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.
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.
There are many ways to support our nonprofit mission by donating
in someone’s honor or memory, 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.
Visit Shasta & Oroville Dams; Learn about Park Fire Impacts
Firsthand during NorCal Tour
Only a few seats are left on the
bus for our Northern California
Tour October 16-18 that journeys across the
Sacramento Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to
Oroville and Shasta dams!
Don’t miss this scenic journey through riparian woodland, rice
fields, nut orchards and wildlife refuges while learning
from experts about the history of the Sacramento River.
Grab your
ticket here before they’re gone!
Water Summit: Exclusive Sponsorship Opportunities Available
In case you missed the news last
week, you can now register for the Water Education Foundation’s
40ᵗʰ annual
Water Summit to be held on Wednesday, Oct. 30, in
Sacramento, with the theme, Reflecting on Silver
Linings in Western Water.
For the first time in 100 years, tidal waters are flowing to
3,400 acres of restored habitat that will support fish and
wildlife species and provide new flood capacity in Solano
County. [On Sept. 18], the Department of Water Resources (DWR)
and Ecosystem Investment Partners (EIP) held a levee breaching
ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Lookout Slough
Tidal Habitat Restoration and Flood Improvement Project
(Lookout Slough). This multi-benefit project restores tidal
wetland habitat and produces food for Delta smelt and other
fish species, while reducing overall flood risk in the
Sacramento area.
When Kamie Loeser took over as the director of water and
resource conservation in Butte County, in Northern California,
she was immediately tasked with navigating a once-in-a-lifetime
drought. It was October 2021. California had just seen its
second-driest year on record, and Lake Oroville, a major
reservoir in Butte County, was at its lowest level ever—just 22
percent of capacity. But by the end of that month, a
“bomb cyclone” atmospheric river had dumped so much water that
Lake Oroville’s surface level rose by 30 feet in one week.
Parts of Northern California experienced their highest
single-day rainfall ever recorded. … In less than three
years on the job, Loeser has dealt with drought, flooding, and
fire in quick and devastating succession. It’s a pattern
repeating across California and around the world as climate
change intensifies extreme weather and, increasingly, drives
the rapid transition from one extreme weather event to another.
In the Navajo Nation—a sweeping landscape of red-rock canyons
and desert that takes in the Four Corners—water is not taken
for granted. Here, more than 1 in 3 Diné, as Navajo people call
themselves, must haul water to their homes, often across long
distances. The Diné use the least amount of water per person of
anyone in the U.S., and pay the most. Eighty miles away,
residents of Utah’s Washington County rely on essentially the
same water supply, yet pay less for that water than almost
anyone else in the U.S. and, until recently, consumed the most.
The contrast reflects not only inequities of power and access.
It also carries a warning that reaches beyond two arid
communities. A megadrought has desiccated the American West,
which is drier than it has been in 1,200 years. On June 22, the
planet experienced its hottest day in recorded history,
breaking a record set one day earlier. Dust clouds churn on the
horizon. Much of the world may be headed this way.
Only a few seats are left on the bus for our Northern California
Tour October 16-18 that journeys across the
Sacramento Valley with visits to Oroville and Shasta dams! This
year’s tour includes a stop at Battle Creek where participants
will learn firsthand how the Park Fire, California’s
fourth-largest wildfire on record, could push already
threatened Chinook salmon populations closer to extinction
by burning through tributaries to the Sacramento River
that provide critical spawning habitat. Also:
On Oct. 30, we host our annual Water
Summit, where DWR Director Karla Nemeth will
provide the opening keynote.
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.
