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.
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!
The biennial program, which will run from March to September
next year, selects about a dozen rising
stars from the seven states that rely on the river
– California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New
Mexico – Mexico and tribal nations.
The seven-month program is designed for working professionals who
explore issues surrounding the iconic Southwest
river, deepen their water knowledge, and build leadership
and collaborative skills.
Listen to
a recording of our virtual Q&A session
where executive director Jenn Bowles and other Foundation staff
provided an overview on the program and tips on applying.
The Trump administration gave the OK for California’s Sites
Reservoir on Friday, clearing a major hurdle for what would be
the state’s largest water project in decades. … The
“record of decision” issued by the U.S. Interior Department on
Friday grants formal federal approval for the reservoir, with
the agency having completed the required environmental review.
The move also authorizes the federal government to fund up to
25% of the reservoir’s cost. The federal government,
through the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, will be entitled to a
share of the reservoir’s water in proportion to what it pays
toward the endeavor.
While they don’t appear to see eye to eye on anything, Colorado
River officials do agree on this much: The courtroom is the
last place that technical decisions should be made about how to
share a drying river that serves 40 million people. Two states,
however, are publicly anticipating they will need to defend
their interests in what would be a high-profile,
taxpayer-funded court battle. … At a committee hearing
Tuesday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said the state
has invested in hiring more staff water law attorneys and said
his office is preparing for a fight he increasingly sees as
inevitable. … The other state prepping for an impending
lawsuit out in the open is Arizona.
… As of Jan. 23, the snowpack at the [UC Berkeley’s Central
Sierra Snow] lab stood at 61% of average for this time of
year, with about 2 feet of snow covering the ground around the
facility. Other areas are faring worse. In parts of
Utah, Colorado and other Western states,
federal data show snow levels at some locations are at or near
record lows. Across the Sierra Nevada,
measurements show that California’s snowpack stands at 66% of
average for this time of year. There are regional differences,
with the northern Sierra measuring 50% of average and the
southern Sierra at 86% of average. … California’s
snowpack has traditionally provided nearly a third of the
state’s water supply.
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
One of several “causes of action” was cut out of the ongoing
Kern River case in a ruling issued Jan. 22 by Kern County
Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp. Plaintiffs Bring Back
the Kern and Water Audit California had claimed in their
lawsuit against the City of Bakersfield that … it was
illegally flouting California Fish and Game Code 5901, which
states that it’s illegal to put anything in a river,
such as a dam or a weir, that impedes fish passage.
Late last fall, agricultural water districts … filed a
motion to boot that particular cause of action from the overall
case. They argued that Section 5901 can only be enforced at the
discretion of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, not private
parties. Judge Pulskamp agreed and removed that issue from the
upcoming trial, which is scheduled for Feb, 8, 2027.
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.
