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.
The Water Education Foundation’s
2025 Annual
Reportis now available in an interactive,
digital format and recaps how we accomplished a lot of
“firsts” last year.
A standout moment was our first-ever Klamath River
Tour, where we brought 45 participants into the heart of
the watershed that underwent the nation’s largest dam removal
project.
A member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet on Monday
intensified her ongoing campaign to thwart PG&E’s plans to
eventually tear down a pair of century-old Eel River dams.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced in a social
media post that she and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had met
earlier in the day with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. CEO Patti
Poppe, along with representatives from the Elsinore Valley
Municipal Water District “to begin constructive negotiations on
the future of the Potter Valley Project.” The administration’s
“hope is clear,” she stated: to “keep the Scott and Cape Horn
Dams in place and working for the communities they serve.”
That goal stands in direct opposition to PG&E’s
long-held plan to decommission the century-old dams,
part of Potter Valley hydroelectric project that no longer made
financial sense, the utility concluded in 2019.
Sacramento County leaders have declared a local emergency over
the growing threat of golden mussels, an invasive species from
Asia that experts warn could harm waterways,
ecosystems, and infrastructure if it continues
spreading. California water managers have been working
to contain the invasive species, which reproduces rapidly and
has already spread from the Delta to Stockton.
… Sacramento County leaders declared the emergency on
Tuesday, citing fears that the mussels could harm the natural
ecosystem by affecting the food fish feed on and clogging
critical water infrastructure like water pipes and pumps.
… The department is urging anyone who boats, owns jet
skis, or kayaks to clean, dry, and drain their vessels to
prevent the spread of the mussels.
The developer of a proposed 330-megawatt data center near the
City of Imperial has filed a sweeping lawsuit against the
Imperial Irrigation District (IID), alleging the district
unlawfully denied its request for water service and
discriminates against industrial water users. Imperial Valley
Computer Manufacturing, LLC … is developing a data center
project on a 75-acre site at Aten and Clark roads in
unincorporated Imperial County.The lawsuit challengesIID’s May
1 denial of the company’s request for approximately 880
acre-feet of water annually for industrial cooling
purposes. The developer contends the water demand is
comparable to that of a typical 160-acre farm and represents a
small fraction of IID’s annual Colorado River
allocation. IID denied the application on grounds that the
project site lies within the City of Imperial’s sphere of
influence and is near municipal water infrastructure
Dead juvenile Chinook salmon have been found on sections of the
lower Klamath River and near the Oregon-California border.
Scientists believe the deaths are caused by parasites
that are proliferating because of the low winter snowpack and
warm spring temperatures. “We’re seeing dead and dying
fish,” Sascha Hallett, a fish parasitologist and associate
professor at Oregon State University’s Department of
Microbiology, said. … Hallett said studies indicate the
die-offs are being caused by a parasite, Ceratonova shasta. She
said OSU researchers, in cooperation with state and federal
agencies, tribes, and other agencies, believe the low winter
snowpack and warmer than average spring temperatures
accelerated the proliferation of the parasites, which thrive in
warm, slow-moving water and attack the intestinal lining of
young salmon.
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.
