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 week’s Water
101 Workshop and go beyond recent national headlines
to gain a deeper understanding of how water is managed and moved
across California. Plus, only a handful of spots remain for the
opportunity to extend your ‘beyond the headlines’ water education
experience on our Central Valley
Tour! And come one, come all to our annual Open
House & Reception on May 1.
Go beyond the stream of recent
national headlines and gain a deeper understanding of how water
is managed and moved across California during our Water
101 Workshop on April 10.
One of our most popular events, the daylong workshop at
McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento offers anyone new to
California water issues or newly elected to a water district
board — and really anyone who wants a refresher — a chance to
gain a solid statewide grounding on the state’s water
resources.
Some of state’s leading policy and legal experts are on the
agenda for the workshop that details
the historical, legal and political facets of water management in
the state.
The battle over whether California should build a $20-billion
water tunnel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is
escalating, with Gov. Gavin Newsom pushing to lay the
groundwork for the project before his term expires and state
water regulators considering whether to grant a key
authorization. The State Water Resources Control Board has
begun holding a series of hearings on a petition by the Newsom
administration to amend water rights permits so that flows
could be diverted from new points on the Sacramento River where
the intakes of the 45-mile tunnel would be built. The process
has grown tense in recent weeks, as the Newsom administration
and water agencies have pushed back against how the board’s
officials are handling parts of the process, and as opponents
have urged the board not to bend to political pressure.
Southern California’s wildfire-ravaged national forests soon
could fall under the ax, literally. An emergency order issued
by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on
Friday, April 4, directs federal personnel to increase timber
quotas by 25% on nearly 113 million acres of national forests
across the nation. A map accompanying the order with areas
targeted by the declaration shows large swaths of California,
including northern woodlands and what appear to be the Angeles,
San Bernardino, Los Padres and Cleveland national
forests. … National forests were originally created
beginning in 1891 as reserves to protect watersheds and
forests for drinking water and timber supply, after heavy
overlogging threatened both. Under the updated 1976
National Forest Management Act, the forest service’s
multi-pronged mission is to protect watersheds, timber stands
and healthy wildlife populations.
The Trump administration’s slash-and-burn approach to federal
programs has delivered a considerable hit to the nation’s
environment, but experts say its plans to repeal hard-won
protections for clean air and water will also directly
jeopardize Americans’ health — and their wallets. Two new
reports from environmental watchdog groups outline how the
administration’s recent regulatory rollbacks, cuts to climate
programs and promotion of fossil fuel production will
significantly increase the cost of living for millions of
people and bring about hundreds of thousands of premature
deaths.
Water and environmental groups in southwestern Colorado have
not heard a peep from the federal government since their $25.6
million grant got caught up in a widespread funding freeze,
officials say. Southwestern Water Conservation District pulled
together a unique collection of partners in 2024 to tap into an
immense stack of federal cash for environmental projects in the
Colorado River Basin. The partners were “ecstatic” Jan. 17 when
they found out their application to fund 17 projects was
accepted, Steve Wolff, district manager, said. Three days
later, President Donald Trump paused spending, and the
district’s partnership has been in limbo ever since. Other
Colorado groups are in the same boat with millions of dollars
of awarded grant funding on the line. … The uncertainty
has impacted a slew of environmental projects across the Upper
Colorado River Basin — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Sacramento National Wildlife RefugeWetlands are among the world’s most
important and hardest-working ecosystems, rivaling rainforests
and coral reefs in productivity.
They produce high oxygen levels, filter water pollutants,
sequester carbon, reduce flooding and erosion and recharge
groundwater.
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.
