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!
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it will spend $540
million on water infrastructure projects in California, much of
it to repair aging and sinking canals in the Central Valley.
The largest share, $235 million, will be used to rehabilitate
the Delta-Mendota Canal, which carries water
to farmlands. An additional $200 million will help continue
repairs on the Friant-Kern Canal, another
major conduit for water in the valley. … The Interior
Department said it also will spend $40 million to begin a plan
to raise the height of Shasta Dam — a proposal
that growers and water agencies have supported. … The
plan to raise the dam and expand the reservoir is strongly
opposed by tribes, fishing advocates and environmental groups.
A mixed coalition of 60 Northern and Southern California
interests, as well as environmentalists, are backing
legislation they consider critical to protecting the state’s
water supply. Solano County also has sent a letter of support
for Senate Bill 872, which goes before the Senate Environmental
Quality Committee today (March 18). … The
environmental group, Restore the Delta, agrees, noting the bill
by Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, addresses two “major
threats” to California’s water supply: aginglevees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta and sinkingcanals in
the State Water Project. …The
legislation calls for $300 million annually
from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund over 20 years.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says concerns over record warmth and
the low snow pack prompted his decision to activate the state’s
Drought Task Force on Tuesday. The task force will study
drought conditions statewide and report on their effects
on farmers, cities, and other areas. … Activating
the Drought Task Force is phase two of the state’s Drought
Response Plan. They’ll monitor snowpack, precipitation,
temperature, streamflow, soil moisture and reservoir storage.
If conditions worsen, the state will move into phase three. The
governor will declare an official drought, and water
restrictions could be implemented.
To save California’s celebrated yet very parched Mono
Lake, the city of Los Angeles needs to stop taking water from
the basin, or at least sharply curtail its draws. That’s the
takeaway from a new, state-commissioned report on how to revive
the depleted saltwater body, widely known for its extraordinary
tufa towers and curious alkali shores. But that’s not the
only takeaway. Even if Los Angeles is to halt pumping from the
remote eastern Sierra watershed — and the city has no intention
of doing so — the report says Mono Lake will still struggle to
rise to healthy heights, due to the drying effects of climate
change.
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.
