The Sacramento River Basin is a place where rivers, landscapes, and communities come together in a dynamic system that nourishes and sustains life through careful stewardship.
Spanning 27,000 square miles, the Sacramento River Basin is California's largest watershed, carrying 31% of the state's surface water which is used for multiple benefits in the region and throughout the entire state.
Explore the interactive map and click the location icons to learn about the key water entities along each river and creek in the Sacramento River Basin.
Explore the River Basin
Spanning 27,000 square miles, the Sacramento River Basin is California's largest watershed, carrying 31% of the state's surface water which is used for multiple benefits in the region and throughout the entire state.
Explore the interactive map and click the location icons to learn about the key water entities along each river and creek in the Sacramento River Basin.
With a shared riverscape vision, the leaders in the region are working to activate this rich land - connecting rivers and creeks to landscapes and communities to ensure they function at their full potential for people, agriculture, fish, wildlife, and recreation. This vision drives efforts to enhance multi-benefit water management from ridgetop to river mouth, fostering resilience for California's future.
This riverscape is both shaped and defined by the surface water in the region, which is a blessing as the essential ingredient that brings the region to life, while also haunting it with periodic floods and droughts. Surface water gives life to this region through its mosaic of rivers, creeks, and sloughs that support cities, rural communities, farms, ranches, wildlife habitats, hydropower, recreation, and wetlands, making the Sacramento River Basin a vital and productive landscape.
Copyright 2025, Northern California Water Association
