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 Department of Water Resources (DWR) today conducted the
second snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. The
manual survey recorded 23 inches of snow depth and a snow water
equivalent of 8 inches, which is 46 percent of average for
this location. The snow water equivalent measures the amount of
water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s
water supply forecast. Statewide, the snowpack is 59 percent of
average for this date. Three weeks ago, the snowpack was 89
percent of average after a series of atmospheric rivers
provided relief from a slow start to the snowpack. A dry
January, which is historically the wettest month of the year in
California, has now eroded the gains made at the start of the
year and forecasts currently show no major precipitation in the
next two weeks.
[Thursday], the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced
an increase to the State Water Project (SWP) allocation for
2026. The allocation is now 30 percent of requested supplies,
up from the initial allocation of 10 percent on December 1.
Storms in mid-December have made it possible for the SWP to
increase the expected amount of water deliveries this year to
the 29 public water agencies served by the SWP. … In
December, all of California benefited from winter storms.
However, January has been unseasonably dry and warm and, as a
result, snowpack and precipitation are below average for this
time of year.
Governors in the Colorado River basin and their negotiators are
meeting with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in Washington on
Friday. … On the eve of the high-stakes summit, negotiators
from both the upper and lower river basins are not sounding
confident they can reach an agreement before a fast-approaching
Feb. 14 deadline. … “Some in the lower basin wanted some sort
of guaranteed supply, irrespective of hydrologic conditions,”
[Colorado negotiator Becky] Mitchell said. “And I think asking
people to guarantee something that cannot be guaranteed is a
recipe that cannot get to success.” … California’s water
negotiator, J.B. Hamby, was talking to roughly 600 people on a
webinar about his take on the state of negotiations. … He
largely focused on his desire to still find a compromise among
the seven states in the river basin.
… By Jan. 6, with umbrellas and snow shovels getting a
workout, the statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack was a respectable
93% of its historical average. But in the three weeks since,
the switch has flipped. Sunny and warm weather has been the
norm throughout most of California. On Thursday, the Sierra
snowpack had fallen to just 59% of its historical average. …
But it’s not as bad as it seems, experts said Thursday.
… Between mid-December and early January, the state’s
largest reservoir, Shasta — a massive 35-mile-long lake near
Redding — rose by 36 feet. The second-largest, Oroville in
Butte County, rose 69 feet over the same three weeks. They have
even more water in them now, and are still rising.
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.
