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.
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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!
For the first time in four years, salmon fishing seasons will
open in California for both commercial and recreational use
this spring. … The sport fishing season will open first,
on April 11 in ocean waters south of Pigeon Point, about 30
miles north of Santa Cruz. The commercial season, which has
been closed in the state since 2023 due to low stock numbers,
is set to open in California in mid-May, with a final date and
regulations to be set in mid-April. The recreational fishery
had only limited openings in 2025 following closures in 2023
and 2024 for the same reason. … The goal of the
restrictions is to ensure plenty of adult fish return
to the spawning grounds [in rivers] and hatcheries this
fall, said the CDFW.
Has Colorado’s snowpack peak already come and gone? Maybe – and
if so, it would be the earliest snowpack peak on record with
records dating back to 1987. Those who have been following
along with the state’s snowpack since the start of the season
already know that the winter of 2025-2026 has brought
record-setting dryness to the Centennial State
[location of Colorado River
headwaters]. … On March 8, statewide snowpack
hit a snow-water equivalent of 8.4 inches – and it hasn’t
managed to climb to 8.5 inches since. In fact, as of March 14,
the state was at 8.2 inches, showing a snowpack decline that
hasn’t been seen yet this year.
… [T]he [Colorado] river’s 46 reservoirs, including the
enormous man-made Lake Powell and Lake Mead, now stand more
than two-thirds empty, according to a recent report by the
Colorado River Research Group. … “We are not running out
of water,” said Rhett Larson, professor of water law at Arizona
State University and one of the [Colorado River Water Users
Association] conference’s keynote speakers. “We are running out
of cheap water.” … Amid this ongoing tussle, a
few lonely voices, including a right-wing Arizona state
representative named Alexander Kolodin, have been proposing a
seemingly radical solution: What if we just … gulp … let
the market decide?
California’s Department of Water Resources
has released its most comprehensive groundwater
report to date. The Bulletin 118 Update 2025 covers
groundwater conditions, use, and management across the state
from 2020 to 2024, offering the most detailed assessment yet of
a resource that supplies around 40% of California’s total water
demand in average years. … Structured around four strategic
themes: maximizing groundwater infrastructure for climate
adaptation, accelerating SGMA implementation, strengthening
equity for frontline communities, and improving data and
monitoring tools, the report amounts to a call for California
to move from reactive groundwater management to treating it as
the cornerstone of its long-term water strategy.
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.
