Watch our series of short videos on the importance of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, how it works as a water hub for
California and the challenges it is facing.
When a person opens a spigot to draw a glass of water, he or she
may be tapping a source close to home or hundreds of miles away.
Water gets to taps via a complex web of aqueducts, canals and
groundwater.
Learn more about our team in the office and on the Board of
Directors and how you can support our nonprofit mission by
donating in someone’s honor or memory, or becoming a regular
contributor or supporting specific projects.
Unlike California’s majestic rivers and massive dams and
conveyance systems, groundwater is out of sight and underground,
though no less plentiful. The state’s enormous cache of
underground water is a great natural resource and has contributed
to the state becoming the nation’s top agricultural producer and
leader in high-tech industries.
A new era of groundwater management began in 2014 in California
with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The landmark law
turned 10 in 2024, with many challenges still ahead.
Time is running out to register for this month’s Water
101 Workshop in Sacramento where you’ll
go beyond the headlines and gain a deeper understanding of
how water is managed and moved across California. And come one,
come all to our annual Open
House & Reception on May 7!
California’s water managers have long looked for ways to adapt to a hotter, drier future where the impacts of climate change leave less water to meet the state’s needs.
At our annual Water 101 Workshopon March 26 in Sacramento, participants will hear from Joel Metzger, deputy director for statewide water resources planning, on efforts underway by the California Department of Water Resources to achieve a target of identifying 9 million acre-feet of additional water supply by 2040, roughly equal to the capacity of two Shasta Reservoirs.
The agenda for the workshop features some of the leading policy and legal experts in California who will detail the historical, legal and political facets of water management in the state. Seating is limited and filling up quickly, so don’t miss out!
Leaders of California, Arizona and Nevada are criticizing the
Trump administration’s proposals for water cutbacks along the
Colorado River, urging it to take a different approach and
avoid a court battle. The three downstream states said in
letters to the Interior Department this week that the agency’s
preliminary outline of five options for cuts ignores the
foundational “Law of the River” that has underpinned how seven
western states operate for more than a century. Federal
officials have so far failed to examine whether their options
comply with the 1922 Colorado River Compact, and this is “a
fundamental deficiency that must be corrected,” JB Hamby,
California’s lead negotiator, wrote in a letter to the Trump
administration.
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday nixed the Environmental Protection
Agency’s recommendation to relax criteria for toxic cadmium
levels in fresh water, compelling the agency to revisit its
guidance under the Clean Water Act. A
three-judge panel — upholding a lower court order vacating the
guidance — found the agency violated the Endangered Species Act
by failing to consult with either the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service before it
issued new recommendations in 2016. … The panel accepted
the center’s evidence that cadmium exposure at the agency’s
recommended levels are harmful to numerous marine
animals like salmon, sturgeon and sea turtles.
With little snow in the forecast, California’s meager
snowpack — at just 59% of normal for this time of year — could
be in dire trouble. And that’s a big deal for winter
sports enthusiasts who want to bag peaks or hit the slopes in
Lake Tahoe this winter. This winter hasn’t been a dry one, but
it has been a tale of warm storms bringing rain, a few big cold
winter systems dropping multiple feet of snow and then warm
temperatures prematurely melting some of the cold white layer
blanketing the Sierra Nevada. “The full three-month period,
winter 2026, was in fact record warm throughout a majority of
the Sierra Nevada,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
Arizona Water Company became the first water provider in more
than 20 years to receive a 100-year water supply designation in
Pinal County’s Active Management Area, officials announced
today. The company received the designation through Governor
Katie Hobbs’ new Alternative Designation of Assured Water
Supply (ADAWS) program. The ADAWS program aims to conserve
groundwater while enabling housing development. Arizona Water
Company’s designation will provide water supply
protections across its service area and support construction of
more than 80,000 new homes, according to the
governor’s office.
Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
Bay Model is a giant hydraulic replica of San Francisco
Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. It is housed in a converted World II-era
warehouse in Sausalito near San Francisco.
Hundreds of gallons of water are pumped through the
three-dimensional, 1.5-acre model to simulate a tidal ebb
and flow lasting 14 minutes.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
Drought—an extended period of
limited or no precipitation—is a fact of life in California and
the West, with water resources following boom-and-bust patterns.
During California’s 2012–2016 drought, much of the state
experienced severe drought conditions: significantly less
precipitation and snowpack, reduced streamflow and higher
temperatures. Those same conditions reappeared early in 2021
prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom in May to declare drought emergencies
in watersheds across 41 counties in California.
