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.
Our Layperson’s
Guide to California Water has been completely
updated for 2026, providing a comprehensive overview of the
ways water is used, as well as its critical ecological role,
throughout the state. The 24-page publication traces the history
of the vital resource at the core of California’s identity,
politics and culture since its founding in 1850.
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!
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today conducted the
critical April snow survey at Phillips Station and found no
measurable snow, a stark indicator of how record‑hot March
temperatures and high‑elevation rain have erased the Sierra
Nevada snowpack months ahead of schedule. The combination of
warm storms and unusually hot temperatures rapidly melted what
remained of this year’s already sparse snowpack.
Statewide, the snowpack is now just 18 percent of
average for this date, according to the automated snow
sensor network.
California’s snowpack is supposed to reach its peak April 1, so
today, state surveyors hold their final Sierra snow survey of
the year. But instead of peak snow, there’s almost none.
Snow across California’s Sierra Nevada measured just
18% of average Monday — among the smallest in decades.
A month of record-shattering heat thawed the snow and sent
runoff coursing into streams and rivers, leaving only minimal
water in the mountains as the state heads into dry
season. The early melt is a symptom of global warming that
scientists say is becoming more pronounced.
In Park City, Utah, skiers could find patches of grass poking
through the slopes for much of the winter — a striking sign of
a season that never really arrived. Now, after one of the
warmest winters on record, much of the West is entering spring
with snowpack at historic lows and an early
heat wave that pushed temperatures into triple digits. These
woes could be straight out of a climate fiction novel. But the
West’s no good, very bad winter was alarmingly real. And,
experts say, a worrisome combination of low snowpack and a
devastating heat wave could create a summer ripe for climate
disasters.
Other Colorado River Basin snowpack and drought news:
The federal government has complied with the Endangered Species
Act in its activities at two dams on California’s Yuba
River, a judge ruled Tuesday in a decade-old case.
However, U.S. District Judge Daniel Calabretta had one carveout
in his decision. He determined the National Marine Fisheries
Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improperly excluded
the Brophy Diversion from an analysis. He remanded that aspect
of the case to the service for reassessment. The judge’s
decision on the motions for summary judgement closes the 2016
case that at its heart focused on three fish: Central Valley
spring chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, and North
American green sturgeon.
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.
