Author Archives: UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

Demystifying mist as a source of water supply

By Jay Lund (originally posted in 2015) In some of the world’s driest places, atmospheric moisture is a major source of water for native ecosystems. Some algae, plants and insects in the Israeli and Namibian deserts get much of their water … Continue reading

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Why give away fish flows for free during a drought?

by Jay Lund, Ellen Hanak, Barton “Buzz” Thompson, Brian Gray, Jeffrey Mount and Katrina Jessoe This is a re-posting from 11 February 2014 (in the previous drought).   With California in a major drought, state and federal regulators will be under … Continue reading

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Episode 2: “Unraveling the Knot” Water Movement in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – Tidal Forces

By William Fleenor, Amber Manfree, and Megan Nguyen Tides are the biggest driver of Delta flows, and in Episode 2 we look at their impacts in different locations under a variety of inflow conditions.  Tides have a twice-daily cycle in … Continue reading

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Dammed hot: California’s regulated streams fail cold-water ecosystems

by Ann Willis, Ryan Peek, and Andrew L. Rypel Given the current drought, it’s no surprise that California’s dams are struggling to provide cool water habitats to support native freshwater ecosystems. But what if they were never able to support … Continue reading

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Assessing portfolios of actions for winter-run salmon in the Sacramento Valley

by Francisco Bellido Leiva, Robert Lusardi and Jay Lund  We may be entering a time when more mechanistic understanding can be used to estimate effects of habitats and flows on fish populations and health, and help design ecosystem restoration efforts. … Continue reading

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The Collapse of Water Exports – Los Angeles, 1914

by Jay Lund “In February, 1914, the rainfall in the Mojave Desert region exceeded by nearly fifty per cent in three days the average annual precipitation. Where the steel siphon crosses Antelope valley at the point of greatest depression, an … Continue reading

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Functional Flows for Developing Ecological Flow Recommendations

by Sarah Yarnell, Alyssa Obester, Ted Grantham, Eric Stein, Belize Lane, Rob Lusardi, Julie Zimmerman, Jeanette Howard, Sam Sandoval-Solis, Rene Henery, and Erin Bray To protect California’s native aquatic species, stream flows need to be managed to support important ecological … Continue reading

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The folly of unimpaired flows for water quality management

by Ann Willis Unimpaired streamflow has long been the benchmark against which current stream flows are evaluated for environmental purposes. The underlying assumption is that if there is water in a stream, the stream must be healthy. A closer look … Continue reading

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Striped Bass in the San Francisco Estuary: Insight Into a Forgotten Past

by Dylan Stompe and Peter Moyle Striped bass are well known throughout California as a hard-fighting game fish, excellent table fare, and a voracious predator on other fish. Striped bass were introduced into the San Francisco Estuary in 1879 and … Continue reading

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Eastern San Joaquin Valley and other CA drinking water supplies at risk in the next drought

by Amanda Fencl, Rich Pauloo, Alvar Escriva-Bou, Hervé Guillon During the 2012-2016 drought, the state received more than 2,500 domestic well failure reports, the majority of which were in the Central Valley (DWR 2018). This left thousands of people without a … Continue reading

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