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.
Some people in California and across the West struggle to access
safe, reliable and affordable water to meet their everyday needs
for drinking, cooking and sanitation.
There are many ways to support our nonprofit mission by donating
in someone’s honor or memory, 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.
Are you an
up-and-coming leader in the water world? Applications are
now available for our 2025 California Water Leaders cohort, and
are due no later than Dec. 5, 2024.
If interested in applying, start by checking out the
program
requirements. Make sure you have the time to commit
to the program next year and approval from your organization
to apply.
Only a few seats are left on the
bus for our Northern California
Tour on Oct. 16-18 that explores the Sacramento
Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to Oroville and
Shasta dams!
Don’t miss this scenic journey through riparian woodland, rice
fields, nut orchards and wildlife refuges while learning
from experts about the history of the Sacramento River.
Grab your
ticket here before they’re gone!
California officials have joined a legal effort to restore
water to the Kern River after an abrupt shutoff of water dried
up the river and killed thousands of fish in Bakersfield. The
decision by state officials and Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to
intervene in the court case gives new impetus to environmental
groups as they try to compel the city of Bakersfield and
agricultural water districts to bring back a flowing river.
Bonta announced Monday that he and the California Department of
Fish and Wildlife filed a brief supporting the environmental
groups in the case before the state’s 5th District Court of
Appeal.
Atmospheric rivers are forecast to “drench the West Coast” this
winter, according to a recent meteorological report. Last
winter, the West Coast faced a slew of atmospheric
rivers that caused devastating floods and landslides. The
storms also brought a deluge of rain that supplemented
California lakes and rivers, helping to eliminate the state’s
drought. Meteorologists are again predicting a wet winter for
the West Coast, according to an AccuWeather report published
Monday, and meteorologists are warning of a “big change”
expected in the Golden State by midseason. Atmospheric rivers
are a “long, narrow region in the atmosphere—like rivers in the
sky—that transport most of the water vapor outside of the
tropics,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
On October 7, 2024, the California Court of Appeal upheld the
Orange County Water District’s (OCWD) authority to manage
the Orange County Groundwater Basin in the
case Irvine Ranch Water District v. Orange County Water
District et al. This ruling ensures the continued ability of
OCWD to achieve sustainable management of the basin, a vital
source that provides 85% of the water for 19 cities and water
districts serving 2.5 million Orange County residents. The
court’s decision reaffirms OCWD’s groundwater management
practices and statutory authority, ensuring the continued
equitable distribution of groundwater across north and central
Orange County. This legal validation allows OCWD to maintain
its proven framework for managing basin resources while
protecting water quality and local water supplies.
California has endured three severe droughts over the past 15
years. Its five largest wildfires in recorded history have all
occurred since 2018. Heat waves with temperatures above 110
degrees are breaking records summer after summer. With that
backdrop, along with a state budget that lawmakers have
struggled to balance over the past year, California voters will
decide the fate of Proposition 4, a bond measure on the
November ballot that would authorize $10 billion in spending to
address climate change and its impacts. The money would
fund a range of programs, from increasing forest thinning to
planting more trees in cities to reduce temperatures during
heat waves. It also would pay for programs to expand water
conservation and recycling, enlarge state parks and create
coastal wetlands to buttress rising sea levels.
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.
