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.
There is no need to wait to show
your love for the Water Education Foundation! You can donate
early to our Big Day of Giving campaign and help us reach
our fundraising goal of $10,000 by May 7.
Big Day of Giving is a 24-hour online fundraising marathon
for nonprofits. Donations will benefit our programs and
publications centering on the most precious natural
resource in California and across the
West.
Mark your calendars now for our upcoming fall 2026
programs! Registration will open soon, so make sure
you’re among the first to hear by signing up for Foundation announcements!
Water Summit | October 29
Don’t miss the Water Education
Foundation’s 42ⁿᵈ annual Water
Summit in downtown Sacramento! Our premier event of
the year features leading policymakers and experts addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West.
While some Americans were gazing at tulips and mowing lawns,
people in Colorado and Wyoming were getting
out their snow shovels. A late snowstorm swept over the Rocky
Mountains and into the High Plains on Tuesday, bringing heavy,
wet accumulation north of Denver into southeastern Wyoming.
… Even as Denver imposed lawn-watering restrictions to
address what have been low mountain snows, the city was facing
what may be its biggest snowfall of the season.
… But one storm won’t solve the West’s water
problems. A report from the National Drought
Mitigation Center said recent precipitation helped boost
topsoil moisture and reduced irrigation demands, but hasn’t
changed a “mostly bleak” water outlook heading into the
summer.
The Colorado River is flowing at record-low depths, raising
concerns for water providers and consumers across the Western
Slope. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), the Colorado River below the Grand
Valley Diversion near Palisade reached a maximum depth of 9.91
feet in June 2024. … Mesa County is in an exceptional
drought, according to the Drought Response Information Project
(DRIP). … Ty Jones, district manager of Clifton Water
District, said the river is flowing at less than a
fourth of what it was in 2025. “We’re seeing
things never seen before, in all the records that we’ve kept in
the last 100 plus years,” Jones said. “I mean, we’ve not seen
that here in the valley.”
Lake Oroville [the anchor reservoir of the State Water
Project] is nearing full capacity at 97%, according to the
Department of Water Resources (DWR). The lake is at an
elevation of 893 feet as of May 1. Releases from Lake Oroville
to the Feather River have decreased from 1,700 cubic feet per
second to 1,300 cubic feet per second on May 3. This accounts
for reduced inflows and optimizes storage for water supply,
recreation and fish and wildlife enhancement. Releases from the
Feather River are assessed by DWR daily. DWR manages water
releases from Oroville Dam for flood control during the winter
and early spring months. … Due to dry conditions
and low snowpack in the Feather River watershed, DWR has the
flexibility to conserve water and encroach into the flood
space.
As New Mexico faces extreme drought, the state has launched a
new website to track the water goals the
governor set two years ago. Extremely low snowpack
levels threaten the state’s rivers and aquifers this
year, a trend that’s expected to continue, with a
recent report from water experts across the state projecting
that changing climate patterns and groundwater overuse could
reduce water supplies by 25% in coming decades. The remaining
waters are more vulnerable to pollution concerns from wildfires
and other contaminants. The dashboard includes data on water
conservation, development of new water resources and protection
of existing water resources.
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.
