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 41ˢᵗ annual Water
Summit, an engaging day of discussions addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West, will be
held on Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Sacramento with the theme,
Embracing Uncertainty in the West.
Speakers and conversations will explore how to move forward with
critical decisions despite myriad unknowns facing our most
precious natural resource, including updates and insights
from leadership at both the state and federal levels in shaping
water resource priorities in California and across the West.
California Natural Resources
Secretary Wade Crowfoot will be the keynote speaker at our
2025 Water
Summit where leading experts and top
policymakers will explore how to move forward with critical
decisions despite myriad unknowns facing the West’s most precious
natural resource.
Now in its 41ˢᵗ year, the Foundation’s premier annual event on
Oct. 1 in downtown Sacramento will focus on the theme,
Embracing Uncertainty in the West. A
full agenda featuring a slate of engaging panelists will be
available soon, but the day will be filled with lively
discussions on topics such as:
People are still using more water than the Colorado River Basin
can supply, and it’s shrinking the water savings account for 40
million people, according to a new analysis from basin water
experts. The basin states, including Colorado, need to cut
their uses now, the experts said. Water stored in Lake Mead and
Lake Powell, the basin’s two largest reservoirs, could fall to
less than 4 million acre-feet of available water if the river’s
flows and water demands are repeated next year, according to a
report released Thursday by a team of Colorado River water
experts.
The city of Fresno, California, is asking the Supreme Court to
weigh in on its long-running battle with the Bureau of
Reclamation over the agency’s decision to halt water deliveries
during a multiyear drought, as local leaders and other
plaintiffs seek $350 million to repay the fair market value of
the lost water. The city, along with more than a dozen
irrigation districts and private landowners, is asking the
Supreme Court to accept a writ of certiorari and review its
case, which centers on the the federal government’s decision to
curtail water deliveries in 2014.
Late-night negotiations between Gov. Gavin Newsom and
Democratic leaders in the state Legislature produced a flurry
of agreements on Wednesday on pivotal climate and energy
programs. … Assembly Bill 1207 would extend
cap-and-invest through 2045. … [Senate Bill
237] would also remove regulatory and legal obstacles for
thousands of oil wells in Kern County by exempting them from a
final review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
… [Stanford Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy
Program Director Deborah A.] Sivas worried that more drilling
would lead to more abandoned wells that threaten to taint
water supplies.
Other California environmental and water policy news:
A bipartisan bill for weather research advanced out of the
House Science Committee on Wednesday by unanimous vote. The
Weather Act Reauthorization reaffirms and updates NOAA
research, forecasting, and emergency preparedness programs
authorized in the 2017 Weather Research and Forecasting
Innovation Act. The bill recommends between $160 million and
$170 million each year through 2030 for NOAA’s research office
to carry out specified weather research programs, roughly
steady with the program amounts for fiscal year 2024.
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.
