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Within the state, the two most important source water areas are the Sierra Nevada mountains and the greater Mt. Shasta area springs. These two source areas provide the majority of water for urban drinking supplies as far away as Los Angeles and for agricultural uses across the Central Valley.
SOURCE #1 - THE SIERRA NEVADA
California’s vast Sierra Nevada range, spanning 400 miles, rises to capture rain and snow from the clouds drifting eastward from the Pacific Ocean providing the source for approximately 60% of California’s developed water supply.
The Sierra’s hydrologic system is a snowpack driven system. Snowpack in the Sierra provides a natural form of water storage, but the effects of climate change are expected to decrease snowpack by up to 40% by 2050. Warmer temperatures will cause what snow we do get to melt faster and earlier, making it more difficult to store and use. This poses a real problem for our water supply. But recent research has shown how restoring Sierra meadows can help counteract the effects of climate change.
The role of Sierra meadows
Sierra meadows cover less than 2 percent of the overall Sierra-Cascade landscape, but they are biological hotspots that sustain the headwaters of several major California water sources. Like the mountain snow pack that Californians depend on for year-round water, healthy meadows store water like a sponge and release it gradually. They also filter out pollutants in the process. As the climate warms and scientists project more rain and less snowfall in these mountain ranges, Sierra meadows will become an increasingly important resource for water storage. Of the roughly 190,000 acres of meadows throughout the greater Sierra Nevada, an estimated 40-60 percent (~90,000 acres) have been degraded due primarily to human activity.
The degradation of these meadows is due to a number of factors, mostly livestock and agriculture related. Meandering streams were straightened, streambanks destroyed, and the “sponge function" dried up and withered. Our efforts to protect and enhance habitat for native trout populations, has led us to scientifically quantify the meadow's function, and in doing so, gain better insight into the crucial role meadows play in California’s water supply at large.
Photo by Mike Wier