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.
We are gearing up for an engaging Water Summit on Oct. 29 and
also prepping our 2027 California Water Leaders program. Join a
virtual Q&A on our Water Leaders program on Nov. 10. Details
below.
Water Summit | October 29
Our 42ⁿᵈ
annual Water Summit is the Foundation’s
premier event of the year and returns to Sacramento October 29
with leading policymakers and experts addressing critical water
issues in California and across the West. Capacity is
limited and filling up quickly, so register here while
seats are available!
Conversations during the Summit will revolve around this year’s
theme, Stewarding a New Era in Western
Water, with a focus on emerging topics related to
the challenges and opportunities facing water resource
management.
The mandate to identify 9 million acre-feet of
additional water supply in California by 2040
The need for clarity in the ongoing AI/data center
discourse related to water resources management
The latest developments in desalination
efforts and their implications for the arid West
Our 42ⁿᵈ annual Water
Summit, an engaging day of discussions addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West, will be
held on Thursday, Oct. 29, in Sacramento with the theme,
Stewarding a New Era in Western Water.
Speakers and conversations will highlight emerging topics related
to the challenges and opportunities facing management of the
West’s most precious natural resource.
Lively conversations will focus on topics such
as:
The mandate to identify 9 million acre-feet of additional
water supply in California by 2040
The need for clarity in the ongoing AI/data center discourse
related to water resources management
The latest developments in desalination efforts and their
implications for the arid West
A full agenda will be posted soon, and speakers
include:
Joel Metzger | Deputy Director, Statewide
Water Resources Planning, California Department of Water
Resources
Sandi Matsumoto | California Water Program
Director, The Nature Conservancy
Cannon Michael | President, Bowles
Farming
Craig Miller | General Manager, Western
Municipal Water District
Dave Pederson | General Manager, Las Virgenes
Municipal Water District
As previously announced,
the day will open with a keynote address from Tom
Gibson, the new director of California’s Department of
Water Resources. An attorney who has held several roles in
the state’s Natural Resources Agency and its various departments,
Gibson was appointed by Gov. Newsom on June 29 and sworn in on
July 6 to lead DWR and its nearly 4,000 employees.
Nearly every corner of California, from Eureka to San Diego, is
forecast to see its heaviest rain in January during the
historically strong upcoming El Niño winter, according
to data released this week by a major seasonal model. The model
came in wetter than when it was last run a month ago: San
Francisco’s precipitation forecast for January grew from about
4 inches above normal to 5 inches, and Santa Rosa went from 6.3
inches above normal to 7 inches. But the peak month is
only part of it. From December through March, the
model’s average forecast runs at nearly double its normal
rainfall in San Francisco and San Jose, and at
more than two and a half times normal in San
Diego. The update prompted a warning from UCLA
climate scientist Daniel Swain, who wrote on X that he had
“never seen such high predictive confidence in a very
wet California winter” and that he is “officially
concerned.”
The San Diego City Council on Tuesday punted a decision on
adopting a new structure of water rates that would lower bills
for apartment buildings but increase them for most
single-family homes. The proposal is intended to bring
the city into compliance with Proposition 218, a voter
initiative from 1996 that regulates fees charged by local
governments, including fees for water service. In 2015, a group
of water customers sued San Diego, arguing the city’s
tiered rate structure for single-family homes
violated Prop 218, which requires water agencies to charge
customers no more than their proportional cost of the
service. The city argued the higher rates charged
to the heaviest water users were a lawful way to incentivize
conservation. But the courts sided with the
plaintiffs, finding the city had not presented enough evidence
to justify its tiered water rates.
The Sierra Club is suing the city of San Francisco’s water
department, claiming officials are manipulating water
data to justify bigger water grabs for the city —
and causing unnecessary harm to the environment, and inflating
customer rates. The suit, filed last week in San Francisco
Superior Court, calls for the San Francisco Public Utilities
Commission to revise its state-mandated Urban Water Management
Plan to reflect more modest water needs, notably from the
Tuolumne River at Yosemite National Park,
where the bulk of the city’s water comes from. … The
agency has previously maintained that its extensive water
diversions and conservative water plans are necessary
for sustaining the Bay Area, its people and its booming
economy. … The Sierra Club’s legal challenge
… comes at a time when San Francisco’s water supplies
could be increasingly constrained, not just by climate
change and drought, but by a landmark proposal by the state,
known as the Bay Delta Plan update.
Scottsdale is moving forward with plans to create a large water
users ordinance to help mitigate the effects of
Colorado River water cuts. The changes under
consideration would apply to new large water users, not
existing ones. At the Scottsdale City Council’s Sept. 22 work
study session, staff recommended new requirements as projected
demand increases for large water users. Businesses that
use more than 100,000 gallons per day would need to produce a
conservation plan. Those that use more than
250,000 gallons per day would need to conduct an economic
impact analysis. And those that use more than 500,000 gallons
per day would need additional review and council
approval. The new plan would include penalties for large
water users who violate their conservation plans, which current
city regulations do not include.
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.
No portion of the West has been immune to drought during the last
century and it occurs with much greater frequency in the West
than in any other region of the country.
