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.
As we wrap up our year at the Water Education Foundation, we
are busy looking ahead to our 2026 slate of engaging
tours, workshops and conferences on key water topics in
California and across the West. Make sure to save the dates
below!
Meanwhile, as we approach the
holidays, we want to remind everyone:
Giving Tuesday is right after
Thanksgiving and a national day to support nonprofits. You
can support water education across California and the West on
Dec. 2 or anytime by
donating here!
Calling all future water leaders! Are you an emerging leader
passionate about shaping the future of water in California
or across the Colorado River Basin?
The Water Education Foundation will
be hosting two dynamic water leadership programs in 2026 – one
focused on California water
issues and the other on the Colorado River
Basin. These competitive programs are designed for
rising stars from diverse sectors who are ready to deepen their
water knowledge, strengthen their leadership skills and
collaborate on real-world water challenges.
In January, when crews fighting the fast-spreading Palisades
fire were hampered by low water pressure and dry hydrants, Gov.
Gavin Newsom ordered an investigation. After a 10-month review,
California officials concluded in a report that the water
supply in Southern California was “robust” at the time of the
fire and that the water system isn’t designed to handle
such large, intense wildfires. The state’s findings,
released Thursday, also address an issue that has been a point
of frustration and anger among residents in Pacific Palisades:
the fact that Santa Ynez Reservoir, which can hold 117 million
gallons of drinking water, was empty for repairs at the time of
the fire.
About 30 ranchers and residents sat quietly in the Cuyama
Valley Family Resource Center recently, hanging on every word
from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William Highberger
as he succinctly laid out the history, the status and the
substantial stakes of an ongoing groundwater
adjudication started by mega carrot farming companies
Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms in
2022. … Highberger has already determined the safe
yield for the Cuyama basin, which is the amount that can be
pumped without causing problems such as land sinking or
groundwater levels continuing to drop. … Current pumping is
between 42,000 and 44,000 acre feet per year, or more than
double what can be extracted without putting the basin into
overdraft. Highberger must now determine which pumpers will be
allotted how much of that 20,370-acre-foot pie.
A yearslong effort to purchase two of the most powerful water
rights on the Colorado River has cleared another hurdle after
the state water board agreed to manage the rights alongside
Western Slope water officials. The Colorado Water Conservation
Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to accept the two water
rights tied to the Shoshone Power Plant into its environmental
flow program. The approval is a critical piece in the Colorado
River District’s $99 million deal with the owner of the aging
plant in Glenwood Canyon — Xcel Energy — but the deal has faced
pushback from Front Range water providers that fear the change
could impact their supplies.
When it rains, it pours, and that’s a good thing when it comes
to water supply levels in California, especially in Southern
California. Statewide, reservoir storage is now about 114% of
the historical average, marking a significant improvement in
water availability. … The improved storage arrives just
as drought conditions across California continue to diminish. A
newly released drought map shows more than 70% of the state is
now free from any drought designation. That’s a dramatic shift
from August, when nearly three-quarters of the state was
experiencing drought – including a small area categorized in
the most severe level.
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.
