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Announcement

Last Call for Northern California Tour – Won’t Be Offered Next Year; Colorado River Reporter Honored with Journalism Award
Foundation's Latest Western Water Article Explores New Way of Looking at Risk in the West

Only a few seats are left on the bus for our Northern California Tour on Oct. 22-24 that journeys across the Sacramento Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to Oroville and Shasta dams!

One of our most popular tours, it will not be offered in 2026 so don’t miss this opportunity for a scenic journey through riparian woodland, rice fields, nut orchards and wildlife refuges while learning from experts about the history of the Sacramento River and issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply. Other stops include Red Bluff Fish Passage Improvement Project, rice farms, Battle Creek, Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District and Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. Only a handful of tickets are left, so claim your seat on the bus here!

Announcement

Water Education Foundation Honors Colorado River Reporter Alex Hager
Hager is fourth recipient of Rita Schmidt Sudman Award for Excellence in Water Journalism

The Water Education Foundation has named Alex Hager, KUNC’s reporter covering the Colorado River Basin, as this year’s recipient of the Rita Schmidt Sudman Award for Excellence in Water Journalism.

The award recognizes Hager’s clear, deeply sourced reporting that helps the public understand the people, policies and ecosystems tied to one of the West’s most important rivers, said Jenn Bowles, the Foundation’s Executive Director. Hager’s public radio reports reach audiences across the basin and airs nationally on NPR programs such as All Things Considered, Science Friday and Marketplace.

“I’m deeply grateful for this recognition from the Water Education Foundation,” Hager said. “The Colorado River is the lifeblood of our region, yet so many people who rely on it don’t know where their water comes from or the challenges the river is facing. I was one of those people until I started this job. It has been a delight and a challenge to learn about the science and policy that shape our shared resource along the way.”

Water News You Need to Know

Aquafornia news The New York Times

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: California forecast: Early-season storm brings a deluge of rain

An early-season storm was lashing Southern California early Tuesday, prompting officials in Los Angeles County to issue evacuation warnings in some areas. Thunderstorms could unleash heavy rain that sends torrents of water, mud, sand, rocks, trees and boulders down steep slopes in places recently burned by wildfires, forecasters warned. … A flash flood watch was in effect through Tuesday afternoon for all areas that burned within the past two years. … A winter weather advisory was issued through Wednesday for the Lake Tahoe Basin, where the highest peaks were predicted to pick up two feet of snow. 

Other weather and water supply news around the West:

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

California cracks down on water theft but spares data centers from disclosing how much they use

Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed legislation that would have required data centers to report how much water they use. … Assembly Bill 93, introduced by Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo), would have required new data centers to disclose their expected water use when they apply for a business license and would have required all to report their water consumption annually. In a message explaining his decision Saturday, Newsom said the widespread adoption of AI “is driving an unprecedented demand for data center capacity throughout the nation.”

Other California water policy news:

Aquafornia news SJV Water (Bakersfield, Calif.)

Subsidence photo op stirs bad feelings in already bitter groundwater clash​

Already heated tensions flared Friday when a southern Tulare County dairy farmer noticed what appeared to be signs illustrating subsidence levels being affixed to a telephone pole across the street from his ranch in the Pixley Irrigation District. … He wrote in the post that attempts to speak to the people putting up the signs didn’t yield many answers, although one man’s hat offered a clue: Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District (DEID). … The photo op was, indeed, orchestrated by DEID to illustrate the level of subsidence in that area.

Other groundwater news:

Aquafornia news Complete Colorado

Opinion: Shoshone negotiations open old Colorado water rights wounds

Washington Evening Star humorist Philander Chase Johnson created a great character named Senator Sorghum. A 1902 piece called “A Delicate Distinction” had one character saying, “That friend of yours seems to have a clear conscience.” Senator Sorghum answered, “No, not a clear conscience; merely a bad memory.” A convenient memory is common in politics. And current negotiations regarding the Colorado River District’s attempt to purchase the Shoshone water rights from Excel Energy provide a perfect example. Water providers up and down the Front Range, and especially Denver Water, seem to be conveniently forgetting the agreement made more than a decade ago – to support the purchase, and even help finance it.
–Written by Greg Walcher, former director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

Online Water Encyclopedia

Wetlands

Sacramento National Wildlife RefugeWetlands are among the world’s most important and hardest-working ecosystems, rivaling rainforests and coral reefs in productivity. 

They produce high oxygen levels, filter water pollutants, sequester carbon, reduce flooding and erosion and recharge groundwater.

Bay-Delta Tour participants viewing the Bay Model

Bay Model

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.

Aquapedia background Colorado River Basin Map

Salton Sea

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

Lake Oroville shows the effects of drought in 2014.

Drought

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.