The Water Education Foundation’s 2025 Annual Report is now available in an interactive, digital format and recaps how we accomplished a lot of “firsts” last year.

A standout moment was our first-ever Klamath River Tour, where we brought 45 participants into the heart of the watershed that underwent the nation’s largest dam removal project.

The Foundation, taking a steady pulse of the water world, offers tours of key watersheds, water news, guides on key water topics, water leadership training and conferences that bring together diverse voices. By providing educational tools and platforms for engagement, our team aims to help build sound and collective solutions to water challenges.

Our Mission: To inspire understanding of water and catalyze critical conversations to build bridges and inform collaborative decision-making 

Our Vision: A society that has the ability to resolve its water challenges to benefit all

In 2025, the Foundation also:

• Elected, for the first time, a graduate of our California Water Leaders program to serve as Board President – Alfred E. Smith II.
• Assigned water rights as a California Water Leaders research topic for the first time since the program began in 1997, and developed a first-ever custom tour for the cohort.
• Gave our annual journalism award to a broadcast journalist for the first time for exceptional coverage of the Colorado River Basin.
• Broke new ground on coverage of emerging water management technologies in our Western Water articles.

Other highlights from last year include:

• Coordinating 37 Project WET workshops across California for K-12 educators to bring lessons on water into the classroom. In all, 623 educators participated and planned to use the activities to engage more than 127,000 students.
• Conducting six tours to key watersheds across the West, traveling with 254 participants across 2,997 miles.
• Shepherding a statewide water leadership program for 21 rising stars in California.

​Check out our 2025 Annual Report to learn more about our accomplishments and to find out which journalist received the Rita Schmidt Sudman Award for Excellence in Water Journalism!