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!
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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,
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following us on
LinkedIn.
Las Vegas, known for its searing summertime heat and glitzy casino fountains, is projected to get even hotter in the coming years as climate change intensifies. As temperatures rise, possibly as much as 10 degrees by end of the century, according to some models, water demand for the desert community is expected to spike. That is not good news in a fast-growing region that depends largely on a limited supply of water from an already drought-stressed Colorado River.
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.
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.
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.
When you oversee the largest
supplier of treated water in the United States, you tend to think
big.
Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California for the last 15 years, has
focused on diversifying his agency’s water supply and building
security through investment. That means looking beyond MWD’s
borders to ensure the reliable delivery of water to two-thirds of
California’s population.
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.
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.
Water affordability concerns, 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. Jobs
were lost and household finances were upended. Even with federal
stimulus aid and unemployment checks, bills fell by the wayside.
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.
As California’s seasons become
warmer and drier, state officials are pondering whether the water
rights permitting system needs revising to better reflect the
reality of climate change’s effect on the timing and volume of
the state’s water supply.
A report by the State Water Resources Control Board recommends
that new water rights permits be tailored to California’s
increasingly volatile hydrology and be adaptable enough to ensure
water exists to meet an applicant’s demand. And it warns
that the increasingly whiplash nature of California’s changing
climate could require existing rights holders to curtail
diversions more often and in more watersheds — or open
opportunities to grab more water in climate-induced floods.
Explore the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta, one of California’s most vital ecological and water
resources, with a special
discounted education bundle that includes our
brand-new Delta Map and our recently updated Layperson’s Guide to
the Delta.
Purchased separately, the map retails for $20 and the guide sells
for $15. But with our Delta Education Bundle you can get
both items for just $30.
Our map of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta has been updated with a fresh, new look and
new text and images to better tell the story of one of
California’s most important ecological and water supply
resources.
The new
map explores the Delta’s importance as a haven for
birds, fish and other wildlife, its vital role in moving water to
farms and cities across California, and the array of challenges
facing the Delta’s present and future. The map also highlights
life in the Delta, including its role as a farming region and its
attractions for fishermen, boaters and others looking for
recreation.
Mark your calendars now for our
virtual Lower Colorado River Tour on May 20 to
learn about the important role the river’s water plays in the
three Lower Basin states of Nevada, Arizona and California, and
how it helps to sustain their cities, wildlife areas and farms.
Registration is coming soon!
This virtual journey will cover a stretch of the Colorado
River from Hoover Dam and its reservoir Lake Mead, the
nation’s tallest concrete dam and largest reservoir
respectively, down to the U.S./Mexico border and up to the
Salton Sea.
Learn from top water experts at our
annual Water
101 Workshop about the history, hydrology and
law behind California water as well as hot topics such as water
equity, the Delta and flows, new federal
administration and more.
This year’s workshop, set for April 22-23, will be held virtually
and feature a presentation devoted
solely to groundwater. In a typical year, groundwater
quenches some 40 percent of the state’s freshwater needs, and 85
percent of Californians depend on groundwater for at least
portion of their drinking water supply. With California using
more groundwater than any other state, participants will learn
how all this affects efforts to comply with the state’s 2014
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
It’s perhaps no surprise new Delta
Lead Scientist Laurel Larsen finds herself in the thick of
untangling the many mysteries surrounding the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta ecosystem.
After all, Larsen grew up in Florida, where deep, marshy
backwaters of the Everglades are reminiscent of the large tidal
estuary that is California’s most crucial water and ecological
resource. Larsen’s background stirred her interest early.
Registration is now open for one of
our most popular events, the Water
101 Workshop, to be held this year virtually on the
afternoons of April 22-23.
The annual workshop serves as a refresher for more veteran water
professionals and a good statewide primer for others.
Participants will come away with a deeper understanding of the
state’s most precious natural resource.
Our daily news aggregation known as
Aquafornia keeps you
up-to-date on the most pressing water issues in California and
across the West.
Curated by veteran journalist Alastair Bland and
managed by the Foundation’s news and publications director
Doug
Beeman, Aquafornia gives you the latest articles on
groundwater, Delta issues, the Colorado River and more through an
easy-to-scan headline format.
Twenty-three early
to mid-career water professionals from across California
have been chosen for the 2021 William R. Gianelli Water
Leaders Class, the Water Education Foundation’s highly
competitive and respected career development program.
The Water Leaders class includes engineers, lawyers, resource
specialists, scientists and others from a range of public and
private entities and nongovernmental organizations from
throughout the state. The roster for the 2021
class can be found here.
Curious about water rights in
California? Want to know more about how water is managed in the
state, or learn about the State Water Project, Central Valley
Project or other water infrastructure?
Mark your calendars now for our virtual Water
101 Workshop for the afternoons of April 22-23 to
hear from experts on these topics and more. Registration
is coming soon!
Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Water Education Foundation
team continues to churn out water news, maps
that provide visual context to key water topics and guides that
help deepen your understanding of California’s most precious
natural resource.
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes, pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
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.
