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Our 2016 calendar is starting to fill up with exciting events. We
are organizing an International Groundwater
Conference in San Francisco next June 28-30.
This international conference focusing on the nexus between
groundwater and agriculture will provide scientists,
policymakers, agricultural and environmental stakeholders,
government officials and consultants with the latest scientific,
management, legal and policy advances for sustaining groundwater
resources in agricultural regions around the world.
In the May/June issue of Western Water magazine, Writer Gary
Pitzer explores the challenges and possible future of the Salton
Sea in this edition.
The Salton Sea, the shallow, briny inland lake at the
southeastern edge of California, is slowly evaporating and
becoming more saline. By the end of 2017, the state-mandated
obligation for Imperial Irrigation District to provide mitigation
water to the sea will end. Without that water, the sea will
diminish faster, exposing more playa at a faster rate.
Join us for our annual Bay-Delta Tour from June 24th –
26th for a rare opportunity to visit the heart of California’s
water supply, see infrastructure vital to managing water in the
state and speak to the experts who operate the projects. You will
also learn from key stakeholders representing a broad diversity
of specialties including farming, ecology, history and land
management.
Attend the May 21-22
Integrated Regional Water Management conference for a sneak
preview of recommended strategies from the Department of Water
Resources for the future of IRWM in California, based on more
than two years of interaction with IRWM practitioners and other
stakeholders.
Headline issues related to drought, mandatory conservation and
groundwater management also are on the agenda, which
features a top lineup of speakers, including keynote speaker Fran
Spivy-Weber, vice chair of the California State Water Resources
Control Board.
How do you get multiple agencies with multiple missions on the
same page when it comes to water? The importance of governmental
alignment will be discussed by a panel of top policymakers at the
Integrated Regional Water Management 2.0: The Next Generation
conference in San Diego.
Speakers on this panel are:
Col. Mike Farrell, Commander, Sacramento
District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Gary Bardini, Deputy Director for Integrated
Water Management, California Department of Water Resources
Gordon Burns, Undersecretary, California
Environmental Protection Agency
Dennis Grossman, Senior Advisor for
Environmental Science and Policy, California Strategic Growth
Council
Norma Camacho, Chief Operating Officer:
Watersheds, Santa Clara Valley Water District
David Bolland, Special Projects Manager,
Association of California Water Agencies
Join us on our next tour June 24-26 as we visit the Bay-Delta,
the heart of the state’s water system and the center of the water
political debate. Early bird prices are available until
May 24.
Gov. Jerry Brown, during a luncheon speech last week at the
Association of California Water Agencies conference in
Sacramento, told critics to “shut-up” if they hadn’t spent
millions of hours studying the proposed plan to install two
tunnels to divert water around the Delta to the south.
You can keep up to date with events, tours and other comings and
goings of the Water Education Foundation through social media.
We use our Twitter account @WaterEdFdn to keep you
posted on our upcoming events and tours, and the top water
stories from our week-day news aggregate known as Aquafornia. We also tweet and retweet breaking
news throughout the day.
The drought, groundwater management, coordinating governmental
agencies, and Integrated Regional Water Management will be the
focus of a May 21-22 conference in San Diego. Topics on
the draft agenda include:
Making IRWM Even Stronger
Integrating Groundwater Sustainability Planning and IRWM
Finding Funding: Keeping IRWM Alive
Multiple Agencies, Multiple Missions: The Importance of
Governmental Alignment
With so much attention focused on California’s drought, water
use and agriculture, join the Water Education Foundation’s
Central Valley Tour to get an up-close view of the issues.
The Central Valley, often dubbed the nation’s breadbasket, is at
the heart of our three-day tour beginning April 22. The
tour also offers participants a chance to learn about
groundwater, subsidence and habitat restoration as it weaves
through key sites belonging to the State Water Project and the
Central Valley Project, the state’s two major water delivery
systems.
With first-ever, statewide mandatory water conservation ordered
across California, go to our Water Conservation Tips page
to find ways to save water inside and outside of your house
On the same webpage, you can click open other water fact pages,
such as our “Food
Facts” page to see how much water is used
to produce certain foods – from almonds to butter and a
hamburger.
As first-ever water restrictions are ordered in California, join
the Water Education Foundation’s Central Valley Tour to see how
the lack of rain and snow has impacted the heavily agricultural
region.
Besides drought impacts, the three-day tour beginning April 22
offers participants a chance to see the hottest issues in water
up close: Groundwater, subsidence and habitat restoration.
It also provides participants with a close-up look
at the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project,
the state’s two key water delivery systems.
The role that integrated regional water management can play
during the drought and in the state’s water future is the focus
of a May 21-22 conference to be held in San Diego.
Debate swirls around California’s largest inland lake, the Salton
Sea, which sits at the heart of a major farm-to-city water
transfer that allowed the state to stay within its allocation of
the Colorado River.
With the historic Sustainable Groundwater Management Act now law
– what’s next? Issues related to implementation at the state and
regional levels will be the focus of a panel discussion at the
Foundation’s March 25 Executive
Briefing in Sacramento.
Hear what’s in the Department of Water Resources’ recently
released draft strategic plan identifying actions that need to be
taken to help local agencies achieve sustainable groundwater
management from Dan McManus, regional planning branch chief at
DWR. Regional, on-the-ground activities will be discussed by
executive director of the Regional Water Authority and Sacramento
Groundwater Authority.
Sign-ups are underway for the Foundation’s April 22-24 Central Valley Water Tour,
which focuses on San Joaquin Valley water issues. The tour
begins and ends at Sacramento International Airport after a
fast-paced trek down the west side of the valley and back up the
east side.
Stops include San Luis Reservoir, the San Luis National Wildlife
Refuge, Westlands Water District, the Tulare Lake Basin, Kern
Water Bank, the Kings River, Friant Dam and the San Joaquin
River.
The multi-year drought is the leading news story this year as
water managers confront low reservoirs, reduced instream flows,
water supply cutbacks, and the need for increased customer
conservation. But even when this drought ends, many of these
management challenges will not.
Experts say the effects of climate change, population growth and
other factors will result in needing to further stretch supplies
to meet future demands. Long-term management is the key.
If you only have time to attend one water conference this spring
this is THE event to attend: the Water Education Foundation’s
March 25 Executive
Briefing in Sacramento.
Consider the lineup of top speakers (just to name a few):
DWR Director Mark Cowin
Principal Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Jennifer Gimbel
Cal-EPA Undersecretary Gordon Burns
Deputy Resources Secretary Karla Nemeth
Delta Vision Foundation President Sunne McPeak
California Water Foundation Executive Director Lester Snow
Our 2015 spring event season is underway with a line-up of top
speakers and key water issues, such as groundwater and drought,
on the agendas. Each event is linked to a page with more details
and an online registration form. Some events are free but seating
is limited so register soon.
