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.
Our Layperson’s
Guide to California Water has been completely
updated for 2026, providing a comprehensive overview of the
ways water is used, as well as its critical ecological role,
throughout the state. The 24-page publication traces the history
of the vital resource at the core of California’s identity,
politics and culture since its founding in 1850.
Time is running out to register for next Thursday’s Water
101 Workshop and go beyond the headlines to gain a
deeper understanding of how water is managed and moved across
California. Plus, only a handful of seats remain for the
opportunity to extend your ‘beyond the headlines’ water education
experience on the optional watershed tour the next day!
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy
Jr. and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee
Zeldin announced new initiatives to tackle
microplastics in the human body and drinking water on
Thursday. Kennedy said the government will create a
$144-million program called STOMP, for the systematic targeting
of microplastics. … Zeldin said the environmental agency
will add microplastics and pharmaceuticals to its list of
concerning chemicals in drinking water. … In 2022,
California became the first government in the
world to require that drinking water be tested for
microplastics. The state has not yet begun reporting its
results.
… Denver Water spokesperson Todd Hartman said via email that
the agency will use a portion of its cash reserves to offset
the lower water sales and other costs associated with the
drought. It has also taken steps to reduce other costs, such as
leaving job vacancies open longer. Colorado experienced
record-low mountain snows this year and a scorching hot spring,
which has the thin snowpack melting sooner than normal.
Reservoir storage is stable for this year, at roughly 80% of
average across the state. But heavy water use could drain those
reservoirs too quickly, potentially causing major shortages
next year if this winter is as dry as last winter’s was,
officials have said. To protect reservoir storage,
cities want customers to reduce water use by 10% to
20%. They’re hoping surcharges will help them
reach those goals.
Other water supply and drought news around the West:
Every year, as winter winds down into April, officials with
California’s Department of Water Resources perform their
snowpack measurements for the last time. … March’s
record-breaking warmth left the state’s snowpack at a mere 18%
of its April 1 average. State officials and scientists are
warning of strained water resources throughout the
state and an earlier-than-usual fire season. The
atypical heat was part of a larger wave of warm temperatures
that swept through the continental U.S during March. The
National Weather Service reported that from March 15
through the 26, more than 1,100 records for warm temperatures
were tied or broken.
What some see as a water grab for a fast-growing metro in Utah
could have implications for the groundwater flows that support
Nevada’s only national park and surrounding farm land. On
Wednesday, a broad coalition of farmers, county and city
governments and environmentalists filed an appeal to the Bureau
of Land Management after it approved permits for a
pipeline that would contribute to the drain of
aquifers in the name of growth in Iron County, Utah, which
includes Cedar City. … Advocates say, without a
doubt, that tapping those water sources will draw down aquifers
near Great Basin National Park in Baker and into western Utah.
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.
