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.
Only a few seats are left on the
bus for our Northern California
Tour on Oct. 22-24 that journeys across the
Sacramento Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to
Oroville and Shasta dams!
One of our most popular tours, it will not be offered in
2026 so don’t miss this opportunity for a scenic journey
through riparian woodland, rice fields, nut orchards
and wildlife refuges while learning from experts about the
history of the Sacramento River and issues associated with a
key source for the state’s water supply. Other stops include Red
Bluff Fish Passage Improvement Project, rice farms, Battle Creek,
Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District and Sacramento National Wildlife
Refuge. Only a handful of tickets are left, soclaim your
seat on the bus here!
The Water Education Foundation has
named Alex Hager, KUNC’s reporter covering the Colorado River
Basin, as this year’s recipient of the Rita Schmidt Sudman Award
for Excellence in Water Journalism.
The award recognizes Hager’s clear, deeply sourced reporting that
helps the public understand the people, policies and ecosystems
tied to one of the West’s most important rivers, said Jenn
Bowles, the Foundation’s Executive Director. Hager’s public radio
reports reach audiences across the basin and airs
nationally on NPR programs such as All Things Considered, Science
Friday and Marketplace.
“I’m deeply grateful for this recognition from the Water
Education Foundation,” Hager said. “The Colorado River is the
lifeblood of our region, yet so many people who rely on it
don’t know where their water comes from or the challenges
the river is facing. I was one of those people until I started
this job. It has been a delight and a challenge to learn about
the science and policy that shape our shared resource along the
way.”
A cold and dynamic storm is forecast to soak much of California
early this week as a strong low-pressure system drops south
from the Pacific Northwest. It’s the first major Pacific storm
of the season and expected to bring widespread rain,
heavy Sierra snow and a chance of severe
thunderstorms — along with flood risks near
recent burn scars in Southern California. From Monday morning
into Wednesday, winter storm warnings blanket the Sierra
Nevada, where 1 to 3 feet of snow is expected.
In a move to bolster local control over California’s critical
water resources, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill
709 into law. The legislation, authored by Assemblyman Jeff
Gonzalez (R-Indio), clarifies the authority of local
Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) to adapt their
management plans in response to new data and changing
conditions. The bill addresses a key component of the state’s
landmark 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
…[T]he law lacked explicit clarity on whether the legally
binding coordination agreements between these agencies could be
amended after receiving an official assessment from the state’s
Department of Water Resources (DWR).
With rising tensions over a dwindling supply of water from the
Colorado River, Wyoming and six other states have until Nov. 11
to hammer out a deal for water allocation or the federal
government will step in and settle it for them. The main point
of conflict is between the river’s Upper Basin states, Wyoming,
Colorado, Utah and New Mexico – and the Lower Basin states;
Arizona, Nevada and California. In a nutshell, the Upper
Basin states claim that the Lower Basin states are hogging
water, leaving them with too little for their own pressing
needs.
The Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency
(SVBGSA) on Thursday outlined a multi-hundred-million-dollar
plan to halt worsening seawater intrusion by treating and
pumping water back into the basin to create a protective
barrier. No vote was taken, but the presentation put a
spotlight on the project’s price tag — estimated between $700
million and $1 billion — and the unresolved question of who
pays. … Agency leaders said recent studies show
intrusion is more severe than previously understood,
threatening municipal supplies and the region’s agriculture if
left unchecked.
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.
