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A new report from Stanford’s Water in the West program assesses progress among states in the Colorado River Basin with respect to environmental water rights transfers, a legal tool that enables water rights holders to voluntarily transfer their water to rivers, streams and wetlands to benefit the environment and potentially generate revenue. The Colorado River provides water for more than 35 million people, supports numerous fish and wildlife species, including several threatened and endangered species, and irrigates more than 6,000 square miles of farmland. It also supports a variety of aquatic ecosystems from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to the deserts of the Southwest.

What a difference a year makes, I’m thinking as I head to Sacramento for meetings with legislators and company members of Connect the Drops, a campaign my organization spearheaded to drive smart water use in California. Last year, more than 90 percent of the state was experiencing some level of drought – today, just 8 percent is. This winter, our state was inundated by rain and snow, with precipitation beating records going back to before 1895, when they started keeping track. And the Oroville Dam has been the big story of late, replacing last year’s headlines about fallow fields.

Water releases down the damaged main spillway at Lake Oroville have been halted in order to work on repairs there, and for now the lake is slowly rising. The state Department of Water Resources stopped spillway releases around 5 p.m. Monday and instead is running water to the Feather River through the Hyatt Powerplant under the dam. About 11,700 cubic-feet per second of water is going through the hydroelectric plant. As of Tuesday afternoon, Lake Oroville’s surface elevation was just above 837 feet, which is about 64 feet below the lip of the emergency spillway.