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.
Registration for our first water tour of 2026 along the lower
Colorado River is now open and the bus will fill up quickly! You
can also find more information below on next year’s programming
calendar packed with engaging tours, workshops and conferences.
And don’t forget that current Foundation member organizations
receive access to coveted sponsorship options for our
tours and events, which are all prime networking
opportunities for the water professionals in attendance! Contact
Nick Gray for more information.
Lower Colorado River Tour | March 11-13
Be sure to catch the return of our
annual Lower Colorado
River Tour as we take you from Hoover Dam to
the U.S.-Mexico border and through the Imperial and
Coachella valleys to learn about the challenges and opportunities
facing the “Lifeline of the Southwest.”
Following the river as it winds through Nevada, Arizona and
California, the tour explores infrastructure, farming
regions, wildlife refuges and the Salton Sea. Experts discuss
river issues, such as water needs, drought management, endangered
species and habitat restoration.
In anticipation of high demand, space is limited to two
tickets per organization so reserve your spot soon while
tickets last. Get more tour
details and register here!
Since 1977, the Water Education
Foundation has worked to inspire better understanding
and catalyze critical conversations about our most vital
natural resource: water.
This is not a mission our nonprofit can carry out alone.
Today on Giving Tuesday, a global day of philanthropy, please
consider making a
tax-deductible donation to support the important
work we do to provide impartial education and foster informed
decision-making on water issues in California and the West.
The House passed legislation Thursday that would make more than
a dozen changes to the Clean Water Act, including establishing
new procedures to reduce lawsuits and limiting states’
authority to block infrastructure due to environmental
concerns. The “PERMIT Act” passed 221-205. … [T]he bill would
end protections under the Clean Water Act for ephemeral streams
and limit states’ ability to block energy projects due to water
quality concerns. It would establish strict timelines for when
environmental groups could file a lawsuit challenging a permit
authorizing the destruction of wetlands. Another provision
would make it harder for individuals, municipalities and
advocacy groups to sue over unauthorized water pollution
discharges.
Other Clean Water Act and wetland protection news:
Snow cover across the West was the lowest December 7 snow cover
amount in the MODIS satellite record (since 2001), at 90,646
square miles. … Snow drought is most severe across much
of the Sierra Nevada in California, the
Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon, the Blue Mountains of
Oregon, and the Great Basin in Nevada, with
snow water equivalent (SWE) in most of these basins at less
than 50% of median. Rain across the West increased soil
moisture and reservoir levels. However, the continued
above-normal temperatures forecast across the West may worsen
snow drought conditions.
In a rare public statement on contentious water use
negotiations, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo urged the seven Colorado
River Basin states to come to an agreement as time
runs out to strike one. Lombardo thanked Interior Secretary
Doug Burgum in a letter dated Tuesday for an invitation to a
meeting in Washington, D.C., this week with all the states’
governors and appointed negotiators. Though it didn’t happen,
Lombardo asked Burgum to reschedule it for January “as the
risks of inaction continue to grow.” … The letter comes less
than a week before the start of the Colorado River Water Users
Association conference in Las Vegas.
California public officials, scientists and coastal advocates
rang the alarm over the continued pollution of the Tijuana
River into the Pacific Ocean and nearby communities on the
Mexican border, describing the situation as one of the worst
public health and environmental disasters in the country and
around the world. … The Thursday [California Senate
Environmental Quality Committee] hearing invited a series of
panelists to explain the multifaceted issue to the public,
including oceanographers, air pollution experts and public
health experts, among others. … It is estimated that 40
million gallons of rancid sewage are dumped into the Pacific
Ocean every day, totaling billions of gallons per year,
according to the San Diego Coastkeeper.
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.
