The driest start to the calendar year in recorded history is
taking a toll on water resources during California’s third
year of drought. Find resources to stay up-to-date with the
latest on drought.
Some people in California and across the West struggle to access
safe, reliable and affordable water to meet their everyday needs
for drinking, cooking and sanitation.
Join the Water Education Foundation, an impartial
nonprofit, in its mission to create a better understanding
of water issues and help resolve water problems through
educational programs.
You can now register for the in-person return of the
Foundation’s 38th annual Water Summit, a one-day
conference highlighting the latest information and
perspectives on water resources in California and the West.
The event includes an evening reception along California’s
largest and longest river, the Sacramento River, for an
opportunity to network with speakers and other attendees from a
variety of backgrounds.
Our fall schedule also includes:
A reunion for our Water Leaders graduates to
celebrate the 25th anniversary of the program
Tours exploring California’s two largest
rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, to learn
more about infrastructure, the impacts on farms,
cities and habitat from a third year of drought and salmon
restoration efforts.
Check out the details below to learn more about these fall
programs.
We are gearing up to mark the 25th anniversary of our
Water Leaders class by holding a reunion this
fall for the many scientists, farmers,
environmentalists, water managers, lawyers, engineers and others
who have gone through our program over the years.
The Oct. 26 reunion by the American River
will be held the day before our annual Water
Summit, which will be open to all interested.
Registration is coming soon for the reunion and the Water Summit,
but you can sign up now for our fall tours,
which will take journeys along California’s two longest rivers.
Seats are already filling up! Check out the details below to
learn more about these upcoming programs.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday said California must do more to
expand its water supplies by building new reservoirs,
desalination plants and recycled water facilities to address
worsening droughts and water shortages from climate change.
Newsom released a 19-page plan that directs state agencies to
accelerate permitting and offer increased financial assistance
to local water projects as the state struggles with its eighth
year of drought in the past 11 years.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday will be in the Bay Area to
announce a new water supply strategy for California as the
state contends with a historic drought. Newsom is scheduled to
be in Contra Costa County for a news conference detailing
“water supply actions” California is taking to adapt to hotter,
drier conditions caused by climate change, the governor’s
office said. He also is expected to announce new
leadership for California’s infrastructure
efforts. Drought has been a major concern for
Californians. A new study by the nonpartisan Public Policy
Institute of California found that 68% of state residents say
the water supply is a big problem where they live.
The next “big thing” in California water development may not be
soaring 300-foot high dams. Instead, it may be intentionally
diverting winter storm runoff to flood almond orchards
northeast of Ripon and vineyards near Manteca and similar
permanent cropland throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Proactive
recharging of groundwater using California’s immense acreage of
permanent crops such as almond orchards and grape vineyards
could emerge as a pivotal and critical component of a plan to
meet water demands as well as address hydrology patterns
expected to be modified by climate change.
Michael Jones ducked under an idle sprinkler and strode across
the sandy soil where he planned to plant drought-resistant
crops, hoping to save water amid the driest period in more than
1,200 years. … A company known as Renewable Water Resources
(RWR) aims to drill a series of deep wells on a nearby ranch it
owns and pipe the water more than 200 miles north to a Denver
suburb, where sprinklers rotate on manicured lawns. The
firm recently sought $10 million from Douglas County to
kickstart its project. … If the state engineer’s office,
its water court, and federal regulators were to approve RWR’s
plan, it would mark the first time that private investors could
ship water from an aquifer in one part of the state to a
community in another.
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.
