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Announcement

Foundation’s Journalism Team Brings You the Day’s Top Water News
Free Resources Like Aquafornia Keep You Current on Water across California and the West

Removal of Copco 2 dam on Klamath River, 2023As our programs team at the Water Education Foundation organizes annual events like next week’s Water 101 Workshop, our journalism team raises water awareness daily through Aquafornia, our water newsfeed that helps you stay current.

Our journalists – Nick Cahill, Chris Bowman, Alastair Bland and Jenn Bowles – have covered water-related news for years, making them ideal curators of the most important and interesting water stories from around California and the West.

Announcement

Last Call for Water 101 Workshop; Upcoming Tours of Key Water Regions Nearly Sold Out
Meet our Team at an Open House; Program Posted for International Groundwater Conference

Spring is a busy time at the Water Education Foundation! Don’t miss these upcoming opportunities to visit important regions in the state’s water story firsthand and engage directly with water experts in California and across the world. Plus, you can meet our team in person at our annual open house to learn more about how we educate and foster understanding of California’s most precious natural resource — water!

Water 101 Workshop: April 5

Last call to register for our Water 101 Workshop, an annual daylong course on California water hosted at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento! View an agenda here for our popular workshop that details the history, geography and the legal and political facets of water in California. Plus, workshop participants are invited to grab one of the few remaining seats on the optional groundwater tour April 4. Find more details and register here by this Friday, March 29!

Water News You Need to Know

Aquafornia news Mercury News

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: Billions needed to fund upgrades to meet anticipated wastewater regulations

At least $11 billion would be needed to upgrade wastewater treatment facilities across the Bay Area if regulators impose anticipated stricter environmental rules, according to a regional water board that seeks to protect the San Francisco Bay. The upgrades at dozens of sewage treatment plants, needed to prevent toxic algae blooms and protect fish, would cost an average of $4,000 per household, and consumers may end up funding the improvements. The key culprit? Nitrogen found in urine and fecal matter, which feeds the growth of algae. 

Related article: 

Aquafornia news The Associated Press

Tiny, endangered fish hinders Colorado River water conservation plan

Southern California’s Imperial Irrigation District, which supplies water to farmers who grow most of the nation’s winter vegetables, planned to start a conservation program in April to scale back what it draws from the critical Colorado River. But a tiny, tough fish got in the way. Now, those plans won’t start until at least June so water and wildlife officials can devise a way to ensure the endangered desert pupfish and other species are protected, said Jamie Asbury, the irrigation district’s general manager. 

Related articles: 

Aquafornia news The Hill

US West hydropower production plunged to 22-year low last year

Hydropower generation in the U.S. West plunged to a 22-year low last year — dropping 11 percent from the year before, according to a new federal data analysis. The total amount produced in the region amounted to 141.5 million megawatt-hours, or about 60 percent of the country’s total hydroelectricity output in the 2022-23 “water year,” per the data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). … On the other hand, a series of atmospheric rivers in California spurred an increase in hydroelectricity production in the Golden State — nearly doubling it in comparison to the previous water year, the analysis noted. 

Related articles: 

Aquafornia news Newsweek

California rain map shows cities to be hit hardest by ’significant’ storm

National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists shared a map on social media that reveals which Southern California cities will be hit hardest by an approaching storm expected to arrive this weekend. California has faced an abnormally wet winter as moisture-laden storms and atmospheric rivers dumped a deluge of rain and snow on the state, beginning in January. The excessive rainfall has resulted from a slew of atmospheric rivers that have battered the state this month. Last year, more than a dozen of them helped alleviate the state’s severe drought situation and replenished many of the state’s reservoirs, but the storms also caused devastating floods and landslides.

Related articles: 

Online Water Encyclopedia

Aquapedia background Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map

Wetlands

Sacramento National Wildlife RefugeWetlands are among the world’s most important and hardest-working ecosystems, rivaling rainforests and coral reefs in productivity. 

They produce high levels of oxygen, filter water pollutants, sequester carbon, reduce flooding and erosion and recharge groundwater.

Bay-Delta Tour participants viewing the Bay Model

Bay Model

Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bay Model is a giant hydraulic replica of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It is housed in a converted World II-era warehouse in Sausalito near San Francisco.

Hundreds of gallons of water are pumped through the three-dimensional, 1.5-acre model to simulate a tidal ebb and flow lasting 14 minutes.

Aquapedia background Colorado River Basin Map

Salton Sea

As part of the historic Colorado River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below sea level.

Lake Oroville shows the effects of drought in 2014.

Drought

Drought—an extended period of limited or no precipitation—is a fact of life in California and the West, with water resources following boom-and-bust patterns. During California’s 2012–2016 drought, much of the state experienced severe drought conditions: significantly less precipitation and snowpack, reduced streamflow and higher temperatures. Those same conditions reappeared early in 2021 prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom in May to declare drought emergencies in watersheds across 41 counties in California.