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 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.
As your summer adventures wrap up, be sure to reserve your spot
for our popular fall programs. Seating is limited and will fill
up quickly!
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.
Just one year after the signing of Senate Bill 72, the Summit will
feature a panel discussion of California’s 2028 Water
Plan Update as it undergoes a legislatively
mandated shift from being just a guidance document to a blueprint
providing a framework for implementation of actions.
The state Legislature this week approved $158.2 million to
protect the Delta and the State Water Project
infrastructure. The Legislature approved $90.2 million
to fortify the Delta’s aging levees, along
with up to $68 million to safeguard the State Water
Project’s California Aqueduct and canals. … The
budget funding is only about half of the $300 million
that was initially requested. Moreover, that
request was for $300 million annually, divided equally between
the Delta levees and the State Water Project infrastructure.
… Also included in Tuesday’s budget approval was $5
million to acquire Jersey Island in the Delta and repair its
levees.
As major changes hang over the shape of the region’s water
supply, a group of agricultural landowners in northern Sonoma
County is advancing the latest attempt to create a new
water district for the area. … The proposal
comes at a pivotal moment for water users throughout
the Russian River watershed. … Pacific Gas and
Electric Co. last year surrendered its license for the
[Potter Valley] project, saying it is outdated
and costly, leaving the utility, local governments and federal
regulators to re-envision the future of the Eel and
Russian River watersheds without the Scott and Cape Horn dams
in Lake and Mendocino County. For Alexander Valley’s
agricultural landowners, the proposed water district is an
attempt to gain more control over how the valley prepares for
that future.
The Colorado River is on the brink of collapse because of
climate change and overuse of water. Reservoirs supplying water
to tens of millions of people in the southwest reached record
lows this summer.The nation is racing to
refill them with conservation measures so they can
still generate hydropower and reliably deliver water to users
downstream. Fish are struggling. Rafters are having
trouble navigating low water. Despite all this, the seven
states sharing the water supply remain at a yearslong
impasse over how to conserve the river. “The Colorado
River is in as bad a shape as it’s ever been,” said Doug
Kenney, chairman of the Colorado River Research Group at CU
Boulder’s Getches-Wilkinson Center.
The summer’s deluge of monsoon rain has eased demand on local
water supplies, but it won’t be enough to pull Utah out
of a drought or refill the state’s shrinking
reservoirs, state water officials warn. That’s because monsoon
storms often hit lower elevations and come in short, intense
bursts, said Laura Haskell, drought coordinator with the Utah
Division of Water Resources. Much of that water rushes over the
ground instead of flowing into the streams that feed Utah’s
reservoirs. … At the end of August, Utah’s
reservoirs were at 52% of their total capacity
statewide, according to the state water division.
That’s 15% below what’s typical for this time of year — and 18%
lower than where reservoirs stood at this time last year.
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.
