Facing the challenges of sustainably managing and sharing water,
our most precious natural resource, requires collaboration,
education and outreach. Since 1977, the Water Education
Foundation has put water resource issues in California and the
West in context to inspire a deep understanding of and
appreciation for water.
Taking a steady pulse of the water world, the Foundation offers
educational materials, tours of key watersheds, water news, water
leadership training and conferences that bring together diverse
voices. By providing tools and platforms for engagement with wide
audiences, we aim to help build sound and collective solutions to
water issues.
What We Do
We support and execute a wide variety of programming to build a
better understanding of water resources across the West,
including:
Mission: The mission of the Water Education
Foundation, an impartial nonprofit, is to inspire understanding
of water and catalyze critical conversations to build bridges and
inform collaborative decision-making
Vision: A society that has the ability to
resolve its water challenges to benefit all
Where We Work
Our office is located in Sacramento, CA.
Connect with Us!
Sign up here to get email announcements
about upcoming workshops, tours and new publications.
You can learn more about the daily comings and goings of the
Foundation by following @WaterEdFdn on Twitter,
liking us on Facebook or
following us on
LinkedIn.
Groundwater basins in California
and across the world are the source for much of the water that
grows our food. But many challenges come with groundwater:
Keeping use sustainable, nitrate contamination and impacts
from climate change.
The world’s top scientists, policymakers and experts will be
addressing these topics June 18-20 in San
Francisco at the
3ʳᵈ International Groundwater Conference Linking Science &
Policy, along with the latest advancements on
groundwater demand management, conjuctive use, managed aquifer
recharge, groundwater governance and emerging artificial
intelligence resources related to groundwater and agriculture.
Big
Day of Giving is nearly over but you still have
until midnight to support the Water Education Foundation’s tours,
workshops, publications and other programs with a donation to help us reach our
$15,000 fundraising goal - we are only
$6,405 away!
At the Foundation, we believe that education is as precious
as water. Your donations help us every day to teach K-12
educators how to bring water science into the classroom and to
empower future decision-makers through our professional
development programs.
Our portfolio of programs reach many people and in many
different ways:
Today is Big Day of Giving! Your donation will help
the Water Education Foundation continue its work to enhance
public understanding of our most precious natural resource
in in California and across the West – water.
Big Day of Giving is a 24-hour regional fundraising event that
has profound benefits for our educational programs and
publications on drought, floods, groundwater, and the importance
of headwaters in California and the Colorado River Basin.
Your tax-deductible donation of
any size helps support our tours, scholarships, teacher training
workshops, free access to our daily water newsfeed and more. You
have until midnight to help us reach our $15,000
fundraising goal!
We are midway through Big Day of Giving, a 24-hour regional
fundraising event that benefits our tours, workshops and
publications that educate about floods, drought, groundwater,
climate change and more!
You have until midnight to
make a donation that will help keep the Water
Education Foundation as a go-to resource for in-depth, impartial
information about water in California and the West.
If you have had the amazing opportunity to attend one of our
water tours, enjoyed reading our
Western Water articles, or have
purchased any of our beautiful water maps or
Layperson’s Guides, you can show your
appreciation by helping us reach our $15,000
goal!
Donate here on our campaign
page. We have $7,931 to
go!
Big Day of Giving is just around
the corner! Your donation helps support scholarships for
our tours, events &
workshops, expand Project WET teacher trainings
throughout California, provide free public access to
our Western
Water news coverage, updates to our
Layperson’s
Guides and more!
Donate todayor anytime
through May 2 to help us reach our fundraising goal
of $15,000!
There is no need to wait to show
your love for the Water Education Foundation! Starting today, you
can donate to our Big Day of Giving campaign and help us reach
our fundraising goal of $15,000 by May 2.
Big Day of Giving is a 24-hour online fundraising marathon
for nonprofits. Donations will benefit our programs and
publications across California and the
West.
The Foundation’s Central Valley Tour at
the end of April is nearing capacity and while there’s still some
space on the tour, there’s another very exciting opportunity
on the horizon this summer to engage directly with
groundwater experts from California and across the world.
The Foundation’s Bay-Delta Tour in May
has already sold out, so don’t miss out on the remaining
opportunities this spring and summer to visit important regions
in the state’s water story firsthand and engage directly
with water experts in California and from across the world.
Central Valley Tour: April 24-26
NEARING CAPACITY!
Only a few seats remain on the bus for our Central Valley
Tour that travels the length of the San Joaquin
Valley to explore the challenges of sustaining one of the
nation’s most productive agricultural regions. Participants will
visit farms and some of the state’s major infrastructure, such as
Friant Dam and San Luis Reservoir, as well as the San Luis
National Wildlife Refuge, a major wintering ground and migratory
stopover point for large concentrations of waterfowl and
shorebirds. Register here before
tickets are gone!
As our programs team at the Water
Education Foundation organizes annual events like next week’s
Water 101 Workshop, our journalism team raises water awareness
daily through Aquafornia, our water newsfeed that
helps you stay current.
Our journalists – Nick
Cahill, Chris Bowman,
Alastair
Bland and Jenn Bowles – have
covered water-related news for years, making them ideal curators
of the most important and interesting water stories from around
California and the West.
Spring is a busy time at the Water Education
Foundation! Don’t miss these upcoming opportunities to visit
important regions in the state’s water story firsthand and
engage directly with water experts in California and across the
world. Plus, you can meet our team in person at our
annual open house to learn more about how
we educate and foster understanding of California’s most precious
natural resource — water!
Water 101 Workshop: April 5
Last call to register for our
Water
101 Workshop, an annual daylong course on California
water hosted at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento! View an agenda here for our popular workshop
that details the history, geography and the legal and political
facets of water in California. Plus, workshop participants are
invited to grab one of the few remaining seats on the
optional groundwater tour April 4. Find more details and
register
here by this Friday, March 29!
Thirteen early
to mid-career water professionals from across the West have
been chosen to participate in the Water Education
Foundation’s 2024 Colorado River Water
Leaders cohort.
Like our California Water
Leaders program, the Colorado River Water
Leaders cohort includes engineers, lawyers, resource
specialists, scientists and others working for
public, private and nongovernmental organizations from
across the river’s basin in the United States and
Mexico. The 2024 cohort roster can be found
here.
With National
Groundwater Awareness
Week approaching and 2024 marking the
10ᵗʰ anniversary of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in
California, these Water Education Foundation tours and events
will help you gain a deeper understanding of groundwater
fundamentals and the work being done to bring aquifers into
balance. Seating is limited and tickets are going
fast!
We’ve expanded our
digital Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta library. You can now
virtually visit the Delta by watching a series of short videos
that show its multiple dimensions: a hub of California’s
water supply, an agricultural cornucopia, a water playground and
a haven for fish and other wildlife.
Water management at the local level
in California increasingly requires a firm grasp of issues across
the state, so take advantage of this once-a-year opportunity to
attend our Water 101
Workshop on April 5 and gain a
deeper understanding of the history, hydrology and law
behind California’s most precious natural resource.
Top policy and legal experts will be presenting at our annual
workshop held at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, with an
optional groundwater tour the day before.
Two new members were elected to the
Water Education Foundation Board of Directors, joining a
diverse cross-section of water supply, business,
environmental, agricultural and public interest
organizations that governs the impartial nonprofit based in
Sacramento.
In addition, two veteran board members were elevated to the
Executive Committee, joining Board President Terry
Fulp, former director of the Bureau of
Reclamation’s Lower Colorado River region, and Treasurer
JaNell
Cook of HDR Inc. Eric
Robinson, managing shareholder of Kronick Moskovitz
Tiedemann & Girard, became Vice President and Ane Deister,
executive director of the Urban Water Institute, was elected
Secretary.
For a state that prides itself on
technological innovation, California is surprisingly antiquated
when it comes to accessing fundamental facts about its most
critical natural resource – water.
Most anywhere else in the West, basic water rights information
such as who is using how much water, for what purpose, when, and
where can be pulled up on a laptop or smartphone.
One of the Foundation’s most popular
events, our daylong Water
101 Workshop on April 5 offers a
once-a-year opportunity to gain a solid statewide grounding
of California’s most precious natural resource - whether you
are new to California water issues or just want a refresher.
Hosted at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, Water 101
covers the history, hydrology and law behind water
management in California and is taught by some of the state’s
leading policy and legal experts.
Twenty early
to mid-career water professionals from across California
have been chosen for the 2024 William R. Gianelli Water
Leaders cohort, the Water Education Foundation’s highly
competitive and respected leadership program.
The cohort includes engineers, lawyers, resource
specialists, scientists and others from a range of public and
private entities and nongovernmental organizations. The
roster for the 2024 class can be found
here.
Time is running out to apply for our biennial Colorado
River Water Leaders program! Applications
for the 2024 cohort are due Jan. 22, so be sure to
check out our application page where you can also get tips on
applying for the competitive program.
The Foundation’s 2024 calendar of events begins in March and
is packed with engaging tours, workshops and conferences
on key water topics in California and across the West.
Seating is limited and tickets go quickly for all our programs,
so don’t miss out!
Current Foundation member organizations receive access to
coveted sponsorships opportunities for our tours
and events, which are all prime networking opportunities for the
water professionals in attendance! Contact
Kayla Sergent with membership status questions or
Nick Gray for more details on sponsorship.
The Water Education Foundation’s tours offer participants a
first-hand look at the water facilities, rivers and regions
critical in the debate about the future of water resources.
From recent news articles to publications, maps and tours, Water
Education Foundation has everything you need, including the
award-winning Layperson’s Guide to the Delta.
