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.
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.
Are you an
up-and-coming leader in the water world? The application
window is now open for our 2026 California Water
Leaders cohort, and submissions are due no later than Dec.
3, 2025.
If interested in applying, start by checking out the
program
requirementsand look at the
frequently asked questions and mandatory
dates on
the application page. Make sure you have the time to
commit to the program next year and approval from your
organization to apply.
Then sign
up here to join a virtual Q&A
session on Nov. 5 at noon with Jenn Bowles,
our executive director, and other Foundation team members to get
an overview of the program and advice on applying.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it is
redefining the scope of the nation’s bedrock clean water law to
significantly limit the wetlands it covers, building on a
Supreme Court decision two years ago that removed federal
protections for vast areas. When finalized, the new “Waters of
the United States” rule will ensure that federal jurisdiction
of the Clean Water Act is focused on relatively permanent,
standing or continuously flowing bodies of water, such as
streams, oceans, rivers and lakes, along with wetlands that are
directly connected to such bodies of water, the EPA said.
Solano County Supervisor Mitch Mashburn joined eight others on
the Delta Protection Commission to appeal
the Certification of Consistency for the Delta Conveyance
Project. The action, on a 9-0-1 vote, also included “submitting
comments to the Delta Stewardship Council on any appeals filed
by others.” Mashburn said there were “many reasons” for why an
appeal was needed. He said the commission majority did not like
the methodology the state Department of Water Resources used to
reach its conclusions of consistency, and felt the estimated
length of the project and the cost were flawed.
Across the St. George area, lush green golf courses sprawl
among red rock cliffs, cacti and yucca. This water-strapped
region hosts 14 courses within a 20-mile radius. The sport may
have reached a limit in southwest Utah, though. The Washington
County Water Conservancy District’s board passed a new policy
this month that increases regulations on the top 1% of
commercial, institutional and industrial water users, including
water guzzling industries such as golf
courses, data centers and
bottling plants. Any new project that will use
9 million gallons or more of the district’s water must receive
additional review and approval from a committee of mayors and
managers representing the eight cities and towns the district
serves, according to the district.
The application window is now open for our
2026 Colorado
River Water Leaders program, which will run
from March through September next year. Our biennial
program is patterned after our highly successful California
Water Leaders program and selects rising stars from the seven
states that rely on the river – California, Nevada, Arizona,
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico – as well as tribal
nations and Mexico to take part in the cohort. Acceptance to
the program is highly competitive. Get a program overview and
tips on
applying by attending our
virtual Q&A session on Dec. 10 at 12:30 p.m.
(Mountain Time) / 11:30 a.m. (Pacific Time).
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.
