Lower Tule River Irrigation District Groundwater Sustainability Plan San, Joaquin - Tule Subbasin

Lower Tule River Irrigation District Groundwater Sustainability Agency | July 19th, 2023

This Plan addresses the items identified in the SGMA regulations specific to the Agency, including descriptions of the physical characteristics, the water budget (histor

This Plan addresses the items identified in the SGMA regulations specific to the Agency, including descriptions of the physical characteristics, the water budget (historic and future), specific monitoring features and locations, quantifiable targets and minimum thresholds for depth to groundwater, groundwater storage, groundwater quality, and land subsidence between 2020 and 2040, and those projects and management actions proposed to implement during the 20 year planning horizon to achieve the Sustainability Goal.

Management of the Colorado River: Water Allocations, Drought, and the Federal Role

Congressional Research Service (CRS) | August 4th, 2022

Management of the Colorado River: Water Allocations, Drought, and the Federal Role

Congressional Research Service (CRS) | April 4th, 2024

From its headwaters in Colorado and Wyoming to its terminus in the Gulf of California, the Colorado River Basin covers more than 246,000 square miles. The basin spans sev

From its headwaters in Colorado and Wyoming to its terminus in the Gulf of California, the Colorado River Basin covers more than 246,000 square miles. The basin spans seven U.S. states (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California) and two countries (the United States and Mexico). Pursuant to federal law, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), a component of the Department of the Interior (DOI), plays a prominent role in the management of the basin’s waters. In the Lower Basin (i.e., Arizona, Nevada, and California), Reclamation also serves as water master on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior, a role that elevates the status of the federal government in basin water management. The federal role in managing Colorado River water is magnified by the multiple federally owned and operated water storage and conveyance facilities in the basin, which provide low-cost water and hydropower supplies.

Management of the Colorado River: Water Allocations, Drought, and the Federal Role

Congressional Research Service (CRS) | September 7th, 2022

Managing Drought in a Changing Climate: Four Essential Reforms

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) | September 12th, 2018

California’s climate is changing. Hotter temperatures, a shrinking snowpack, shorter and more intense wet seasons, rising sea level, and more volatile precipita

California’s climate is changing. Hotter temperatures, a shrinking snowpack, shorter and more intense wet seasons, rising sea level, and more volatile precipitation—with wetter wet years and drier dry years—are stressing the state’s water management system. Recent climate projections indicate that the pace of change will increase. To avoid unwanted social, economic, and environmental consequences, the water system will need to adapt to greater climate extremes and growing water scarcity. While California is making good progress in some areas of drought management, a more focused plan of action is needed. Successful adaptation will require strong leadership at the state and local levels, and cooperation on all fronts. The 2012–16 drought—the hottest in the state’s recorded history and one of the driest—offered a window into the future under a warming climate and lessons for managing future droughts. Using these lessons as a starting point, this report offers a road map of essential reforms to prepare for and respond to droughts in California’s changing climate. Key reforms include: Plan ahead. Stronger drought planning is critically important for urban water management, groundwater sustainability, safe drinking water in rural communities, and freshwater ecosystems. Upgrade the water grid. California needs a comprehensive program to address above- and below-ground storage, conveyance, and operational challenges by mid-century, including repairing facilities that are broken, expanding conveyance and storage capacity, and modernizing and integrating operations. Update water allocation rules. California should comprehensively update its water allocation governance. The goals should be to find equitable and efficient ways to allocate limited supplies among competing demands during dry times while promoting efforts to capture and store water during wet times. Find the money. Reliable funding is crucial for adapting to climate change. New sources are needed to pay for necessary water-management investments and to fill funding gaps in the state’s water system. The focus of this reform agenda is on drought, because drought―more than any other aspect of California’s climate―reveals the vulnerabilities of watermanagement systems. Importantly, these reforms will improve drought resilience for today’s conditions, not just for the future.

Martis Valley Groundwater Basin Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Alternative Submittal

Truckee Donner Public Utility District (TDPUD) | December 22nd, 2016

Maximizing ENSO as a source of western US hydroclimate predictability

Climate Dynamics (Springer) | October 16th, 2019

Until recently, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was considered a reliable source of winter precipitation predictability in the western US, with a historically

Until recently, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was considered a reliable source of winter precipitation predictability in the western US, with a historically strong link between extreme El Niño events and extremely wet seasons. However, the 2015–2016 El Niño challenged our understanding of the ENSO-precipitation relationship. California precipitation was near-average during the 2015–2016 El Niño, which was characterized by warm sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies of similar magnitude compared to the extreme 1997–1998 and 1982–1983 El Niño events. We demonstrate that this precipitation response can be explained by El Niño’s spatial pattern, rather than internal atmospheric variability. In addition, observations and large-ensembles of regional and global climate model simulations indicate that extremes in seasonal and daily precipitation during strong El Niño events are better explained using the ENSO Longitude Index (ELI), which captures the diversity of ENSO’s spatial patterns in a single metric, compared to the traditional Niño3.4 index, which measures SST anomalies in a fixed region and therefore fails to capture ENSO diversity. The physically-based ELI better explains western US precipitation variability because it tracks the zonal shifts in tropical Pacific deep convection that drive teleconnections through the response in the extratropical wave-train, integrated vapor transport, and atmospheric rivers. This research provides evidence that ELI improves the value of ENSO as a predictor of California’s seasonal hydroclimate extremes compared to traditional ENSO indices, especially during strong El Niño events.

McMullin Area Groundwater Sustainability Agency Groundwater Sustainability Plan

McMullin Area Groundwater Sustainability Agency (MAGSA) | November 6th, 2019

McMullin Area Groundwater Sustainability Agency Groundwater Sustainability Plan (Revised)

McMullin Area Groundwater Sustainability Agency (MAGSA) | July 6th, 2022

Measuring Progress Toward Universal Access to Water and Sanitation in California Defining Goals, Indicators, and Performance Measures

Pacific Institute | September 13th, 2018

Most people in California take for granted the water and sanitation in their homes. They turn the tap and clean, relatively inexpensive, abundant water flows out.

Most people in California take for granted the water and sanitation in their homes. They turn the tap and clean, relatively inexpensive, abundant water flows out. They flush the toilet, and waste vanishes. Yet there are communities in California who do not have these basic necessities in their homes. In January 2018, over half a million Californians were served by water utilities that were out of compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The worst outbreak of Hepatitis A in recent memory occurred in 2016-2018 due to open defecation and lack of handwashing facilities for persons experiencing homelessness. California’s tribes continue to face problems of poor housing and water and sanitation service, with two-thirds of tribal communities reporting inadequate home plumbing in 2015. And the cost of water has increased for many, particularly among small and medium size systems, with 39 community water systems in the state charging more than $100 a month for 12 CCF of water. In response to the problem, California enacted the Human Right to Water in 2012, declaring that “Every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.” The California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) further recognized the need to address water and sanitation for disadvantaged communities when it adopted a resolution directing staff to “develop performance measures for the evaluation of the board’s progress towards the realization of the human right to water, evaluate that progress, and explore ways to make that information more readily available to the public,” and to “work with... stakeholders to develop new or enhance existing systems to collect the data needed to identify and track communities that do not have, or are at risk of not having, safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.” This report offers a unified framework on how to measure progress toward universal access to water and sanitation in California.