Risk-Informed Future Climate Scenario Development for the State Water Project Delivery Capability Report

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | August 24th, 2023

This report introduces and documents an extensive effort undertaken by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to develop risk-informed future climate scenario

This report introduces and documents an extensive effort undertaken by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to develop risk-informed future climate scenarios for the State Water Project (SWP) Delivery Capability Report (DCR), a report issued by the SWP every two years. These reports present DWR’s analysis of the SWP system and planning information for users of SWP water. The analysis provides information about how climate change, regulatory, and operational considerations affect SWP delivery capability. Specifically, the report must provide “…under a range of hydrologic conditions, the then existing overall delivery capability of the project facilities and the allocation of that capacity to each contractor. The range of hydrologic conditions shall include the historic extended dry cycle and long-term average.” (Settlement Agreement 2003).

Root Causes Analyses of the Oroville Dam Gated Spillway Failures and Other Developments

University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) | July 20th, 2017

We have performed forensic Root Causes Analyses of the Oroville Dam Gated Spillway failures and other associated developments as unfunded (approximately 3,000 pro-bono h

We have performed forensic Root Causes Analyses of the Oroville Dam Gated Spillway failures and other associated developments as unfunded (approximately 3,000 pro-bono hours) volunteers of the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) Center for Catastrophic Risk Management (CCRM) Oroville Dam Advisory Group (ODAG). We initiated this work on January 27, 2017. The results contained in this report have been developed based on the currently available public document and information sources cited at the end of this report, included in the Preliminary Root Causes Analysis of the Failures of the Oroville Dam Gated Spillway report dated April 17, 2017, and in the Legislative Oversight Report: Oroville Dam report dated May 11, 2017.  This report documents our analyses of the Root Causes of the initial failure of the Gated Spillway. Appendix A of this report provides summaries of the procedures and processes we used to perform the Root Causes analyses, background on the components that comprise Engineered Systems, and background on the Human and Organizational Factor malfunctions (errors) responsible for failures of Engineered Systems. Appendix B provides details of our analyses of the Physical and Organizational Root Causes of the initial failure of the Gated Spillway. The opinions expressed in this Report are ours alone. The opinions expressed herein are a fair and accurate summary of our opinions, based upon our experience, education, training, and expertise.

Ruling on Motions for Preliminary Injunction in Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District v. California Department of Water Resources

Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento | June 20th, 2024

Sacramento Flood System Weirs and Bypasses

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | April 8th, 2011

An explanatory document on the Sacramento River's flood system weirs and bypasses.

An explanatory document on the Sacramento River's flood system weirs and bypasses.

Sacramento River Delta 3D Mapping Project Technical Report

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | May 1st, 2018

This technical report is in response to item five in the Delta Stewardship Council project #6276. The data collection and analysis were completed by Freshwater Map of Big

This technical report is in response to item five in the Delta Stewardship Council project #6276. The data collection and analysis were completed by Freshwater Map of Bigfork, Montana. The objective of this phase-1 project was to demonstrate, to a broad audience, how our high-resolution, hydro-acoustic, river-mapping services could help people working toward water resource solutions for the delta. The overarching goal for the State of California is to balance human needs for freshwater with an ecological healthy river-delta system under the “co-equal goals” legislation. The fundamental question being addressed by all stakeholders is: how much water can be drawn from the delta and still maintain a healthy delta wide ecosystem? However, there is no agreement yet on how much the ecosystem needs or how a multitude of uses and flow regulation impacts both humans and the ecosystem. A suite of computer models has been developed and refined over the past two decades to address this fundamental question (Fig. 1). These models were developed to help guide resource decision agreement on how to manage freshwater that flows to and through the delta. The data that we collect can help initialize, validate and greatly enhance many of these models (Fig. 1). The data analysis presented in this technical report is a first pass summary of how the depth and flow data coupled to the sonar imagery can be used to help reach delta-wide agreement over water resource management .

Sacramento River Flood Control Project Weirs and Flood Relief Structures

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | April 8th, 2011

Sacramento Valley has a history of floods and management of floods that goes back as long as people have populated the region. Prior to flood management, the valley floor

Sacramento Valley has a history of floods and management of floods that goes back as long as people have populated the region. Prior to flood management, the valley floor would be blanketed by seasonal runoff nearly every year; the Sacramento Valley was once nicknamed the “inland sea.” This tendency to flood results from the geography of the region as well as the weather. The occasionally large amounts of rain that fall in the surrounding Coastal ranges and the relatively steep Sierra Nevada mountain ranges produce rapid surface water runoff to the Sacramento River. The amount of this surface water runoff can be quite large, depending on the amount of rainfall, snow melt, and soil moisture of the watershed. Fast water flowing from the mountains is blunted by the relatively shallow grade of the Sacramento River south of the city of Red Bluff, and would often overtop the river banks. In addition, The Sacramento River would begin depositing sediment in the more shallow grades that would often alter its direction of flow. In order to control these storm flows that would otherwise flood farmland and cities, the Sacramento River Flood Control Project (the Project) was created. The Project was designed with the understanding that runoff from many of the storm events experienced in the Sacramento River watershed cannot be contained within the banks of the river. Nor could this flow be fully contained within a levee system without periodically flooding adjacent property. Thus, the Project was designed to occasionally spill through a system of weirs and flood relief structures into adjacent basins. These basins are designed to contain flood waters and channel them downstream, to eventually be conveyed back into the Sacramento River near Knights Landing and Rio Vista. Dry weather flows are contained within levees near the river banks and land within the flood basins is then used for agricultural purposes.

Sacramento River Temperature Task Group Annual Report of Activities October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | October 6th, 2014

Sacramento River Temperature Task Group Annual Report of Activities October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | November 21st, 2018

Sacramento River Temperature Task Group Annual Report of Activities, October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | October 31st, 2016

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Atlas

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | July 1st, 1995

The Delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers is California's water supply crossroads. It is the major collection point for water that serves over 20 million people,

The Delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers is California's water supply crossroads. It is the major collection point for water that serves over 20 million people, two-thirds of our State's population. The maze of islands and channels lying at the confluence of these two large rivers has long been the focal point of debate surrounding a number of complicated water-related issues of statewide importance. People with a wide variety of interests - agricultural, urban, industrial, environmental, and recreational-have a vital stake in the Delta and a need to understand the physical Delta and its complex interrelationships. This atlas provides information that we hope will be helpful in addressing the complex problems of the estuary. The atlas is a revision of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Atlas that was published in 1987. It contains updates on many Delta facts and features. It also introduces new information on the Suisun Marsh and tides and hydrology in the Delta as well as in San Francisco Bay.