water to Southern California. After
initiating the Colorado River Aqueduct Association and being
elected its president, he directed the campaign from 1924-1929
that led to the establishment of the district. The pumping plant
at Diamond Valley Lake, located 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles
in Riverside County, was named the Hiram W. Wadsworth
Pumping/Hydro-generating Facility in his honor.
Harvey O. Banks (1910-1996), a lifelong civil engineer, played an
integral role in the development of water projects in California.
He became the first director of the state Department of Water
Resources, appointed by Governor Goodwin J. Knight on July 5,
1956 — the date the department was officially established. He
continued as director under Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown.
During Banks’ tenure as director from 1956-1961, he was key in
the planning and the initial construction of the California State
Water Project (SWP).
Gordon Cologne served for 10 years in the California Legislature
during the 1960s and early 1970s while the California State Water
Project was being built.
His interest in water issues began from his early life in the
Coachella Valley desert. An attorney, he worked in both the
public sector in Washington, D.C, and then in private practice in
California. He also served his local community as a member of the
city of Indio City Council, including as mayor, before his
decision to run for election to fill an open seat in the
Assembly.
Elwood Mead (1858-1936) was the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation during the era of the development of Hoover Dam on
the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, Grand Coulee Dam
in Washington and Owyhee Dam in Oregon, among other large water
projects.
Edward Hyatt Jr. (1888-1954) was the state engineer of California
from 1927-1950. In a 1928 report he wrote titled “Water is the
Life Blood of California — The Division of Engineering and
Irrigation of the State Department of Public Works; What it Does
and How it Operates,” he called the department the “building
organization of California’s state government” and described
successes, challenges and responsibilities of his position.
Don McCrea was one of the founding members of the Water Education
Foundation and signed its original Articles of Incorporation in
1977.
His background was in power and energy issues, including
hydrology and the state’s hydrologic system, from a career at the
Pacific Gas & Electric Company in San Francisco. He was involved
in the development of the State Water Project as a proponent of
the value of hydroelectricity.
David N. Kennedy (1936-2007) was at the helm as the director of
the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) for 15 years,
the longest serving director to date, and a champion of the State
Water Project (SWP).
David A. Gaines (1947-1988) is known for founding the Mono Lake
Committee in 1978 with the goal of preserving its ecosystem and
leading a grassroots effort to “Save Mono Lake.” The result would
be an environmental cause célèbre. As a synopsis of the Mono Lake
litigation, in 1979 a lawsuit was filed against the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power (DWP) to stop diversions to
Southern California — citing the public trust values at Mono
Lake.
Clair A. Hill (1909-1998), a self-made engineer nicknamed
“California’s Mr. Water,” built from the ground up an engineering
firm that would merge to form the global consulting firm of CH2M
HILL.
In 1938 in his hometown of Redding along the Upper Sacramento
River in Northern California, he founded Clair A. Hill &
Associates. Before merging with CH2M in 1971, the two firms had
collaborated on many projects together, including the Lake Tahoe
Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility — the first of its kind in
the world.
Carley V. Porter (1906-1972) was the
longtime chairman of the California Legislature’s Assembly
Committee on Water who has two historical and important water
laws named after him. He was a Democrat from Compton in Los
Angeles County and a teacher before being elected to the
Assembly.
C.W. “Bill” Jones (1918-2003) was an historical water figure
known for his pioneering efforts in bringing water deliveries to
the agricultural land in the San Joaquin Valley.
Bernice Frederic “B.F.” “Bernie” Sisk (1910-1995) represented the
San Joaquin Valley in the U.S. Congress for nearly a quarter of a
century from 1955-1978.
Arthur D. Edmonston directed the early planning
of the Central Valley Project, State Water Project and State
Water Plan.
He served as California state engineer and chief of the Division
of Water Resources (predecessor to the Department of Water
Resources) from 1950-1955, a time of rapid population,
agricultural and industry growth California. Water shortages were
common, and groundwater supplies were being overdrafted.
Anne J. Schneider (1947-2010) is
acknowledged as one of the first women to become well-known and
well-respected in the field of California and Western water law.
“Anne was an amazing person — an accomplished college athlete,
mountain climber, skier, marathon runner, velodrome and
long-distance cyclist; a devoted mother; a dedicated
conservationist,” said Justice Ronald B. Robie in the Inaugural
Anne J. Schneider Memorial Lecture in May 2012.
Alex Hildebrand (1913-2012) had an understanding and knowledge of
California’s South Delta and San Joaquin River bar none. After
retiring early from a career as an engineer for Standard Oil of
California, he moved his family to the San Joaquin Valley where
he farmed for nearly 50 years while active in water issues and as
an advocate for the area.
Adolph Moskovitz (1923-1996) is remembered as one of the leading
water resources attorneys in the country and has been described
as “brilliant” by his many peers in the legal profession.
We were pleased to receive the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s
highest award in the area of water conservation recently. The
Foundation was recognized for being a long-term industry leader
for conservation in California and the West. With receipt of this
award and the contents of this latest Western Water, I’ve been
reflecting on the more than 17 years I have spent at the
Foundation. As Sue McClurg chronicles in her article, a series of
talented people have worked both as staff and volunteers through
our 20 years. Certainly the Foundation owes much of its success
to these people.
