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 next Thursday’s Water
101 Workshop and go beyond the headlines to gain a
deeper understanding of how water is managed and moved across
California. Plus, only a handful of seats remain for the
opportunity to extend your ‘beyond the headlines’ water education
experience on the optional watershed tour the next day!
To replenish California’s
chronically depleted aquifers, the state’s Department of Water
Resources is taking a hard look at a new line of attack: Pairing
more sophisticated reservoir operations with groundwater
recharge. Water managers are aiming to make greater use of the
increased floodwater that’s expected to come with flashier, more
intense storms and earlier snowmelt.
To replenish California’s chronically depleted aquifers, the
state’s Department of Water Resources is taking a hard look at
a new line of attack: Pairing more sophisticated reservoir
operations with groundwater recharge. Water managers are aiming
to make greater use of the increased floodwater that’s expected
to come with flashier, more intense storms and earlier
snowmelt. The new approach is known as
FIRO-MAR, which stands for Forecast-Informed
Reservoir Operations-Managed Aquifer Recharge. In December, DWR
released a study focused on the five main tributary watersheds
of California’s second-largest river, the San Joaquin, that
provides the most comprehensive assessment of the concept’s
potential yet.
With a Lake Powell conservation pool nearly guaranteed for the
future of Colorado River management, the four Upper Basin
states are exploring and refining the ways they could fill it.
Conservation by those states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and
Wyoming) could be one of the keys to reaching a deal among the
seven states that share the Colorado River and an important
part of the framework for managing the drought-stricken river
after this year. The water saved by the Upper Basin states
could be stored in Lake Powell as a means of maintaining higher
water levels and as an insurance policy against drastic cuts.
Governor Spencer Cox said he would not rule out seeking a
drought declaration if Utah’s already-bleak water situation
intensified. While the good news is that water supplies are
good because reservoirs are full, FOX 13 News first reported on
Wednesday that new government reports showed snowpack levels
are among the worst ever; Utah’s snow water equivalent (the
water we get out of snow) is at a record low; and this winter
was the warmest on record. The Great Salt Lake could hit a new
record low this year and Lake Powell, which helps prop up the
Colorado River system, could drop to such a low it ceases to
generate electricity for millions of people across the West.
Other drought and water restriction news around the West:
The San Diego County Water Authority has inked its first deal
to sell excess water to other communities in Southern
California, a landmark overhaul of the water authority’s
business model that’s long been promised by top officials. The
water authority’s new agreement to sell water to the Western
Municipal Water District in Riverside County will bring in $100
million in new revenue for the San Diego region’s financially
strapped water system over the next five years. That influx of
cash could temper future rate hikes for many county residents.
But it’s too early to say what impact the deal might
have. The water authority’s Board of Directors unanimously
backed the agreement with Western on Thursday.
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.
