Watch our series of short videos on the importance of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, how it works as a water hub for
California and the challenges it is facing.
When a person opens a spigot to draw a glass of water, he or she
may be tapping a source close to home or hundreds of miles away.
Water gets to taps via a complex web of aqueducts, canals and
groundwater.
Learn more about our team in the office and on the Board of
Directors and how you can support our nonprofit mission by
donating in someone’s honor or memory, or becoming a regular
contributor or supporting specific projects.
Unlike California’s majestic rivers and massive dams and
conveyance systems, groundwater is out of sight and underground,
though no less plentiful. The state’s enormous cache of
underground water is a great natural resource and has contributed
to the state becoming the nation’s top agricultural producer and
leader in high-tech industries.
A new era of groundwater management began in 2014 in California
with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The landmark law
turned 10 in 2024, with many challenges still ahead.
Our 41ˢᵗ annual Water
Summit, an engaging day of discussions addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West, will be
held on Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Sacramento with the theme,
Embracing Uncertainty in the West.
Speakers and conversations will explore how to move forward with
critical decisions despite myriad unknowns facing our most
precious natural resource, including updates and insights
from leadership at both the state and federal levels in shaping
water resource priorities in California and across the West.
California Natural Resources
Secretary Wade Crowfoot will be the keynote speaker at our
2025 Water
Summit where leading experts and top
policymakers will explore how to move forward with critical
decisions despite myriad unknowns facing the West’s most precious
natural resource.
Now in its 41ˢᵗ year, the Foundation’s premier annual event on
Oct. 1 in downtown Sacramento will focus on the theme,
Embracing Uncertainty in the West. A
full agenda featuring a slate of engaging panelists will be
available soon, but the day will be filled with lively
discussions on topics such as:
… [T]he Colorado River Indian Tribes, often referred to as
CRIT … are planning to establish legal personhood status for
the Colorado River, giving it some of the same rights and
protections a human could hold in court. No government, tribal
or otherwise, has given these kinds of rights to the Colorado
River before. … A Supreme Court decree, Arizona v.
California, recognized CRIT as having the most senior water
rights on the lower Colorado River, and among the most senior
in the entire basin. That means CRIT has some of the most
legally untouchable water rights along the lower half of the
Colorado River.
The Sites Project Authority will receive an additional $218.9
million in inflationary increases, thanks to a unanimous vote
by the California Water Commission. The new total maximum
eligibility for the project is $1.094 billion. This award from
the Calif. Water Commission is part of an effort to
redistribute funding that had been earmarked for the expansion
of Los Vaqueros Reservoir, a project that was halted in
November 2024, which freed up Proposition 4 funds.
… Floods are the most common and costly natural disaster, but
difficult to predict with accuracy. Artificial intelligence has
played a significant role in giving insurers the data they
needed to design a parametric flood policy that could make
sense on both sides. Fremont, which has not had a history of
high flood risk, was one of the first jurisdictions to obtain
this kind of coverage. As changing weather patterns make it
harder for communities to assume they are safe from damaging
floods, others could follow.
Arizona cities are joining together under one banner to
advocate for Arizona in ongoing Colorado River talks. Existing
agreements determining Arizona’s allotted share of Colorado
River water are set to expire next year. … CAP [Central
Arizona Project] is the system that delivers Colorado River
water throughout the state and is in partnership with the
municipalities under the new coalition, branded Coalition for
Protecting Arizona’s Lifeline. The goal of the new Arizona
coalition is to unite Colorado River water users and showcase
the state’s ongoing water conservation efforts.
Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
Bay Model is a giant hydraulic replica of San Francisco
Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. It is housed in a converted World II-era
warehouse in Sausalito near San Francisco.
Hundreds of gallons of water are pumped through the
three-dimensional, 1.5-acre model to simulate a tidal ebb
and flow lasting 14 minutes.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
Drought—an extended period of
limited or no precipitation—is a fact of life in California and
the West, with water resources following boom-and-bust patterns.
During California’s 2012–2016 drought, much of the state
experienced severe drought conditions: significantly less
precipitation and snowpack, reduced streamflow and higher
temperatures. Those same conditions reappeared early in 2021
prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom in May to declare drought emergencies
in watersheds across 41 counties in California.
