Sedimentation is a common water quality problem in California. So, it's a big deal that a new study indicates that changes in irrigation technology might help. Researchers have found that large-scale adoption of drip irrigation techniques likely played a considerable role in reducing suspended river sediments in one of the state's largest agricultural areas.

“Widespread conversion from furrow irrigation to less erosive drip techniques in the early 1990's seems to be helping decrease suspended sediment concentrations in Salinas River watershed,” says Andrew Gray of the...

It's been a busy couple weeks for Andy Fisher, a hydrogeology professor at UC Santa Cruz. Two of his students presented research in Mexico while another finished his master's thesis and hurriedly returned to active duty with the Coast Guard. At the same time, Fisher prepared instruments for a new groundwater observatory in the Pajaro Valley and gave two presentations at an international groundwater and agriculture conference. If the reach of his program is any indication of intellectual stamina, Fisher never tires, particularly when it comes to preaching the possibilities of groundwater recharge.

Fisher's large body of work has had a big influence in...

California has long been home to a rich array of native freshwater fish, including some species found nowhere else in the world. There is the Paiute sculpin that favors cold waters moving over the shallow gravel of a mountain streambed, the voraciously predatory Sacramento pikeminnow that can be found in deep river pools, and the tidewater goby that prefers the brackish waters of estuaries. Of course, there are also well-known fish such as salmon and steelhead trout that migrate every year from the Pacific Ocean to the...

When we talk about water in California, we tend to focus on the past 100-150 years because it is the timeframe that corresponds with modern record keeping. At the same time, it's a relatively short period that doesn't yield much long range climate insight.

That's where other methods of looking into the past become important. For example, tree ring analysis has offered a much lengthier view – going back 1000 or so years. But, what about the deep past?

Matthew Kirby, a professor of geology at California State University-Fullerton, uses lake sediments to reconstruct California's water history over the past 100,000 years. He has a special focus on the most...