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.
Start making arrangements now to attend our first-ever
Kern River Tour and annual Water
Summit so you don’t miss out. These popular fall
programs have limited seating and will fill up quickly!
Kern River Tour | November 4-6
Join us on this special journey as
we examine water issues along the Kern
River, from its mountain-fed headwaters in the
southern Sierra Nevada to its terminus in the Central Valley west
of Bakersfield. Among the planned stops are both upper forks of
the Kern River, Lake Isabella, lower Kern River canyon, the
Friant-Kern Canal, irrigated agriculture in the valley, the Kern
Water Bank and more. Click here for more
details.
Tom Gibson, new director of
California’s Department of Water Resources, will serve as the
keynote speaker for our 42ⁿᵈ annual Water
Summit on Oct. 29.
Guided by this year’s theme, Stewarding a New Era in
Western Water,Gibson and
other leading policymakers and experts will address emerging
topics related to the challenges and opportunities facing water
resource management in California and the West.
Gibson,
an attorney who has held several roles in the state’s Natural
Resources Agency and its various departments, was appointed by
Gov. Newsom on June 29 and sworn in on July 6 to lead DWR and its
nearly 4,000 employees.
The Trump administration’s plan for dealing with worsening
water shortages along the Colorado River is encountering strong
opposition from Arizona’s leaders, who are warning they could
sue to challenge mandatory water cutbacks that they say would
harm their state. A legal fight could end up before the
U.S. Supreme Court and further complicate efforts by
seven Western states to agree on how to share water from the
shrinking river and its reservoirs, which have fallen to record
low levels. Arizona laid out its objections in a sharply worded
letter to the federal government last week. It said the Trump
administration’s 10-year plan doesn’t adhere to the
Colorado River Compact, the 1922 agreement that originally
divided the water among the states.
A Ninth Circuit panel granted a win to the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation Monday, confirming a lower court’s finding the
conversion of water service contracts from the
California Central Valley Project doesn’t require a new
environmental review. A three-judge panel unanimously
held the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act
required the bureau to change a contract if requested by a
water user, and does not necessitate the agency undertake
environmental review under the National Environmental Policy
Act or Endangered Species Act before converting each water
service contract. … In a statement to Courthouse
News, John Buse of the Center for Biological Diversity,
representing the plaintiffs, called the ruling “unfortunate.”
Want to water your grass limitlessly without risking a fine? In
some Front Range towns,residents still can water without
inhibition despite searing drought.Nearly the entire state is
in some level of drought, according to U.S. Drought Monitor
data released Thursday, but the aridity is especially intense
over the highly populated urban corridor and the mountains that
are the source of much of Colorado’s water. … Despite
widespread severe drought, 13 of the 25 largest cities
and towns in Colorado have not implemented additional mandatory
water use restrictions. … Water managers in many of
the communities without additional drought restrictions have
asked customers to voluntarily cut back water use, to varying
degrees of success.
… Two major data center bills passed a key committee
last week as California’s legislative session nears its close
at the end of this month. Senate Bill 886 aimsto
prevent data centers from raising utility costs for other
consumers, while SB 887 would incentivize
developers to invest in clean energy and nearby communities.
… It’s unclear how Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will respond to
bills opposed by politically powerful utilities and tech
companies. Last year, Newsom vetoed a bill that would
have required data centers to report their water
usage. … But the politics are shifting.
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.
No portion of the West has been immune to drought during the last
century and it occurs with much greater frequency in the West
than in any other region of the country.
