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The San Joaquin Valley, known as the
nation’s breadbasket, grows a cornucopia of fruits, nuts and
other agricultural products.
During our three-day Central Valley Tour April
3-5, you will meet farmers who will explain how they prepare
the fields, irrigate their crops and harvest the produce that
helps feed the nation and beyond. We also will drive through
hundreds of miles of farmland and visit the rivers, dams,
reservoirs and groundwater wells that provide the water.
A multipronged effort to engage with
economically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities in
the Santa Ana River watershed to learn what their water needs are
and how those needs could be met will be highlighted March 29 at
the Santa
Ana River Watershed Conference in Orange County.
An array of speakers will discuss the innovative work they’ve
been doing, some of the things they’ve learned and tools they’ve
developed during a panel discussion at the daylong event,
Moving Forward Together: From Planning to Action
Across the Watershed, being held at Cal State
Fullerton.
We’re on the road this week with our
three-day tour of the Lower Colorado
River to explore water infrastructure, farms and habitat
restoration efforts (you can follow along on Twitter!), but there is
still time to join one of our other 2019 tours to learn about key
water resource issues in California.
Weave through the nation’s
breadbasket and gain a better understanding of water issues
and challenges in the San Joaquin Valley on the Foundation’s
Central Valley Tour
April 3-5.
This tour visits farms and major infrastructure, such as
Friant Dam near Fresno and San Luis Reservoir, the nation’s
largest off-stream reservoir and a key water facility
serving both the State Water Project and the federal Central
Valley Project.
The Public Policy Institute of
California has long cited water
management in the Santa Ana River watershed as one of the
foremost examples of integrated, multi-benefit water management
planning in the state.
At the March 29th Santa
Ana River Watershed Conference in Orange County, the
PPIC’s Ellen
Hanak will put the top managers of the watershed’s five
major water districts on the hot seat to uncover the region’s
latest innovations and find out what the next generation of
integrated water management planning looks like.
We’ll post updates on our Twitter account @WaterEdFdn about people,
issues and places as we travel along the Lower Colorado River
from Hoover Dam to the Coachella Valley Feb. 27 through March 1.
In the meantime, a water utility that serves the Imperial Valley,
where the Salton Sea is located in southeastern California, wants
$200 million from the federal government for the lake’s
restoration efforts before signing the Drought Contingency Plan
for the Colorado River.
You can see this sea up close during our Lower Colorado River
Tour, Feb. 27-March 1, when we will visit the fragile
ecosystem and hear from several stakeholders working to address
challenges facing the sea.
Water Education Foundation is your
go-to source for news and information about water in California
and the West.
Each weekday, we compile Aquafornia, a
roundup of major water news from around California, the Colorado
River Basin and the western United States.
We produce our own journalism in Western Water, our flagship
online publication offering in-depth examinations of critical
water issues as well as shorter notebook articles on interesting
water topics, spotlight stories offering a look at innovative
projects and Q&A’s with newsmakers.
Join the team at the Water Education
Foundation, a nonprofit in Sacramento that has been a
trusted source of water news and educational programs in
California and across the West for more than 40 years.
We have a full-time opening for an enthusiastic, team-oriented,
multitasking Programs
& Communications Specialist at our office in midtown
Sacramento.
The Santa Ana Watershed Project
Authority and the Water Education Foundation are once again
teaming up to produce the
2019 Santa Ana River Watershed Conference on March
29 at Cal State Fullerton.
Go deep into one of California’s
most pressing issues – groundwater -
by visiting an extensometer that measures subsidence,
an active aquifer storage and recovery well, a recycling facility
that recharges water into the ground and more.
Our popular Layperson’s Guide
to the Colorado River has just been updated to reflect the
latest developments along America’s most contested and
meticulously managed river, including efforts to reach agreement
on a critical drought contingency plan, an assessment of certain
tribal water rights and a new binational water agreement with
Mexico.
The Colorado River provides water to more than 35 million people
and 4 million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some
246,000 square miles in the southwestern United States and
Mexico.
Twenty-three early
to mid-career water professionals from across California
have been chosen for the 2019 William R. Gianelli Water
Leaders Class, the Water Education Foundation’s highly
competitive and respected career development program.
The State Water Resources Control Board’s recently approved plan
to increase flows through the San Joaquin River and its
tributaries to help improve conditions for fish in the Bay-Delta
estuary sparked passionate arguments over who holds the rights to
California’s waters — and whose rights are senior to
others.
So what’s the difference between a senior water right and a
junior water right? Or a riparian right and an appropriative
right? How are they determined? And how does the concept of
public trust come into play?
The Salton Sea, California’s largest
inland body of water and an important stop on the Pacific Flyway,
is struggling ecologically and shrinking as water is transferred
from surrounding desert farms to urban San Diego County.
On our Lower
Colorado River Tour, Feb. 27-March 1, we will visit this
fragile ecosystem that harbors 400 bird species and hear from
several stakeholders working to address challenges facing the
sea, including managers of the Imperial Irrigation District, the
Salton Sea Authority and California’s appointed “Sea Czar,”
assistant secretary on Salton Sea policy Bruce Wilcox.
Join the team at the Water Education
Foundation, a nonprofit in Sacramento that has been a
trusted source of water news and educational programs in
California and across the West for more than 40 years.
We have a full-time opening for an enthusiastic, team-oriented,
multitasking Programs & Communications Specialist at our office
in midtown Sacramento.
Learn from top experts at our
annual Water
101 Workshop about the history, hydrology and law
behind California water as well as hot topics such as water
flows, the Delta, disadvantaged communities and the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act. For the first time, the workshop
offers an optional groundwater tour the next day.
One of our most popular events,
Water
101 offers a once-a-year opportunity for anyone new to
California water issues or newly elected to a water district
board – and anyone who wants a refresher — to gain a
deeper understanding of the state’s most precious natural
resource.
Water 101, to be held Feb. 7 at McGeorge School of Law in
Sacramento, details the history, geography, legal and political
facets of water in California, as well as hot topics currently
facing the state. The workshop is taught by some of California’s
leading policy and legal experts, and for the first time will
include an optional daylong tour examining one of the
state’s most critical resources, groundwater.
Registration is now open for the
Santa
Ana River Watershed Conference set for March 29 in
Orange County. The daylong event with the theme,
Moving Forward Together: From Planning to Action
Across the Watershed, will be held at Cal State
Fullerton.
Join us to discuss the importance of the Santa Ana River
Watershed and how, through powerful partnerships, resilient
solutions can be found to improve the quality and
reliability of the region’s water supply.
You can now register for our full
slate of water tours for 2019, including a new tour along
California’s Central
Coast to view a river’s restoration following a major dam
removal, check out efforts to desalt ocean water, recycle
wastewater and manage groundwater and seawater intrusion. We’ll
also take a new route for our Headwaters Tour to check out a
pilot project for thinning the forest in the Yuba River
watershed.
