Walker River Atlas

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | June 1st, 1992

The Walker River has its headwaters in California's high Sierras north of Mono Lake and terminates in a desert lake in Nevada. The Walker is a relatively small river

The Walker River has its headwaters in California's high Sierras north of Mono Lake and terminates in a desert lake in Nevada. The Walker is a relatively small river by California standards, in places resembling more stream than river, but is an important water source to arid western Nevada. The river's existence is best known to local residents and to devotees of trout fishing; travelers through the eastern Sierras are more apt to be familiar with the celebrated attractions of Lake Tahoe to the north and Mono Lake to the south.

Water and Wastes: A Retrospective Assessment of Wastewater Technology in the United States, 1800-1932

Johns Hopkins University Press (Hopkins Press) | April 2nd, 1984

This article derives largely from our NSF report on wastewater technology. The specific objects of the research were to identify the processes and key decision points i

This article derives largely from our NSF report on wastewater technology. The specific objects of the research were to identify the processes and key decision points involved in the evolution of wastewater technology of human waste disposal, to explore both its primary and secondary social and institutional effects, and to examine the development of public policy toward water pollution problems. In addition, the report dealt with the role played by values in the implementation of technology, as well as the effect of the technology on values. The essential aims of the project were to increase our understanding of water-related environmental problems and to inform policymakers about the larger context of contemporary wastewater questions.

Water Conveyance Systems in California: Historic Context Development and Evaluation Procedures

State of California | December 1st, 2000

This study began as an attempt to develop a statewide thematic approach to surveying the ditches and canals which are a commonly encountered, but previously little studie

This study began as an attempt to develop a statewide thematic approach to surveying the ditches and canals which are a commonly encountered, but previously little studied, property type in California. In the past, canals were not always recognized as a type of cultural resource that might need study, and furthermore, although highways and other transportation facilities often intersect artificial waterways, projects that merely cross linear resources typically have little potential to affect them. As a result, structures such as canals, railroads, or roads that were bridged by a transportation project were rarely included in cultural resource studies. Now there is increased awareness that canals and other water conveyance facilities can be historically significant, and that when projects do have the potential to affect them, they need to be studied systematically.  However, important water conveyance systems are frequently extensive and sometimes quite complex, while transportation project effects on them are typically limited to a small segment of the entire property. Under these circumstances, developing a basic historical context would allow researchers to work from a baseline of existing knowledge, thus helping to achieve a suitable balance between the need for adequate information and expenditure of a reasonable level of effort. Because of California’s unique combination of natural resources, climate, topography, history, and development patterns, the state has a variety and number of water conveyance systems possessed by few if any other states.  Consequently, little guidance has been developed at a national or regional level, leaving California to develop its own statewide historic context and methodology. Sufficient research has now been conducted on California’s water conveyance systems to provide this historic context and survey methodology for the appropriate consideration of water conveyance systems, especially the frequently encountered canals and ditches, in order to take into account the effect of transportation projects on historic water conveyance facilities.

We Don't Do Groundwater: A Morsel of California Legal History

Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository | January 1st, 2002

It must seem surprising to people elsewhere that California, unlike other western states, continues to treat surface water and groundwater under separate and distinct leg

It must seem surprising to people elsewhere that California, unlike other western states, continues to treat surface water and groundwater under separate and distinct legal regimes, even though everyone today acknowledges that water comprises a continuum through which the water moves wherever gravity takes it.  Moreover, whatever "mystery" there once was about the movement of water underground, and that induced lawmakers and treatise writers to eschew efforts to regulate groundwater, is no longer a hindrance to modern management, as most states have acknowledged. What, then, explains California's failure to bring its water law into line with contemporary knowledge, and with scientific reality? The answer (actually there are two answers) is not very mysterious.