The Putah Creek Legacy
 The Putah Creek Legacy
  • Saving Putah Creek
    • Chapter One: Drought
    • Chapter Two: Whose Creek?
    • Chapter Three: Creek in Court
    • Chapter Four: The Pied Piper
    • Chapter Five: 181 Dams
  • Community Stories
  • Maps: Beyond Putah Creek
  • Documents
  • Support
  • About



The Putah Creek LEgacy

The 1989 drought put Putah Creek on the map, when its stream ran dry and the neighboring counties went to court.  Today, after $12 million in restoration efforts, there's water for farmers and for fish — even amid another drought. As more communities face drought conditions, could the Putah Creek success story be repeated? 

A five part series.


Putah Creek pours down the eastern slope of Cobb Mountain, one of the hundreds of foothill streams that support California's unique flora and fauna. Thirty miles from its headwaters, it pools behind Monticello Dam to form Lake Berryessa, the eighth largest reservoir in the state. Past the dam's floodgates, it meanders another thirty miles before emptying into the Yolo Bypass.

In 1989, Lower Putah Creek ran dry.
Chapter 1: The Drought
Chapter 2: The Council
Chapter 3: The Lawsuit
Chapter 4: The Revival
Chapter 5: The Future
Bonus Feature: Maps

Local Edition

Local Edition

Local Edition is series of stories produced by Climate Confidential in partnership with community media. Learn more.

A joint reporting project from 
Climate Confidential and The Davis Enterprise.


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