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.
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.
Start making arrangements now to attend our first-ever
Kern River Tour and annual Water
Summit so you don’t miss out. These popular fall
programs have limited seating and will fill up quickly!
Kern River Tour | November 4-6
Join us on this special journey as
we examine water issues along the Kern
River, from its mountain-fed headwaters in the
southern Sierra Nevada to its terminus in the Central Valley west
of Bakersfield. Among the planned stops are both upper forks of
the Kern River, Lake Isabella, lower Kern River canyon, the
Friant-Kern Canal, irrigated agriculture in the valley, the Kern
Water Bank and more. Click here for more
details.
The Upper Basin is on the verge of violating the Colorado River
Compact for the first time in the agreement’s 104-year history,
failing to send enough water downstream to the Lower
Basin, Central Arizona Project President Terry Goddard
told KTAR News 92.3 FM. … Nevada filed a
lawsuit Monday, arguing the agreement placed the burden of the
shortages on the Lower Basin, which could negatively impact its
economy. At an Arizona Reconsultation Committee meeting Monday,
Goddard said there are many parallels between Nevada’s lawsuit
and Arizona’s position. … He said it’s possible
Arizona joins Nevada’s lawsuit or files one of its
own.
… [T]he California Indian Freedom Act of 2026 seeks to
ensure that tribes can visit their historically sacred sites
and freely worship. To that end, it would require government
agencies to get tribal consent before pursuing activities that
might disrupt Indigenous practices on land that is now owned by
the state. … A broad coalition of businesses, water
agencies and local governments, led by the California
Chamber of Commerce, says that while the bill’s intentions are
good, they’re lining up against the proposal because of its
methods. … Whether the bill applies to water projects,
including such high-profile proposals as Sites
Reservoir in the Sacramento Valley and the
45-mile conveyance tunnel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta, is unclear. … Additionally, with
water bodies defined as potentially sacred
sites under the bill, there are concerns that the new authority
for tribes over state land would extend to California’s
navigable waterways.
As Colorado nears the final month of the 2026 water year,
extreme drought is persisting across the state
as many regions, including the Western Slope, continue to rack
up records when it comes to heat as well as precipitation — and
the lack thereof. “We continue to be way above anything that
we’ve seen in the data record for Colorado,” … said Allie
Mazurek, engagement climatologist at the Colorado Climate
Center, at the Aug. 25 Water Conditions Monitoring meeting of
the Colorado Water Conservation Board. … These
climate conditions have been the driving factors for things
such as dropping streamflows and reservoir
levels to high evaporative demand and soil moisture
deficits as drought conditions persist in 91% of the
state. Seventy-seven percent is experiencing severe or
worse drought.
Solano County supervisors voted Tuesday to oppose a plan that
would have allowed the billionaire-backed California Forever to
use an 18-year-old environmental report in its effort to create
a new shipbuilding facility in the county, throwing a wrench in
the group’s plans. The surprise 3-2 vote effectively kills
the initiative for this year, dealing a blow to Gov. Gavin
Newsom, whose office led discussions on it throughout the
summer. … The proposed “Solano Maritime and
Manufacturing Act” would have exempted 1,350 acres
along the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from the
California Environmental Quality Act for “maritime and
manufacturing uses,” including infrastructure projects.
… Proponents have pitched a shipbuilding facility as a
potential source of at least 10,000 jobs and an opportunity to
pump up the area’s lagging economy.
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.
