Five Decades of Magical Thinking: How California's Water Policy is Founded on a Bankrupt 53-year-old Fantasy

California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) | May 5th, 2012

Recent revelations confirm that California's water policy is founded on a decades-old water deficit, one that will only be compounded by Jerry Brown's Twin Tunnels projec

Recent revelations confirm that California's water policy is founded on a decades-old water deficit, one that will only be compounded by Jerry Brown's Twin Tunnels project—a boondoggle scheme that would attempt to meet unsustainable contractual obligations by draining the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta of fresh water. The real issue here is not about how water is conveyed; it's about whether there is enough water for more conveyance or storage. When California officials built the State Water Project in 1960, they knew it would run out of water by 1981. To make up the shortfall, the state overappropriated water from the Delta. Operation of the Twin Tunnels is predicated on 1960 water availability estimates of anticipated diversions from north state rivers. These diversions from the Middle Fork Eel, the Mad and Van Duzen Rivers did not occur due to their ultimate state and federal designation as Wild and Scenic Rivers.

Flow Augmentations Modify an Estuarine Prey Field

University of California, Davis (UC Davis) | June 15th, 2023

Flows and Fishes in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Research Needs in Support of Adaptive Management

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | August 15th, 2015

Fourth National Climate Assessment Chapter 3: Water

U.S. Global Change Research Program | November 23rd, 2018

Significant changes in water quantity and quality are evident across the country. These changes, which are expected to persist, present an ongoing risk to coupled human

Significant changes in water quantity and quality are evident across the country. These changes, which are expected to persist, present an ongoing risk to coupled human and natural systems and related ecosystem services. Variable precipitation and rising temperature are intensifying droughts, increasing heavy downpours, and reducing snowpack. Reduced snow-to-rain ratios are leading to significant differences between the timing of water supply and demand. Groundwater depletion is exacerbating drought risk. Surface water quality is declining as water temperature increases and more frequent high-intensity rainfall events mobilize pollutants such as sediments and nutrients. Click here for the text of the full report.

From the Sierra to the Sea: The Ecological History of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Watershed

Bay Institute | January 1st, 1998

A vast watershed connects the mountain streams surrounding California’s Central Valley with San Francisco Bay and the ocean beyond. Over the course of the last two cent

A vast watershed connects the mountain streams surrounding California’s Central Valley with San Francisco Bay and the ocean beyond. Over the course of the last two centuries, much of the natural productivity, biodiversity and ecological integrity of the watershed has been destroyed by modifying the environment without fully understanding the long-term environmental consequences. Long the site of some of the nation’s most intensive conflicts over the use of land and water resources, this system is now emerging as the focus of one of the most ambitious ecological restoration efforts ever undertaken in the United States. This report was designed to provide a coherent and defensible ecological framework and information base for restoration. The need for such an historical, broad-scale perspective on system ecology stems from two fundamental principles of ecological restoration - the need to manage toward a natural template and to manage at ecosystem and landscape levels.

Functional Flows in Modified Riverscapes: Hydrographs, Habitats and Opportunities

BioScience (Oxford University Press) | August 5th, 2015

Building on previous environmental flow discussions and a growing recognition that hydrogeomorphic processes are inherent in the ecological functionality and biodiversity

Building on previous environmental flow discussions and a growing recognition that hydrogeomorphic processes are inherent in the ecological functionality and biodiversity of riverscapes, we propose a functional-flows approach to managing heavily modified rivers. The approach focuses on retaining specific process-based components of the hydrograph, or functional flows, rather than attempting to mimic the full natural flow regime. Key functional components include wet-season initiation flows, peak magnitude flows, recession flows, dry-season low flows, and interannual variability. We illustrate the importance of each key functional flow using examples from western US rivers with seasonably predictable flow regimes. To maximize the functionality of these flows, connectivity to morphologically diverse overbank areas must be enhanced in both space and time, and consideration must be given to the sediment-transport regime. Finally, we provide guiding principles for developing functional flows or incorporating functional flows into existing environmental flow frameworks.

Gage Gap

Nature Conservancy | October 31st, 2018

Following a difficult five-year drought, California just had one of the wettest winters on record. The state is famous for its highly engineered water system, whi

Following a difficult five-year drought, California just had one of the wettest winters on record. The state is famous for its highly engineered water system, which moves millions of gallons of water from north to south and east to west. Thirty-nine million people and our $47 billion agricultural industry rely on that water, not to mention wildlife from the Sierra to the sea. And yet we have surprisingly little data about how much water is moving through our streams at any given time. There are over 3,600 locations in California where stream gages have been active at some point, but only 54% have been active recently. And even fewer of those provide the kind of rich, real-time reporting needed to manage what is arguably our state’s most precious and contentious resource.

Gone with the flow

Bay Institute | August 1st, 2010

The Bay Institute's primer Gone with the Flow describes in plain language how runoff flowing from the mountain watersheds ringing California’s Central Valley provided c

The Bay Institute's primer Gone with the Flow describes in plain language how runoff flowing from the mountain watersheds ringing California’s Central Valley provided coldwater paradises for salmon returning to their native streams; turned lowland rivers and their floodplains into a rich source of food and shelter for young fish; mingled in the Delta’s complex maze of marshes and sloughs; and created a vast expanse of brackish water habitat essential for estuarine creatures in the upper reaches of San Francisco Bay. The primer also explains how the lack of access to most upland streams now forces migratory fish to cope with undesirable, often lethal flow conditions; how runoff in lowland rivers has been shifted from spring to summer, or even almost completely cut off in the San Joaquin basin, with disastrous consequences for the environment; how reverse flows in Delta channels kill hundreds of millions of aquatic organisms each year; and how the Bay is now in a permanent ecological drought because of the diversion of half its freshwater inflow.

Green Light for Adaptive Policies on the Colorado River

Water (MDPI) | December 21st, 2021

The Colorado River is a critical source of water supply for 40 million people in nine states spanning two nations in western North America. Overallocated in the 20th cent

The Colorado River is a critical source of water supply for 40 million people in nine states spanning two nations in western North America. Overallocated in the 20th century, its problems have been compounded by climate change in the 21st century. We review the basin’s hydrologic and water management history in order to identify opportunities for adaptive governance to respond to the challenge of reduced system flows and distill the ingredients of past successes. While significant advances have been made in the first two decades of the 21st century, these past actions have not been sufficient to halt the declines in the basin’s reservoirs. We find that the mix of federal, state, and local responsibility creates challenges for adaptation but that progress can be made through a combination of detailed policy option development followed by quick action at hydrologically driven moments of opportunity. The role of directives and deadlines from federal authorities in facilitating difficult compromises is noted. The current state of dramatically decreased overall flows has opened a window of opportunity for the adoption of water management actions that move the river system toward sustainability. Specific measures, based on the existing institutional framework and on policy proposals that have circulated within the Colorado River community, are suggested.

Highlights Central Valley Flood Protection Plan 2022 Update

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | January 23rd, 2023

The 2022 Central Valley Flood Protection Plan Update was adopted by the Central Valley Flood Protection Board on December 16th, 2022. Just days later, beginning on Decemb

The 2022 Central Valley Flood Protection Plan Update was adopted by the Central Valley Flood Protection Board on December 16th, 2022. Just days later, beginning on December 27th, 2022, a series of atmospheric rivers began to impact California. This succession of atmospheric rivers resulted in 34 trillion gallons of water falling across California in 24 days, and 21 forecast points in the Central Valley reaching flood or monitor stage. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on January 4th, 2023; federal emergency and disaster declarations followed soon thereafter. These events underscore the importance of the CVFPP as the State’s strategic blueprint for investment in flood risk reduction in the Central Valley, especially in an era of whiplash weather—from drought to flooding— driven by the impacts of climate change.