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.
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.
Registration for our first water tour of 2026 along the lower
Colorado River is now open and the bus will fill up quickly! You
can also find more information below on next year’s programming
calendar packed with engaging tours, workshops and conferences.
And don’t forget that current Foundation member organizations
receive access to coveted sponsorship options for our
tours and events, which are all prime networking
opportunities for the water professionals in attendance! Contact
Nick Gray for more information.
Lower Colorado River Tour | March 11-13
Be sure to catch the return of our
annual Lower Colorado
River Tour as we take you from Hoover Dam to
the U.S.-Mexico border and through the Imperial and
Coachella valleys to learn about the challenges and opportunities
facing the “Lifeline of the Southwest.”
Following the river as it winds through Nevada, Arizona and
California, the tour explores infrastructure, farming
regions, wildlife refuges and the Salton Sea. Experts discuss
river issues, such as water needs, drought management, endangered
species and habitat restoration.
In anticipation of high demand, space is limited to two
tickets per organization so reserve your spot soon while
tickets last. Get more tour
details and register here!
… When seven state negotiators took to the stage for the
annual Colorado River Water Users Association conference, they
didn’t have much progress to report about how the river’s main
reservoirs will be managed once the current operational rules
end in fall 2026. Instead, for the second time this week, many
of them used their time to highlight the same concerns they’ve
shared for years. With the clock ticking down, federal
officials started to ratchet up the pressure. … If the
states agree, then federal officials have said they will use
the states’ proposal to manage the Colorado River’s water
supply.
December has been a very dry month across California. But
that’s about to change, with three atmospheric rivers forecast
to hit the state through Christmas. The pattern that brought an
onslaught of destructive atmospheric rivers to the Pacific
Northwest in recent days is now shifting south. … More
than a foot of rain and seven feet of snow could fall
across parts of the northern Sierra over the next
week. Cities such as San Francisco, Sacramento and Los
Angeles could receive about a month’s worth of rain or more
over the next week to 10 days. … The latest round of
storms could make 2025 the third consecutive year with
above-average precipitation across California.
… On Monday, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released its
monthly report, which projects a two-year hydrology outlook for
the operation of the nation’s two largest reservoirs: Lake
Powell and Lake Mead. … With the slow start to winter in
the Upper Basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming), the
report showed a drop in Lake Powell’s projected 2026 inflow of
1 million acre-feet since the November forecast. Under the
“minimum” possible inflow, Lake Powell would fall below the
surface-elevation level of 3,490 feet needed to generate
hydropower by October 2026 and stay there until spring runoff
briefly bumps up reservoir levels in summer 2027; but the water
level would again dip below 3,490 in the fall of 2027.
A sudden infrastructure failure at the Trinity River Hatchery
on Nov. 7 forced the emergency release of hundreds of thousands
of juvenile fish and thousands of adult salmon into the Trinity
River after a trash rack collapsed and blocked most of the
facility’s water supply, according to state and federal
officials. The incident was disclosed publicly for the first
time during the Trinity Management Council’s quarterly meeting
on Dec. 10, when Derek Rupert, a fish biologist with the Bureau
of Reclamation’s Northern California Area Office, briefed
council members on what he described as a rare and serious
operational emergency.
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.
