Category Archives: Uncategorized

Drought and the Colorado River: Localizing Water in Los Angeles

By Erik Porse and Stephanie Pincetl In October 2022, water agencies in Southern California with Colorado River water rights announced plans to reduce water diversions. The agencies offered voluntary conservation of 400,000 acre-feet per year through 2026. This annual total … Continue reading

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California WaterBlog: 2022 In Review

By Christine Parisek The California WaterBlog is completing its 11th year. As we enter 2023, we take a moment to to thank our many readers, partners, authors, and friends. The California WaterBlog’s central mission is to provide stimulating ideas and … Continue reading

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The Collapse of Water Exports – Los Angeles, 1914

This is a re-post from 2019 with updated links for pictures and further readings. by Jay Lund Collapse of Los Angeles aqueduct pipeline through Antelope Valley from a major flood in February, 1914 (3-months after the aqueduct’s official opening) “In … Continue reading

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The Largest Estuary on the West Coast of North America

By Jeffrey Mount and Wim Kimmerer For decades the San Francisco Estuary, which includes San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, has been routinely described as “the largest estuary on the west coast of North America.” This appeared in … Continue reading

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The 2020-2023 drought continues for a fourth year?

by Jay Lund After three years of drought and two dry months, plus two wet weeks, into California’s “wet” season for 2023, California has become unsettlingly settled into this long drought.  Most cities have decreased their water use, some more … Continue reading

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Managing source water for maximum benefit in a challenging climate

By Amber Lukk and Ann Willis In drought-prone northern California, limited water resources, private water rights allocations, and inefficient transport and use of water resources causes tension between freshwater conservation and private landownership (Garibaldi et al. 2020, Vissers 2017). In … Continue reading

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The Flow of California Water Policy – A Chart

by Jay Lund California water policy is often discussed and depicted as being impossibly complex.  In its essentials, it can be seen much more simply, as in the flow chart below.  Without extreme events (such as floods and droughts), the … Continue reading

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Are native fishes and reservoirs compatible?

By Peter B. Moyle and Anna M. Sturrock The question addressed in this blog comes from a new PPIC report that calls for reforms in management of environmental water stored behind dams in California. The report shows it is possible … Continue reading

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White sturgeon: is an ancient survivor facing extinction in California?

by Andrea Schreier, Peter B. Moyle, Nicholas J. Demetras, Sarah Baird, Dennis Cocherell, Nann A. Fangue, Kirsten Sellheim, Jonathan Walter, Myfanwy Johnston, Scott Colborne, Levi S. Lewis, and Andrew L. Rypel Sturgeons belong to an ancient family of fishes that once … Continue reading

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Spawning of the living dead: understanding how salmon pass thiamine deficiency to their young

By Abigail E. Ward and Miranda Bell-Tilcock This is no ordinary witch’s brew. It’s one part of the recipe to study thiamine deficiency in our California Central Valley Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) populations. In 2019, hatcheries noticed an eerie and … Continue reading

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