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California WaterBlog

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  • Restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley

    Jay Lund, the Ray B. Krone Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of California – Davis In November, the people of San Francisco will vote on looking into alternatives to capturing water at the Hetch Hetchy reservoir site, which could lead to restoring the fabled valley in Yosemite National Park.  While this modest step faces steep…

  • California Water – The Great Remodeling Project

    Jay R. Lund, Director, Center for Watershed Sciences, and Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Davis People periodically remodel their homes.  A household might need a new room for children or an ailing grandparent, want a bigger kitchen, replace a leaky roof, or want more room to entertain.  California’s water system is now…

  • Reconciling wild things with tamed places – a future for native fish species in the Delta

    Peter Moyle, William Bennett, John Durand, William Fleenor, Jay Lund, Jeffrey Mount, University of California – Davis Ellen Hanak, Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco Brian Gray, University of California – Hastings School of Law Today, the Public Policy Institute of California released two reports that look at how California can better manage the…

  • Water and California’s Economy

    Ellen Hanak, Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), San Francisco, CA Jay Lund, Center for Watershed Sciences, University of California – Davis Buzz Thompson, Stanford School of Law Today, PPIC released “Water and the California Economy,” a report that presents the consensus view of 15 experts* on the role of water in California’s economy, key…

  • Wild Things and the Delta

    Jay Lund, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Peter Moyle, Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology University of California – Davis   The recent death of Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, brings some whimsical reflections on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  Several quotes from the book seem to have potential lessons…

  • Some springtime reading on California water

    Jay R. Lund, Director, Center for Watershed Sciences and the Ray B. Krone Chair of Environmental Engineering, University of California – Davis California is a wonderful place to study water, with so many interesting and important problems, many thoughtful and insightful authors, and much to be learned.  Here is a short selection of  readings on…

  • When Good Fish Make Bad Decisions

    Carson Jeffres, Staff Research Associate, Center for Watershed Sciences Restoration of degraded habitat is generally considered to be a no-brainer.  But, what if by “restoring” the habitat, you inadvertently create a habitat that causes either the target species or other important non-target species to spiral towards extinction—that is, a place that looks good on the…

  • Recent News Stories You May Have Missed–A Compilation

    State Budget Gap Solved by Sale of Department of Water Resources It was announced today that the Department of Water Resources (DWR) has been formally sold to the State and Federal Water Contractors Association.  The $5 billion price will substantially reduce this year’s state budget deficit and the merger will remove much lingering public confusion.…

  • Can solid flood planning improve all California water planning?

    Jay R. Lund, The Ray B. Krone Chair of Environmental Engineering, University of California – Davis “No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.”  E.L. Kersten The best time to prepare for floods is during a drought. In December, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released their new Central Valley flood…

  • Wanted: An integrated strategy for recovery of Central Valley salmon

    Jacob Katz, Ph.D. Candidate, Center for Watershed Sciences Peter Moyle, Professor of Fish Biology, University of California – Davis Historically, the rivers of the Central Valley had seasonally variable stream flows and diverse habitats.  Rivers tended to flood in winter, with low flows in summer.  Salmon used in-channel gravel beds for spawning, deep in-channel pools…

  • Growing costs and concern for drinking water in Tulare Basin and Salinas Valley

    Thomas Harter, Robert M. Hagan Endowed Chair in Water Management and Policy, University of California – Davis Jay R. Lund, The Ray B. Krone Chair of Environmental Engineering, University of California – Davis A potential public health concern has been percolating into aquifer drinking water supplies in the Tulare Basin and Salinas Valley for the…

  • Have our salmon and eat them too: Re-thinking Central Valley salmon hatcheries

    By Jacob Katz and Peter Moyle In the previous blog, Jay Lund argued that wide-scale, integrated management of California’s water system will better balance water needs of the environment and water demands by humans.  Here we expand on the need for fundamental shifts in policy to recover populations of Central Valley salmon using integrated management…

  • Expanding water storage capacity in California

    Jay R. Lund, The Ray B. Krone Chair of Environmental Engineering, University of California – Davis “The old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be.” The recent report from the US Bureau of Reclamation on the economic feasibility of raising Shasta Dam illustrates that we are in a new era for considering water…

  • Insights for California water policy from computer modeling

    “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” G.E.P. Box By Jay R. Lund California has a very complex water system which is important to many often competing interests and purposes. Because of this, California’s water system will always be controversial. Nevertheless, decisions about managing California’s water system will be made. How can we understand…

  • Extinction is a sustainable condition

    Jay R. Lund, The Ray B. Krone Chair of Environmental Engineering, University of California – Davis Sustainability is favored by everyone, but, people and groups view and use sustainability differently.  Alas, as Keynes observed, “In the long run we are all dead,” and achieve the same sustainable end. As illustrated above, the word “sustainable” seems…

  • A tribute to Alex Hildebrand

    One of the best minds of the Delta and its most devoted advocate has left us.  Alex Hildebrand passed away Monday at the venerable age of 98. Alex cared deeply for the land and the water of the South Delta, living his life and tending his farm in sync with the rise and fall of…

  • Whither the Delta economy?

    Josue Medellín-Azuara, Richard Howitt, Jay Lund – University of California, Davis Ellen Hanak – Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco Today, PPIC and UC Davis released a new report on the economy of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  “Transitions for the Delta Economy” explores how the Delta’s economy has evolved since the early 1990s and…

  • Israel’s Delta – The Hula Valley

    Jay R. Lund, The Ray B. Krone Chair of Environmental Engineering, University of California – Davis History has many cases of deltas, lakes, and marshlands which have been “reclaimed” for agriculture, then as agriculture became uneconomical, have been returned to the environment (Mostert 2011). In far northern Israel is Hula Valley, about 44,000 acres of…

  • Has human water use peaked in California?

    Jay R. Lund, The Ray B. Krone Chair of Environmental Engineering, University of California – Davis Ellen Hanak, Senior Policy Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco For over a century, water planning and policy in California assumed perpetual increases in water demands for agricultural and urban uses.  Of course, nothing can…

  • Delta science in a post-Wanger world

    Jeffrey F. Mount, Founding Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, University of California – Davis The Chief Scientist for the Delta has retired.  No, not Cliff Dahm. He’s the Lead Scientist for the Delta Science Program (although he is returning to the University of New Mexico).  Rather, it is Oliver Wanger, the mercurial judge…

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