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.
Go beyond the headlines and gain a
deeper understanding of how water is managed and moved across
California during our annual Water
101 Workshop on March 26.
One of our most popular events, the daylong workshop at Cal
State Sacramento’s Harper Alumni Center offers anyone new to
California water issues or newly elected to a water district
board — and anyone who wants a refresher — a chance to gain a
solid statewide grounding on water resources. Leading
experts are on the agenda for the workshop that details
the historical, legal and political facets of water management in
the state.
Happy New Year to all the friends, supporters, readers of articles and participants of the tours and workshops we featured in 2025! We are deeply grateful to each and every person who engaged with us last year.
We have much to look forward to in 2026, especially as we gear up to mark and celebrate the Foundation’s 50th anniversary in 2027!
One of our most exciting projects this year will be replacing our 12-year-old website with a beautifully streamlined version that is mobile-adaptable. It will allow fora more intuitive experience as users conduct research, read our weekday newsfeed or water encyclopedia, and sign up for tours and events.
Along with our new website, we’ll be launching a new and improved Aquafornia newsfeed to better align with our reach across California and the Colorado River Basin. Stay tuned!
New Water Map & Spanish Version of California Water Guide
By summer, we’ll publish an update to our Layperson’s Guide to California Water in English and, for the first time, in Spanish. We will also publish a new Klamath River map to illustrate the nation’s largest dam removal project in the watershed straddling Oregon and California.
With social media, we’ll continue focusing on LinkedIn as our primary go-to channel as we ease off Facebook and X/Twitter where engagement has dropped. But not to fear; we’ll continue posting on Instagram.
Our array of 2026 programming begins later this month when we welcome our incoming California Water Leaders cohort. We’ll be sure to introduce them to you and let you know what thorny California water policy issue they’ll be tackling.
We’ll also be welcoming our third cohort of Colorado River Water Leaders in March.Applications are due Jan. 26 so be sure to get them in soon!
Climate change is making the Colorado River drier, and the
cities and farms that use it need to make big changes to their
demand for water. Negotiations about the future of sharing the
river have stalled, and the promise of sweeping, long-lasting
changes to water use in the Southwest are seeming less likely
as the weeks pass by. Now, a short-term fix may be on the
horizon. Negotiations have been at an impasse for months, and
officials are wringing their hands about the possibility of a
big multi-state court battle. Given the circumstances, some
experts say a short-term agreement might be a useful, albeit
imperfect, solution for the Colorado River.
… The states are currently staring down a Feb.
14 deadline to hand an agreement to the federal
government, but it seems unlikely that they will have a deal by
then.
After a run of spring‑like warmth and stubborn high pressure,
forecasters say California could finally see a shift toward
cooler, wetter conditions by mid‑February — a welcome sign for
skiers, water managers, and anyone hoping for more snow in
California. Meteorologists with the National Weather Service
(NWS) in Reno say the ridge that has kept storms away since
early January is beginning to show cracks. NOAA’s Climate
Prediction Center is now leaning toward a colder,
wetter stretch for the Sierra and parts of Northern
California later this month, though exact timing and
snow totals remain uncertain.
In a significant move for the Coachella and Imperial Valleys,
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has agreed to visit the
New River and Salton Sea to
witness firsthand the decades-long pollution crisis affecting
the region. The commitment came during a high-level roundtable
discussion in Coronado on Thursday, where Assemblyman Jeff
Gonzalez (R-Indio) joined Zeldin, SBA Administrator Kelly
Loeffler, and regional leaders to address cross-border
water contamination. While the meeting primarily
focused on the Tijuana River, Gonzalez pivoted the conversation
toward the East Desert, arguing that the New River presents an
even more severe and enduring threat to public health.
… The rapid growth of data centers across Nevada, and their
enormous energy and water demands, took center
stage at the annual Nevada Water Resources Association
conference last week. Rapid growth also means data centers need
large plots of available and scalable land, leading tech
companies and data center developers to eye rural
landscapes. … Much of Nevada has suffered through
severe drought conditions for years. More than half of the
state’s groundwater basins are already “over-appropriated,”
meaning farmers and communities are drawing down groundwater
reservoirs faster than they can be
refilled. Despite the lack of water in Nevada,
there are several benefits that have attracted developers to
build in the driest state in the union.
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.
