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.
There is no need to wait to show
your love for the Water Education Foundation! You can donate
early to our Big Day of Giving campaign and help us reach
our fundraising goal of $10,000 by May 7.
Big Day of Giving is a 24-hour online fundraising marathon
for nonprofits. Donations will benefit our programs and
publications centering on the most precious natural
resource in California and across the
West.
Mark your calendars now for our upcoming fall 2026
programs! Registration will open soon, so make sure
you’re among the first to hear by signing up for Foundation announcements!
Water Summit | October 29
Don’t miss the Water Education
Foundation’s 42ⁿᵈ annual Water
Summit in downtown Sacramento! Our premier event of
the year features leading policymakers and experts addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West.
With the Colorado River’s giant reservoirs declining toward
critically low levels, negotiators for California,
Arizona and Nevada announced a new water-saving plan
for the next two years. Representatives of the three states
said in a written statement Friday night that their plan aims
to “stabilize the Colorado River through 2028.” It will require
larger cuts in water use than they had pledged previously in
talks with other states and the federal government.
… The three states’ negotiators said their plan
identifies more than 3.2 million acre-feet of water cutbacks
through 2028, building on their previous proposal.
Representatives of the three states negotiated the short-term
deal after they deadlocked in talks with four other states on a
long-term plan for sharing the river’s diminishing water.
A thin snowpack is making Northern California and the
West vulnerable to major summer fires as forests dry
quickly. Fire activity is expected to be above normal
in June for the Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, northern Sierra
foothills, parts of the North Coast and much of northeast
California, according to a forecast released Friday by the
National Interagency Fire Center. By July and August, the fire
danger will expand to mountainous regions. … California got
plenty of rain this winter. But the weather was warm, and not
enough snow fell. California’s snowpack stood at just
21% of normal Friday, with less in the north and more
to the south. That means drier vegetation at high elevations as
summer kicks in.
For the first time since December 2021, all of Colorado is in a
drought, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor published
on Thursday. The Pikes Peak region was the only part of the
state that was not in a drought until this week, when parts of
El Paso, Fremont, Pueblo and Teller counties moved from
abnormally dry to experiencing moderate drought. The percentage
of El Paso County in moderate drought increased from 0% to 100%
from the beginning of April to the end of the month. The county
has not been entirely in a drought since March 2022, according
to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Those conditions were exacerbated
by prolonged above-average temperatures, causing the
lowest snowpack in Colorado’s recorded history
to melt earlier than usual.
The San Joaquin Valley is at a turning point, where
long-standing complex and interconnected water management
challenges are intensifying with climate change and creating
mounting pressures for communities, agriculture, and
ecosystems. To confront these growing pressures, the Department
of Water Resources (DWR) has developed A Vision for the
San Joaquin Valley, an integrated plan with near- and long-term
strategies to strengthen water management and climate
resilience. … A key focus is raising groundwater
levels to reduce damaging land subsidence, which is
currently reducing the capacity of key state and federal canals
to deliver water where it is needed.
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.
