dam releasing water

The largest-ever dam removal is underway, a milestone in the nation’s reckoning over its past attempts to bend nature to human will

It was a small moment, with little fanfare, in one of the most remote patches of northern California. Just the rat-a-tat of three Caterpillar excavators gnawing through concrete signaled the beginning of the largest dam removal project in the history of the country, and perhaps the world.

There was no ribbon cutting or ceremonial dynamite detonation. But the demolition on that June day arrived only after decades of argument and activism.

The Klamath River dams, built between the early 1900s and 1960s, fundamentally reshaped one of the West’s most […]

Read More
2023 Water Supply Demand Balance - One Water and Stewardship Committee

What a difference 11 atmospheric rivers make.  Metropolitan, as recently as January facing a 574,000-acre deficit, is now anticipating putting 119,000 acre-feet or more into storage this year, the first time since 2019.  Metropolitan staff delivered the good news at the One Water Committee meeting on March 14. The big change is attributed to the […]

Read More
How California Could Save Up Its Rain Water to Ease Future Droughts

By Andrew Fisher, Resilience. January 15, 2023 Instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific. California has seen so much rain over the past few weeks that farm fields are inundated and normally dry creeks and drainage ditches have become torrents of water racing toward the ocean. Yet, most of the state remains in severe drought. […]

Read More
Drought cracked mud around receding lake

After three years of drought, the massive state and federal water projects that serve California’s cities and farms have less water to distribute, forcing water managers to increasingly ration supplies. This year, squeezed extra tight by the prolonged drought conditions, both the state and federal […]

Read More
Supreme Court, Washington D.C.

On April 6th, the Supreme Court reversed a 9th Circuit decision that limited the ability of states to protect rivers from the harmful effects of hydropower dams under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The rules adopted by the prior administration limited information available to the states, the time for review, and the scope of conditions that states can require in the licensing of […]

Read More
Mono Lake

Rooted in Roman law, the public trust doctrine recognizes the public right to many natural resources including “the air, running water, the sea and its shore.”

The public trust doctrine requires the sovereign, or state, to hold in trust designated resources for the benefit of the people. Traditionally, the public trust applied to commerce and fishing in navigable waters, but its uses were expanded in California in 1971 to include fish, wildlife, habitat and recreation. […]

Read More

Ryan Burns / Wednesday, May 13 @ 11:10 a.m. / News In a major development for both water rights and the environment on the North Coast, an unlikely coalition of five regional entities today filed a plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to take over the Potter Valley Project, a hydroelectric facility that […]

Read More

August 6, 2019 Robert Shibatani Guest blogger By Robert Shibatani Whether you are a water utility manager, elected official, or homeowner, future water availability is a concern. There are several factors fostering that concern and one of them is climate change. In fact, these days, climate change is a rapidly growing global hot topic (no […]

Read More

Posted: January 11, 2018 To address future climate change effects on water resources, scientists at five UC campuses, and Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories will study California’s water systems, from the headwaters in the Sierra Nevada, through rivers, reservoirs and groundwater in the Central Valley. The goal is to provide information to optimize water […]

Read More

To All, Are our streams and rivers healthy?  Below is a link to a government site that gives general and specific information on this subject with links to specific databases on California’s streams. http://www.mywaterquality.ca.gov/eco_health/streams/index.html Larry

Read More

BACKGROUND ON CLEAN WATER RULE The 2015 Clean Water Rule outlined which bodies of water would be automatically protected by the Clean Water Act. Large bodies like lakes and rivers were listed, but the rule also included streams, ponds and other, smaller features that have important effects on these bigger, “navigable” waterways. Thanks to this rule, […]

Read More

Sample Editorial Board Memo To: [INSERT NAME OF PUBLICATION] Date: June 1, 2017 From: [YOUR NAME] [TITLE] [ORGANIZATION] Re: Request for editorial – Repealing the Clean Water Rule puts the drinking water sources for more than 117 million Americans and [NUMBER] of [STATE-IANS] at greater risk of pollution and destruction. The Trump Administration recently began […]

Read More

WHO: Speakers will include Heather Govern from the National Environmental Law Center and Whitey Markle from the Suwannee/St. Johns Sierra Club Group. WHAT: An educational webinar on how to use the Clean Water Act to file and win a citizen lawsuit! WHEN: Tentative date is Tuesday, 6/27. Time will be confirmed at a later date. […]

Read More

LA Times, April 2017 Rong-Gong Lin II and Paige St. John California’s climate has long been dominated by cycles of intense dry conditions followed by heavy rain and snow. But never before in recorded history has the state seen such an extreme drought-to-deluge swing. Experts and state water officials say California is seeing more of […]

Read More

This tranquil ranching valley lies 15 miles west of the Sacramento River. A one-lane bridge spans a dried-up creek at the valley entrance. But when Jeff Sutton stands there, he imagines water, lots of it. Never mind that talk of flooding the Antelope Valley north of Sacramento and turning it into a reservoir is older […]

Read More

To All, There are many facets that must be considered if  were are to find solution(s) to our water supply and drought issues. Of course, bottom line, we all must conserve.  That means every person, business, or industry. Agriculture is not living up to their responsibility in the area of conservation.  Agriculture, via the California […]

Read More

David Rabbitt, Chair Sonoma County Board of Supervisors 575 Administration Way, Room 100 A Santa Rosa, CA 95403 November 23, 2014 Subject: Proposed Riparian Corridors (RC) Ordinance and Zoning Code Changes The Sonoma County Water Coalition (SCWC) comprises 31 organizations, representing more than 24,000 concerned citizens. SCWC is especially concerned about the preservation of a […]

Read More

The Sonoma County Water Coalition (SCWC) comprises 31 organizations, representing more than 24,000 concerned citizens. SCWC is especially concerned about the preservation of a safe, economical and reliable water supply for all living things. SCWC also works to preserve healthy ecosystems, supports watershed restoration and protection and careful oversight of all public trust resources, including […]

Read More

To All, Don McEnhill, Executive Director of Russian Riverkeeper is a featured interview in: THE RUSSIAN RIVER: ALL RIVERS – THE VALUE OF AN AMERICAN WATERSHED “The time of using greed to justify degrading our environment is over.” “We need to get very honest with the amount of water we have in the worst year. […]

Read More

This reporter doesn’t seem to understand that reservoirs lose water through evaporation, particularly when they get low (and thus warmer).  Other problems include methane production, due to decaying vegetation that is always being supplied by the streams flowing into them and by contributions from the reservoir margins.  They trap nutrients that otherwise would support coastal […]

Read More

By Robert Green For Southern Californians, the current record-breaking drought means letting the lawn fade to a trendy golden brown and making sure the hose doesn’t water the asphalt while you’re washing your car. It does not mean wondering whether anything will come out of the faucet and, unlike in the drought of 1977, it […]

Read More

J. Leslie/NYTimes THAYER SCUDDER, the world’s leading authority on the impact of dams on poor people, has changed his mind about dams. A frequent consultant on large dam projects, Mr. Scudder held out hope through most of his 58-year career that the poverty relief delivered by a properly constructed and managed dam would outweigh the […]

Read More

Top Story: Drought Operations Plan for Coming Dry Months Presented by Federal, State Water Managers Framework for Water Delivery Potential, Environmental Protections, and Conserving Water Through 2015 April 9, 2014 SACRAMENTO – Managing California’s scarce water resources in order to protect the state’s economy and environment during one of the worst droughts on record, the […]

Read More

Drought, Resilience, & the North Coast River Lodge Conference Center 1800 Riverwalk Drive Fortuna, CA 95540 March 7, 2014, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm The 2014 Eel River Symposium; Drought, Resilience & the North Coast is focused on our current drought and how people can live with increasing climate extremes in ways that leave room […]

Read More

To All: As I’m sure most if not all of you are aware, Governor Brown recently made his drought emergency declaration. While there are many positive aspects of the declaration – raising awareness of the drought, added pressure for reduced water usage, release of funds to address the drought, etc. – there are also some […]

Read More

John Laird December 24, 2013 Sea levels off the California coast will rise up to 2 feet by 2050 and up to 5.5 feet by 2100, scientific research suggests. Already, sea levels have risen in San Francisco by 8 inches over the past century. The highest tides of the year – dubbed King Tides – […]

Read More

To All, Here is the latest. Also, there is a new grassroots listserv you or anyone in your network interested in this issue can join. Info below – but simply email me if you want to join. Feel free to share this info widely. Dalal Aboulhosn <dalal.aboulhosn@sierraclub.org> WE NEED YOUR HELP TO TAKE ACTION! We […]

Read More