Our California Water Map, recently updated, is one of our
most popular products. We also offer magazines, documentaries,
posters, layperson guides and more. Our catalog offers a wide
array of resources to help you understand the complex issues of
water in California and the Southwest.
Project WET is an award-winning, nonprofit water education
program and publisher. The program facilitates and promotes
awareness, appreciation, knowledge, and stewardship of water
resources.
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.
California’s groundwater is a great natural resource and has
contributed to the state becoming the nation’s top agricultural
producer and a leader in high-tech industries. Groundwater is an
asset that is increasingly relied upon by municipalities,
industry and agriculture and it will play an important role in
the future sustainability of California’s overall water supply.
Californians have been doing an
exceptional job reducing their indoor water use, helping the
state survive the most recent drought. With more droughts
inevitable, Californians are likely to face even greater calls to
save water in the future.
However, less water used in the home for clothes washing and
toilet flushing means less water flowing out and pushing waste
through the sewers. That has created
a host of complications (including stinking neighborhoods and
damaged treatment equipment), some of which add to the cost of
treating wastewater. It also means less recycled water for such
things as irrigating parks, replenishing groundwater or keeping
rivers vibrant for fish and wildlife.
Summer Solstice happens
Friday, and to celebrate the longest day of the
year we’re offering a special 25% discount
on our beautiful poster-size water
maps, layperson’s guides and
other water education materials.
Don’t miss out! This summer sale runs until midnight Friday. Use
the promo code SOLSTICE2019 at checkout to get
your discount.
Most of the settlement money — more than $580 million of it —
will go to agencies affected by the Camp Fire, including Butte
County and the nearly destroyed town of Paradise. Another $415
million will be divvied up among a long list of agencies
affected by the 2017 blazes, including Sonoma County, the city
of Santa Rosa, Napa County and the city of Napa.
The Bureau of Reclamation predicts levels at Lake Powell will
go up 55 feet before the end of the year, and officials
anticipate they will release nine million acre-feet downstream
for the fifth year in a row. According to Bureau spokesperson
Patti Aaron, the release from Lake Powell and increased flows
from tributaries downstream will likely mean Lake Mead goes up
by about four feet, keeping it above emergency levels.
The 1969 fire was not the first time the Cuyahoga River caught
ablaze — it had burned at least a dozen times since the end of
the Civil War — but it was the last. The Cuyahoga wasn’t the
only river to catch fire, either. Between the 1850s and 1950s,
urban waterways nationwide were routinely used as open sewers
and dumping grounds for debris and pollution of all kinds, no
matter how flammable.
Our Headwaters Tour next week will feature a new route, new
stops and some new speakers who will provide a fresh look at
the Sierra Nevada watershed so vital to California’s water
supply. Only a few seats are left for the June 27-28 tour and
registration ends soon.
Wetlands are among the most important ecosystems in the world.
They produce high levels of oxygen, filter toxic chemicals out of
water, reduce flooding and erosion, recharge groundwater and provide a diverse
range of recreational opportunities from fishing and hunting to
photography. They also serve as critical habitat for wildlife,
including a large percentage of plants and animals on
California’s endangered species
list.
As part of the historic Colorado River Delta, the Salton Sea
regularly filled and dried for thousands of years due to its
elevation of 232 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 drought occurs with much greater frequency in the
West than in any other regions of the country.
