Find out what the Water Education Foundation is up to with
announcements about upcoming events, tours, new Western
Water articles on key water topics and more!
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For anyone trying to keep up with
the unfolding drought in California and the West, the Water
Education Foundation has created a special resource page
that offers links to real-time reservoir data and water supply
forecasts, an ongoing newsfeed to help you stay up to date
on the latest news and tips so you can help
conserve the region’s most precious natural resource.
We’re moving later this summer to
new quarters closer to the Sacramento River, and we don’t want to
haul all of our water maps, Layperson’s Guides, DVDs and more to
the new home. So we’re making you a limited-time offer we hope
you can’t refuse: Take 30 percent off the price of all of
our maps, guides and more.
Use the code MOVINGSALE when you check out
to get your 30 percent discount.
The Water Education Foundation has
hosted successful virtual tours and events during the COVID-19
pandemic and is now closely monitoring developments – as capacity
and distancing restrictions are lifted from public health
guidelines this summer – to inform the format choices for
our fall programs.
A few seats are left on the
Foundation’s virtual tour bus for our Lower Colorado
River Tour this Thursday, May 20. It’s our
last tour of the spring, so register now to hear from a range of
Colorado River experts and visit key sites including
California’s first Salton Sea pilot restoration project, now
under construction.
This once-a-year tour will focus on how the Lower Basin states of
California, Nevada and Arizona are using and managing the river’s
water in the midst of a two-decade-long drought while demand
continues to grow from myriad sources — increasing population,
declining habitat and climate change.
Only one week remains to register
for our May 20 virtual Lower Colorado
River Tour where you can hear directly from experts
offering a range of perspectives on the most contested and
meticulously managed river in the United States. Practically
every drop of water in the Colorado River is already
allocated, but pressure on the hard-working river continues to
grow from myriad sources — increasing population, declining
habitat and climate change.
The 1,450-mile Colorado
River is a lifeline to 40 million people in the
Southwest across seven states and Mexico, but a 20-plus year
drought in the basin has significantly dropped water levels in
Lake Mead and Lake Powell — the river’s largest reservoirs.
This once-a-year tour will focus on how the Lower Basin states of
California, Nevada and Arizona are using and managing the river’s
water in that unprecedented context.
Consider giving a tax-deductible
donation on this Big Day of Giving to help the Water
Education Foundation continue being your resource for in-depth,
impartial information on drought, water rights, groundwater,
environmental restoration, water quality and other water
resource issues.
We have a goal of $10,000 and we just hit $8,000. Thank you to
those who contributed during our open house!
On this Big Day of Giving, help the Water Education
Foundation continue being your resource for in-depth, impartial
information on drought, water rights, groundwater, environmental
restoration, water quality, and other water resource issues.
At the Water Education Foundation,
we focus on telling the complex story of water in California and
the West because of its critical role in sustaining our lives,
growing our food and nourishing our environment.
As a nonprofit we rely on the generosity of people who value
what we do – enhancing public understanding of our most important
natural resource and catalyzing critical conversations to
inform collaborative decision-making.
Enjoy happy hour tomorrow with the
Water Education Foundation, test your water knowledge in a trivia
contest, win some prizes and socialize in chat rooms!
The team behind
our programs that inspire a deeper understanding of California’s
most precious natural resource – water – will be on hand
during the hour-long virtual event starting at 4:30 p.m.
Hear directly from a range of
experts offering a variety of perspectives on our May 20 virtual
Lower
Colorado River Tour as they put into context the
20-plus year drought on what is the most contested and
meticulously managed river in the United States.
Among the experts featured are farmers, tribal representatives,
and managers from wildlife agencies, water districts, the Bureau
of Reclamation and others who will discuss drought impacts,
habitat projects, farming and restoration efforts at the Salton
Sea.
As California slowly emerges from
the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, one remnant left behind by
the statewide lockdown offers a sobering reminder of the economic
challenges still ahead for millions of the state’s residents and
the water agencies that serve them – a mountain of
water debt.
Concerns about water affordability, long an issue in a state
where millions of people struggle to make ends meet, jumped into
overdrive last year as the pandemic wrenched the
economy. Our
latest article in Western Water explores
the hurdles to helping consumers, how some water agencies have
devised workarounds and how far more lasting solutions remain out
of reach.
Join us May 6 for our
annual open
house where you can test your water trivia
knowledge, win prizes and meet the people behind our programs
that foster a deeper understanding of California’s most precious
natural resource – water.
The Foundation’s open house will be held next Thursday via Zoom
from 4:30–5:30 p.m.
Time is running out to register
for this week’s Water
101 Workshop, which offers a primer on California’s
water history, laws, geography and politics.
One of our most popular events, this once-a-year workshop will be
held as an engaging online event on the afternoons of
Thursday, April 22 and Friday, April 23.
California’s water basics will be covered by some of the state’s
leading policy and legal experts, and participants will have an
opportunity to engage with the guest speakers individually
during live Q&A in breakout rooms.
Visit key infrastructure and
environmental restoration sites along the lower Colorado
River during our online tour May 20 of the
iconic river as it weaves through the Lower Basin states of
California, Nevada and Arizona.
Our Lower
Colorado River Tour starts at Hoover Dam near
Las Vegas and stops at major agricultural regions, tourist
destinations and key wildlife areas such as the Salton Sea
and a wildlife refuge in Yuma, Ariz. resulting from a
tribal-city partnership.
Join us May 6 for a virtual
open house where you can test your water trivia
knowledge, win prizes and meet the people behind our programs
that foster a deeper understanding of California’s most precious
natural resource – water.
The Foundation’s open house runs from 4:30–5:30 p.m., when you
will be able to bounce among chatrooms to catch up with old
friends, meet new ones and join a fast and fun trivia contest
hosted by our Programs Director Nick Gray.
There’s just one week left to
register for our
Water 101 Workshop, which offers a primer on the
things you need to know to understand California water.
Our two-day Water
101 Workshop begins on Earth Day, when you can
gain a deeper understanding of California’s most precious
natural resource.
One of our most popular events, the once-a-year workshop will be
held as an engaging online event on the afternoons of Thursday,
April 22 and Friday, April 23. California’s water basics will be
covered by some of the state’s leading policy and legal experts,
including the history, geography, legal and political facets of
water in the state, as well a look at hot topics and current
issues of concern.
Registration is now open for our May 20 virtual Lower Colorado
River Tour! Learn about the role this ‘lifeblood of
the Southwest’ plays in the three Lower Basin states of Nevada,
Arizona and California, and how its water helps to sustain
their cities, farms and wildlife areas.
The 24-page guide explores the history of the Central Valley
Project, from its roots as a state water project that stalled
amid the Great Depression to its development as a federal project
that stretches from Shasta Dam in far Northern California to
Bakersfield in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
Join us in early May for a
virtual open house and happy hour event to meet our staff, learn
how we pivoted last year amid the coronavirus pandemic and find
out what we have planned for later this year to foster
understanding of California’s most precious natural resource -
water.
During the May 6 open house from 4:30 to 6 p.m., you will be
able to enter chatrooms and speak to our executive director and staff
about our water tours, conferences, maps, publications and
training programs for teachers and up-and-coming community
leaders involved in water. You’ll also be able to learn more
about how you can support our work.
From the very first gold miners
making claims to divert streams in the Sierra Nevada foothills to
the later wrangling that enabled irrigation of Central Valley
farmland and drinking water to be sent to growing cities in
California, water rights are an indispensable cornerstone of the
state’s water supply and delivery system.
But they can also be complex, and gaining an understanding of
their history at our Water
101 Workshop in April will provide context for
issues that could come up in the future. In the last drought, for
example, the state curtailed some water rights as surface
supplies became more scarce.
