Visit Shasta & Oroville Dams; Learn about Park Fire Impacts Firsthand during NorCal Tour

Only a few seats are left on the bus for our Northern California Tour October 16-18 that journeys across the Sacramento Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to Oroville and Shasta dams!

New Tour Stop! This year’s tour includes a stop at Battle Creek where participants will learn firsthand how the Park Fire, California’s fourth-largest wildfire on record, could push already threatened Chinook salmon populations closer to extinction by burning through tributaries to the Sacramento River that provide critical spawning habitat.

Don’t miss this scenic journey through riparian woodland, rice fields, nut orchards and wildlife refuges while learning from experts about the history of the Sacramento River. Grab your ticket here before they’re gone!

DWR Director Karla Nemeth to Keynote Annual Water Summit

Our 40ᵗʰ annual Water Summit, an engaging day of discussions addressing critical water issues in California and across the West, will open with a keynote address from Karla Nemeth, director of California’s Department of Water Resources.

The Foundation’s premier event of the year will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 30, in Sacramento and will focus on the theme, Reflecting on Silver Linings in Western Water. Speakers and conversations will highlight the promising advances that have developed from myriad challenges in managing the West’s most precious natural resource.

Nemeth is focused on preparing California to adapt to more extreme weather under climate change by improving aging and green infrastructure, management of groundwater supplies and local water resilience.

The Water Summit is also a fantastic networking opportunity and an ideal event for water district managers and board members, state and federal agency officials, city and county government leaders, farmers, environmentalists, attorneys, consultants, engineers, business executives and public interest groups. Register here!

California Water Leaders Application Window Opens Oct. 9

Applications for the 2025 California Water Leaders cohort will be available Oct. 9 and will be due in early December. 

You can join the Water Education Foundation, including Executive Director Jenn Bowles, for a virtual Q&A session in early November to get an overview of the popular but competitive program and tips on how to apply. Stay tuned for the date on that!

The Water Leaders program provides a deeper understanding of California water issues and builds leadership skills with the cohort studying a water-related topic in-depth and developing policy recommendations.

The program begins in January with a mandatory orientation at the Foundation office in Sacramento. Learn more about the program by watching this short video.

Making Groundwater Sustainability a Reality

Our latest Western Water article, Making Groundwater Sustainability a Reality in California, centers on this week’s 10th anniversary of the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The 2014 law marked the first time California regulated a much-overdrawn resource critical to the state’s economy and the livelihoods of its residents.

Our journalism team’s Spencer Fordin follows the journey of one groundwater manager, Matt Hurley, who works with farmers and other water users in Fresno County to bring an overpumped basin into compliance.

Hurley and dozens of others who head local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies are at a critical juncture. Their plans for curbing the overpumping are completed and the tougher task of implementing the strategies begins, with deadlines looming in 2040 and 2042.

Read more about SGMA and the challenges facing California’s growers and agricultural communities over the next 15 years.