North Lahontan

The Definition of Environmental Justice and the Designation of the California Office of Planning and Research as Coordinating Agency for Environmental Justice

State of California | November 18th, 2019

The Disposition of Mining Debris in California

Scientific American | July 18th, 1891

Among the reports submitted to the last Congress was one from the Secretary of War on the treatment of mining debris in California. The report contained the conclusion

Among the reports submitted to the last Congress was one from the Secretary of War on the treatment of mining debris in California. The report contained the conclusions of the Board of Engineer officers which was prepared in compliance with an act of Congress, approved October 1st, 1888, which directed that three officers from the Engineer Corps of the United States army be constituted a commission for the purpose of making a thorough examination of the mining debris question in California, and determining whether some plan cannot be devised whereby the present conflict between the mining and farming sections may be adjusted, and the mining industry rehabilitated.

The Economic Value of Carryover Storage in California’s Water Supply System with Limited Hydrologic Foresight

University of California, Davis (UC Davis) | July 1st, 2021

The security and prosperity of California’s economy depend on a large, interconnected and highly engineered water supply system with vast surface and groundwater stora

The security and prosperity of California’s economy depend on a large, interconnected and highly engineered water supply system with vast surface and groundwater storage operated for over-year storage. Substantial public investment is needed to maintain and improve these systems with changing climate risks, increasing demands, and aging infrastructure. Hydro-economic optimization identifies promising opportunities for managing such systems, but scientific and engineering advances are needed to better incorporate hydrologic uncertainty and conjunctive management of streams and aquifers into such models. Over two decades of research the California Value Integrated Network (CALVIN) linear programming hydro-economic model has yielded insights for California’s inter-regional water system on many fronts, including climate change, groundwater sustainability, conjunctive management in southern California, water markets, and reservoir operations in Northern California. Yet there remains unrealized potential to improve the model’s formulation to better represent inter-annual hydrologic variability while concurrently developing reservoir control rules. To address this gap, this study implements linearized quadratic carryover storage value functions on 26 surface reservoirs and linear groundwater storage penalties on 32 groundwater reservoirs to optimize California’s inter-regional water system seasonal and inter-annual operations with limited seasonal foresight. A convex Pareto front tradeoff between total system cost and groundwater overdraft is developed through multi-objective evolutionary optimization of inter-annual carryover storage penalties. Resulting over-year storage valuations span a wide range of nearoptimal reservoir operations, suggesting substantial system flexibility and adaptability when managed in an integrated way. Generalized relationships between carryover capacity, carryover use, and the marginal value of carryover storage are drawn for the multi-reservoir system. When compared to carryover operations based on California’s current simulation model, CalSim-II, the performance of these near-optimal reservoir operations suggests room to improve currently prescribed reservoir control rules, especially in supporting more  sustainable conjunctive management with aquifers. Overall, this study demonstrates the practicability, feasibility, and utility for understanding large-scale integrated multi-reservoir conjunctive use systems using limited foresight with explicit carryover storage values.

The Economic Value of Efficiency for California Water Service: Lower Water Bills

Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE) | June 28th, 2024

Prior to 2009, California Water Service Company (Cal Water) did not meter all its water customers, did not have conservation rates, and did not offer a robust set of cons

Prior to 2009, California Water Service Company (Cal Water) did not meter all its water customers, did not have conservation rates, and did not offer a robust set of conservation programs. Per capita water use had been flat or increasing prior to this period. In 2009, Cal Water adopted conservation rate designs (increasing block rates, IBRs), increased conservation program expenditures by more than three-fold and implemented an accelerated schedule to convert unmetered customers to metered water service. Per capita water demand has decreased steadily since 2009. These innovative strategies related to water efficiency, conservation, and rates over the years pose the questions: What would the economic impact on bills have been if none of these activities occurred? Are bill-paying customers better or worse off?

The effects of aquatic area abundance, buffer, and hydrology on depressional wetland condition based on CRAM

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | April 1st, 2016

The Essential Role of Local Context in Shaping Risk and Risk Reduction Strategies for Snowmelt-Dependent Irrigated Agriculture

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | June 11th, 2024

The evolution of dam induced river fragmentation in the United States

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | June 28th, 2023

The Extraordinary California Drought of 2013/2014: Character, Context, and The Role of Climate Change

American Meteorological Society (AMS) | September 30th, 2014

Nearly the entire state of California experienced extremely dry conditions during 2013 (Fig. 2.1a). Statewide, 12-month accumulated precipitation was less than 34% of

Nearly the entire state of California experienced extremely dry conditions during 2013 (Fig. 2.1a). Statewide, 12-month accumulated precipitation was less than 34% of average (Fig. 2.1b), leading to a wide range of impacts. In early 2014, state and federal water agencies announced that agricultural water users in the Central Valley would receive no irrigation water during 2014 (DWR 2014; USBR 2014), and that a number of smaller communities throughout California could run out of water entirely within a 90-day window (USDA 2014a). Low rainfall, unusually warm temperatures, and stable atmospheric conditions affected the health of fisheries and other ecosystems (CDFW 2014), created highly unusual mid-winter wildfire risk (CAL FIRE 2014), and caused exceptionally poor air quality (BAAQMD 2014). Such impacts ultimately resulted in the declaration of a state-level “drought emergency” and the federal designation of all 58 California counties as “natural disaster areas” (USDA 2014b). *From Explaining Extreme Events of 2013 from a Climate Perspective, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 95 (9), S1–S96.

The Future of California’s Water-Energy-Climate Nexus

Pacific Institute | September 9th, 2021

Water and energy are inextricably linked in California and, as one resource faces constraints or challenges, so does the other. With the state looking to both reach its c

Water and energy are inextricably linked in California and, as one resource faces constraints or challenges, so does the other. With the state looking to both reach its climate change goals and decarbonize its economy through a transition to 100 percent clean energy, water will play an integral role. Water is a key input for energy production, and energy is integral to all aspects of water management and use in California—including collection, treatment, heating, and wastewater management. Prior studies have estimated that about 20 percent of California’s total statewide electricity use, a third of non-power plant natural gas consumption, and 88 billion gallons of diesel consumption are related to water—from collection and treatment to use and wastewater management—with a large share associated with heating water. These interdependencies between water and energy supplies are commonly referred to as the water-energy nexus.

The Human Right to Water Bill in California

University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) | July 1st, 2013