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!
An otherwise dismal snow year in Colorado has one clear upside:
At least the snow that has fallen on the state isn’t dusty.
Each year, storms pick up dust from across the Southwest and
drop it on Colorado’s mountain snowpack, where it can hasten
melting. Earlier snowmelt has ripple effects on water supplies,
forecasts, irrigators and ecosystems. … Dark dust layers
on the snow’s surface absorb more solar radiation, which causes
the snow to melt faster and earlier in the season. When that
happens, it changes how plants use water. They send more
moisture into the air, which reduces the amount of water
entering streams and rivers, according to researchers.
The Delta-Mendota subbasin, one of the largest in
California, will likely avoid state enforcement. Staff
from the state Water Resources Control Board issued an
assessment March 2 that recommends the basin, which stretches
over 765,000 acres across six counties, return to the oversight
of the Department of Water Resources (DWR). The state
Water Board will consider the recommendation at its April 7
board meeting. … In its assessment, Water Board staff
determined that Delta-Mendota’s 2024 revised Groundwater
Sustainability Plan made significant progress resolving
deficiencies that sent the basin into the state’s intervention
process in 2023 per the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA).
The city of Chandler is expanding its well system with the help
of a $1 million federal grant. City leaders say it will help
them diversify their water portfolio as the Colorado
River gets less reliable. Arizona water leaders have
stressed the need for resilient water systems that draw from
multiple sources. Those calls have come into focus in recent
months, as proposed federal plans for managing the Colorado
River could deal significant cutbacks to Arizona’s share of
Colorado River water. Water leaders said those cuts would be
“devastating.” … [C]ity leaders around the Valley made
the case that water reductions could harm the growing
technological manufacturing industry in Arizona.
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is meeting to focus on
tribal water rights, including a bill to settle a long-running
dispute in Arizona. At an oversight hearing and legislative
hearing on Wednesday afternoon, the committee will take
testimony about tribal water rights in general. The Department
of the Interior is sending an official to discuss the policy of
President Donald Trump and his administration. The committee is
also taking testimony on S.953, the Northeastern Arizona Indian
Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025. The bipartisan bill
settles the water rights of the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo
Nation and the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe in the Colorado
River basin in northeastern Arizona.
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.
