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.
Our 42ⁿᵈ annual Water
Summit, an engaging day of discussions addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West, will be
held on Thursday, Oct. 29, in Sacramento with the theme,
Stewarding a New Era in Western Water.
Speakers and conversations will highlight emerging topics related
to the challenges and opportunities facing management of the
West’s most precious natural resource.
Lively conversations will focus on topics such
as:
The mandate to identify 9 million acre-feet of additional
water supply in California by 2040
The need for clarity in the ongoing AI/data center discourse
related to water resources management
The latest developments in desalination efforts and their
implications for the arid West
A full agenda will be posted soon, and speakers
include:
Joel Metzger | Deputy Director, Statewide
Water Resources Planning, California Department of Water
Resources
Sandi Matsumoto | California Water Program
Director, The Nature Conservancy
Cannon Michael | President, Bowles
Farming
Craig Miller | General Manager, Western
Municipal Water District
Dave Pederson | General Manager, Las Virgenes
Municipal Water District
As previously announced,
the day will open with a keynote address from Tom
Gibson, the new director of California’s Department of
Water Resources. An attorney who has held several roles in
the state’s Natural Resources Agency and its various departments,
Gibson was appointed by Gov. Newsom on June 29 and sworn in on
July 6 to lead DWR and its nearly 4,000 employees.
As your summer adventures wrap up, be sure to reserve your spot
for our popular fall programs. Seating is limited and will fill
up quickly!
Water Summit | October 29
Our 42ⁿᵈ
annual Water Summit is the Foundation’s
premier event of the year and returns to Sacramento October 29
with leading policymakers and experts addressing critical water
issues in California and across the West.
Just one year after the signing of Senate Bill 72, the Summit will
feature a panel discussion of California’s 2028 Water
Plan Update as it undergoes a legislatively
mandated shift from being just a guidance document to a blueprint
providing a framework for implementation of actions.
The chances of a wet winter — with soaking storms, coastal
flooding and other problems — are growing in the Bay Area and
across California as El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean
continue to strengthen. On Thursday, scientists at NOAA, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said there is
a greater than 90% chance of a strong El Niño being
present in October, November and December, and a 75%
probability that it will rank as the strongest in history since
modern records began in 1950, up from 69% last month.
… In addition, supercomputer models from many of the
world’s top meteorological organizations are showing
increasing chances that all of California, not just
Southern California — which normally has higher odds
of a wet winter than Northern California during El Niño years —
could see heavy rainfall, particularly after
December.
Water officials from the United States and Mexico have signed a
new agreement for sharing the Colorado River. Mexico will take
less water from the river under the new deal, but gain a degree
of certainty about its ability to access a shrinking river with
a shaky future. Expert onlookers are heralding the deal
as a success and a rare example of cross-border
collaboration. They said the cuts are necessary in
response to a severely depleted Colorado River. … A
previous agreement from 2017 will expire at the end of this
year. The new one will be in effect from the beginning of 2027
to the end of 2028. For that term, Mexico will take larger cuts
than it has in the past. The new deal reduces Mexico’s
share of the Colorado River by 250,000 acre-feet, about 17% of
its original allocation from the Colorado River.
Last month tied July 2023 as the hottest month recorded
worldwide, with temperatures 1.65C above preindustrial levels,
the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said
Thursday. August 2026 was the first month since
November 2025 to exceed 1.5C of global warming.
Western Europe just completed its hottest summer on record,
eclipsing a mark set in 2003. In another sign of the planet
heating up, sea-surface temperatures across most of the
world’s oceans are expected on Thursday to mark their 100th
straight day at record levels for the time of year,
according to an analysis by Climate Central, an independent
nonprofit in Princeton, N.J. Daily sea-surface
temperatures outside the polar regions have been at record
levels since June 2, according to the analysis, which uses data
from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature water deal is starting to unravel
just months before he leaves office. The governor’s plan sought
to direct billions of state, federal and water district dollars
toward restoring the sensitive Bay-Delta ecosystem
while providing farms and cities with more flexible access to
the water. Now, two of its most important partners,
the federal government and Westlands Water District, the
largest irrigation district in the Central Valley, are
threatening to walk away. This development puts Newsom in a
bind as he tries to cement a water legacy built around
making California’s water supply more reliable — an
agenda that has occasionally put him on the same side as the
Trump administration.
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.
No portion of the West has been immune to drought during the last
century and it occurs with much greater frequency in the West
than in any other region of the country.
