A handful of irrigation water districts that get water from behind Oroville Dam have won a settlement with the Department of Water Resources to compensate them for lowered rice yields due to cold water. »

Federal water officials have been warned that their work on a draft plan for operating the Delta's water works "contains deficiencies, incomplete analysis, inaccuracies and omissions." »

There is no salmon fishing season this year, so there may be no wild salmon for your party. If you think that's bad, imagine how it feels to the commercial fishermen, fishing guides, seafood shops and all the local businesses that rely on salmon for their livelihood. The disappearance of wild salmon has many causes, and most of them relate to rivers. »

The federal government has offered to give fast-growing West Sacramento two years to show its levees are adequate. If the city can't do so, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will designate the city a hazardous floodplain. »

Authorities are on the lookout for quagga and zebra mussels, invasive species known to hitchhike from one body of water to another by attaching themselves to boat trailers, hulls, engines and steering components. »

sounds like one of those stories that conservatives often use to make government look bad - the city of Sacramento is fining a household $746 for letting their lawn die to save water. But the real issue here isn't government - it's whether California will abandon wasteful and even elitist 20th century values to meet the needs of the 21st century. »

The recipe for bringing back wild salmon is simple - ample cold, clean water; access to spawning and rearing areas; and abundant supplies of food. It's not complicated, but it will require a sustained commitment from everyone who values wild, local salmon.  »

State Department of Fish and Game crews have rounded up more than 300 stray salmon and returned them to their rightful spawning path. The migrating spring-run salmon are supposed to swim up Butte Creek Canyon to find cold water in which to spawn in the fall. »

A tiny fish at the heart of the big Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water controversy is being bred at a north state hatchery. »

Chico and the region closed the books on a second consecutive year of low rainfall. The 18.49 inches of precipitation that fell at the Enterprise-Record's weather station during the 2007-08 rain season was 26.3 percent below the city's average 25.09 inches.  »

A federal judge has turned down a request by fishing and environmental groups that could have resulted in the removal of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam. »

Salmon fishing on Central Valley rivers was closed Thursday to protect what's left of the fall-run chinook population. »

California Water Service, which supplies groundwater to residents of Chico, is asking for a voluntary cutback of 10 percent of water use, explained manager Mike Pembroke.  »

While it's not California's tallest mountain, the tongues of ice creeping down Shasta's volcanic flanks give the solitary mountain another distinction. Its seven glaciers, referred to by American Indians as the footsteps made by the creator when he descended to Earth, are the only historical glaciers in the continental U.S. known to be growing. »

Sacramento Valley farmers are breathing a sigh of relief now that an immediate threat to their water supply has been resolved. Late last month a federal district judge in Fresno denied an emergency request by environmentalists to lift the gates of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, which would have sent an estimated 300,000 acre-feet of water down river.  »

The South Yuba River has long been a fully paid up member on California's sad roster of Rivers of Constant Sorrow. It has been dammed, diverted, hydraulically mined, and used for a place to dump mountains of mine tailings, and later, streams of sewage effluent. Despite having a valiant and resolute defender, the South Yuba River Citizens League, who have successfully fought, and who continue to fight against seemingly overwhelming odds to protect it from further dams, and who have had bright victories, such as the designation of a portion of the South Yuba as a California Wild and Scenic River, it's nevertheless a river that has to take each day as it comes, for each new day can bring with it a whole load of troubles. »

The El Dorado Irrigation District announced it has been informed by attorneys for Voices for Rural Living that the citizens group would file suit seeking to nullify the district's agreement to expand water service to the Red Hawk Casino of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. »

Californians just experienced a Fourth of July weekend that graphically demonstrated how weather and climatic conditions can alter holiday activities that many of us traditionally take for granted.  »

The summer of 2008 may be remembered as the summer of drought, fire and water rationing, or it may be remembered as the bellwether sign that California is facing a new normal when it comes to our weather and water supply.  »

The delta smelt, a tiny but important fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, could officially become "endangered" under a proposal announced Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. »

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. Dianne Feinstein unveiled a sweeping $9.3 billion bond proposal on Thursday to overhaul California's ailing water infrastructure by expanding water storage, protecting the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and promoting conservation projects across the state. »

An editorial about Senate Bill 994 implied that hatchery rearing of Delta smelt is a "nutty" idea, and that we should not waste "our money on smelt factories." People should not be so quick to dismiss a Delta smelt hatchery. »

How to generate electricity without selling out the climate is one of the pressing issues facing humanity today. But don't worry; the international hydropower industry says it has the situation covered. It's using the threat of global warming as a pretext for promoting a new generation of big dams in developing countries. But investment in hydropower dams will not only increase our vulnerability to climate change, it will also sell out some of the last remaining wild places on Earth, and the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of people. »

Senate President pro Tempore Don Perata (D-Oakland) and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) announced Monday they will push legislation to fund water storage, reliability and conservation efforts with already approved bond money. »

The peripheral canal was once like plutonium in California water politics, yet a new report embraces it as the answer to environmental problems threatening the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. »

A federal judge struck a largely symbolic blow for imperiled salmon and steelhead Friday, declaring that the state's vast water-export system is putting the fish at risk but rejecting environmentalists' key demands for change. »

As California contemplates its water future, one simple principle should guide its choices: Any 30-year investment in water infrastructure must take into account what California's water supply situation will be 30 years from now. If population and warming forecasts are correct, by mid-century our state will be more crowded and precipitation patterns will have changed. Some regions may be wetter; most are likely to be drier. No matter what investments we make, water supplies from Northern California and the Colorado River will continue to diminish. More people will chase less water. »

California's second-largest storage reservoir will end this year with the lowest amount of water in more than 30 years, the state's water chief said yesterday.  »

While the Sacramento Valley water supply is still relatively good, rationing and other water-saving steps have already been taken in drier parts of the state. Well-water users in the Sacramento Valley are now being asked to inform their county water agencies if they note problems in their wells.  »

The El Dorado Irrigation District has begun drawing down Caples Lake as it prepares to replace outlet works at the lake's main dam off Highway 88 in Alpine County. »

Hundreds of farm workers plan to rally at the state Capitol in support of placing a water measure on the November ballot. »

An influential public policy group has just released a report that says California should no longer draw water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to supply water to most of the state — and that we should build a canal to pipe Sacramento River water around the Delta to the head of the California Aqueduct near Tracy.Hold on. Didn’t we already debate the so-called peripheral canal, take it to a vote and soundly reject it — in 1982? »

Lake Oroville, the cornerstone of the State Water Project, is at its lowest level since the drought of the mid-1970s. The response by state legislators has been all but a collective yawn.  »

A new injection of money is moving a repair project on the Iron Canyon Fish Ladder in upper Bidwell Park a step closer to completion. And, in a reversal of an earlier position, blasting can be avoided in the canyon created by Big Chico Creek. »

Imagine a new kind of farming in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta - "carbon-capture" farming, which traps atmospheric carbon dioxide and rebuilds lost soils. DWR has awarded USGS and UC Davis a three-year, $12.3 million research grant to take the concept of carbon-capture farming to full-scale in a scientifically and environmentally sound way. To capture or contain the carbon, farmers would "grow" wetlands. »

A federal judge in Fresno ordered state and federal water regulators Wednesday to come up with an interim plan by the end of August for protecting migrating salmon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. »

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a statewide drought in June and then urged passage of a $9.3 billion water bond, Democrats and environmental critics became suspicious. They still are. »

California's salmon are teetering on the edge of extinction and the salmon fishing industry is facing economic devastation, but a report released today establishes a framework to help address this crisis. The report concludes that providing a more reliable water supply for the San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary could help save fish, including salmon, while also helping to ensure adequate water for farms, cities, and the 25 million Californians who rely on the Bay-Delta's water. »

State water officials today are sending letters to about 1,000 property owners in the Delta – a heads up that surveyors may need to access private land to begin planning a canal to ferry fresh water to Southern California. »

Two weeks ago, however, a group of five federal and state agencies, along with PG&E, announced a historic funding transfer agreement that ultimately will provide more than $100 million to restore a full 42 miles of prime Battle Creek spawning habitat, as well as six miles of habitat in its tributary streams. »

Although no one disagrees on the urgent need to fight the fires, there has long been sharp disagreement about how to address California's chronic water shortage. The time has come to break the stalemate.  »

Lake Oroville's boat launch ramps soon will be out of the water because of the rapidly dropping water level. The state Department of Water Resources reported that the reservoir now holds about 1.3 million acre feet of water -- 37 percent of capacity. That's half of what usually is in the reservoir this time of year. »

The state and federal owners of massive water export pumps in the Delta have asked a judge to grant them additional time to prepare a new operating plan to protect threatened fish. »