Happy New Year to all the friends, supporters, readers of articles and participants of the tours and workshops we featured in 2025! We are deeply grateful to each and every person who engaged with us last year.

We have much to look forward to in 2026, especially as we gear up to mark and celebrate the Foundation’s 50th anniversary in 2027! 

One of our most exciting projects this year will be replacing our 12-year-old website with a beautifully streamlined version that is mobile-adaptable. It will allow for a more intuitive experience as users conduct research, read our weekday newsfeed or water encyclopedia, and sign up for tours and events.

Along with our new website, we’ll be launching a new and improved Aquafornia newsfeed to better align with our reach across California and the Colorado River Basin. Stay tuned!

New Water Map & Spanish Version of California Water Guide

By summer, we’ll publish an update to our Layperson’s Guide to California Water in English and, for the first time, in Spanish. We will also publish a new Klamath River map to illustrate the nation’s largest dam removal project in the watershed straddling Oregon and California.

Right before the holidays, we published our updated Layperson’s Guide to the Delta, which you can now order.

With social media, we’ll continue focusing on LinkedIn as our primary go-to channel as we ease off Facebook and X/Twitter where engagement has dropped. But not to fear; we’ll continue posting on Instagram.

Our array of 2026 programming begins later this month when we welcome our incoming California Water Leaders cohort. We’ll be sure to introduce them to you and let you know what thorny California water policy issue they’ll be tackling.

We’ll also be welcoming our third cohort of Colorado River Water Leaders in March. Applications are due Jan. 26 so be sure to get them in soon!

New Tour Likely Joining the Lineup

In March, we return to the Southwest’s most iconic river with our Lower Colorado River Tour and then we journey across the San Joaquin Valley on our Central Valley Tour in April for a journey we won’t be hosting in 2027 so make sure to hop aboard the bus this year! We take a deep dive into California’s water hub in May with our signature Bay-Delta Tour and, in early November, we may host a first-ever Kern River Tour to explore the interesting issues in that watershed. Keep an eye out for registration details on all the tours.

On March 26, we will be hosting our popular Water 101 Workshop in Sacramento. This annual event is a great opportunity to gain a statewide perspective on the always interesting historical, legal and policy facets of California water. It is also a good opportunity for veteran water wonks to get a refresher.

Meanwhile, our Project WET (Water Education Today) program will continue to pepper California with workshops in 2026 to help K-12 educators bring lessons on our most vital natural resource into the classroom. Last year, 623 educators attended workshops and reported they plan to use Project WET activities this school year, benefiting an estimated 127,983 California K-12 students. That is an impressive number!

Don’t forget: You can stay up to date with the latest water news by signing up for Aquafornia, our weekday newsfeed, and our own Western Water articles produced by our in-house journalism team.

If you have any questions along the way, sending an email is the best way to communicate with me and other team members at the Foundation as we continue to work in a hybrid mode.

Wishing everyone a safe and fantastic 2026!

Cheers,

Jenn

Executive Director
Water Education Foundation