This tour travels deep into California’s water hub and traverses the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a 720,000-acre network of islands and canals that supports the state’s water system and is California’s most crucial water and ecological resource. The tour will make its way to San Francisco Bay and includes a ferry ride.
The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Spring
conference offers statewide issue forums, town hall discussions,
region programs and sessions covering a wide range of topics
including groundwater management, water rates issues, crisis
communications, affordable drinking water issues, municipal
finance and more.
Sixty percent of California’s developed water supply originates high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Our water supply is largely dependent on the health of our Sierra forests, which are suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought, wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
The 2020 Water Summit, our annual premier event, will be held Sept. 24 at the Westin Sacramento. This popular event will feature key policymakers, stakeholders and experts providing the latest information and viewpoints on issues impacting water across California and the West.
The Westin Sacramento
4800 Riverside Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95822
Venture through California’s Central Valley, known as the nation’s breadbasket thanks to an imported supply of surface water and local groundwater. Covering about 20,000 square miles through the heart of the state, the valley provides 25 percent of the nation’s food, including 40 percent of all fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed throughout the country.
April 3, 2020 Update: This tour was originally scheduled for April 22-24 but has been postponed due to developments with COVID-19. If any tour attendee already registered cannot make the new dates, substitutions can be made. We can also provide refunds up until three weeks prior to the Sept. 30 start of the tour. Contact Nick Gray with any questions at ngray@watereducation.org.
Explore the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape as we learn about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour participants will get an on-site update of Oroville Dam spillway repairs.
Participants of this tour snake along the San Joaquin River to learn firsthand about one of the nation’s largest and most expensive river restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most contentious legal battles in California water history, ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government, Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental groups.
