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.
As atmospheric rivers blasted across California this year, they
brought epic amounts of rain and snow follwing a three-year
drought.
Devastating and deadly floods hit parts of the state and now all
eyes are on the potential for more flooding, particularly in
the San Joaquin Valley as the record amount of snow in the
Sierras melts with warmer temperatures.
With anticipated sea level rise and other impacts of a changing
climate, flood management is increasingly critical in California.
Registration Now Open for Northern California Tour:
October 16-18
Registration is now open for
our popular Northern California
Tour October 16-18, and seats always fill
quickly! This 3-day, 2-night excursion across the
Sacramento Valley travels north from Sacramento to Oroville,
Redding and Shasta Lake.
As we head into summer, don’t miss your chance to explore the
statewide impact of forest health on water resources in July and
be sure to mark your calendars for our popular fall programming!
Northern
California Tour, October 16-18: Explore the
Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape
while learning about the issues associated with a key source
for the state’s water supply. Registration opens June
12!
Water Summit, October 30: Attend the Water
Education Foundation’s premier annual event hosted in
Sacramento with leading policymakers and experts addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West. More
details coming soon!
Western lawmakers are urging the Bureau of Reclamation to
increase the amount of money it spends on water recycling
projects, citing rising construction costs. California Sen.
Alex Padilla (D) and Rep. Grace Napolitano (D) on Friday
pressed the Biden administration to raise the per-project cap
on federal funding for water recycling by $10 million, up from
its current $30 million limit. “As the West continues to
recover from the impacts of long-term drought while also
preparing for inevitable future droughts, it is imperative that
the federal government continues to invest in local water
supplies to meet the demands of recycled water in the West,”
the lawmakers wrote in a Friday letter to Reclamation
Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton.
After brutal wildfire seasons in 2020 and 2021, California has
enjoyed two mild years in a row. The good fortune was driven
largely by rain and snow that ended three years of drought.
What’s on tap for this summer and fall? Nobody knows for sure.
But three points are key, experts say. First, California had a
wet winter this year, with rainfall since Oct. 1 in San
Francisco at 113% of normal, 157% in Los Angeles, and 92% in
Fresno. The Sierra Nevada snowpack was 111% of normal on April
1. Second, California has a Mediterranean climate, and
wildfires are part of the state’s natural landscape. Third,
wildfires have generally been getting worse across the West in
recent decades. Climate change is raising temperatures and
drying out vegetation more than in the past. Forests in many
areas are unnaturally dense after generations of fire
suppression by state and federal agencies. And more people are
moving to fire-prone areas, increasing fire risk from power
lines, vehicles and other human causes.
A roundly castigated proposal to build a holding reservoir
above Isabella Lake in order to pump water up from the lake and
run it back down through turbines for power – known as pumped
energy storage – is back. And it brought friends.
There are now three pumped energy storage proposals in Kern
County, including the old-now-new-again Isabella proposal. That
proposal and another for a project near Rosamond are undergoing
review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for
preliminary permits. FERC is seeking public comments on both
proposals through Aug 12. A third proposal, for a project in
the mountains above Gorman (though it’s listed as
Tehachapi) has an approved preliminary permit from FERC.
For years, scientists have worried about “forever chemicals,”
substances used to make hundreds of household items that have
been linked by research to a wide range of health problems. In
response, a growing number of companies have pledged not to use
the chemicals, and regulators have increasingly taken aim at
them. But even as work continues to phase out the
substances, scientists are beginning to focus on new types that
are far more widespread than earlier realized — prompting
worries about undetected health risks. A growing body of
research has raised concerns about a forever chemical known as
TFA, which is short for trifluoroacetic acid and has been found
in increasing amounts in rainwater, groundwater and drinking
water. The chemical has a composition that scientists say may
make it especially hard to filter, although scientists lack
consensus on whether it poses a human health risk.
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.
