Happy New Year to all the friends, supporters, readers and participants of tours and workshops! We’re grateful to each and every person who interacted with us in 2023.

As we turn the page to 2024, California marks the 10th anniversary of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Many of our events and tours this year will take a look at the progress made and the work that still needs to be done to bring aquifers into balance. 

Our array of 2024 programming begins later this month as 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 hosting our biennial Colorado River Water Leaders program this year. Applications are due Jan. 22, so if you are a rising star in the realm of Colorado River Basin water issues, be sure to check out our application page where you can also get tips on applying for the competitive program.

Speaking of the Colorado River, we return to the Southwest’s iconic river in March with our Lower Colorado River Tour. We then journey across the San Joaquin Valley on our Central Valley Tour in April, and take a deep dive into California’s water hub in May with our signature Bay-Delta Tour.

In April, 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’s also a good opportunity for veteran water wonks to get a refresher. We will also offer an optional one-day “groundwater” tour that will include topics like SGMA implementation, subsidence, conjunctive use and recharge.

In the summer, we will be welcoming groundwater experts from across the globe for our 3ʳᵈ International Groundwater Conference that we are once again hosting with UC Davis.

Registration opens Jan. 17 for these great spring and summer programs. Don’t forget that current Foundation member organizations receive year-round access to coveted sponsorship opportunities for our tours and events, which are all prime networking opportunities for the water professionals in attendance!

On our publications side, our journalism team recently published a new Layperson’s Guide to the Klamath River Basin, complete with a fresh new color and design. The guide captures progress made on the nation’s largest dam removal project with the first of four dams taken down in 2023.

We’ll soon be publishing an update to our Colorado River Layperson’s Guide and unveiling the first in a series of videos on California’s Delta, beefing up our digital library to take everyone virtually into the state’s water hub.

Meanwhile, our Project WET (Water Education Today) program will continue to pepper California with workshops in 2024 to help K-12 educators bring lessons on our most vital natural resource into the classroom. Last year, 824 educators attended workshops and reported they plan to use Project WET activities this school year with about 152,600 California K-12 students. That’s quite a feat!

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

You can also connect with us on social media via Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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 2024!

Cheers,