Watch our series of short videos on the importance of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, how it works as a water hub for
California and the challenges it is facing.
When a person opens a spigot to draw a glass of water, he or she
may be tapping a source close to home or hundreds of miles away.
Water gets to taps via a complex web of aqueducts, canals and
groundwater.
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Directors and how you can support our nonprofit mission by
donating in someone’s honor or memory, or becoming a regular
contributor or supporting specific projects.
Unlike California’s majestic rivers and massive dams and
conveyance systems, groundwater is out of sight and underground,
though no less plentiful. The state’s enormous cache of
underground water is a great natural resource and has contributed
to the state becoming the nation’s top agricultural producer and
leader in high-tech industries.
A new era of groundwater management began in 2014 in California
with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The landmark law
turned 10 in 2024, with many challenges still ahead.
Mark your calendars now for our upcoming fall 2026
programs! Registration will open soon, so make sure
you’re among the first to hear by signing up for Foundation announcements!
Water Summit | October 29
Don’t miss the Water Education
Foundation’s 42ⁿᵈ annual Water
Summit in downtown Sacramento! Our premier event of
the year features leading policymakers and experts addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West.
Our Layperson’s
Guide to California Water has been completely
updated for 2026, providing a comprehensive overview of the
ways water is used, as well as its critical ecological role,
throughout the state. The 24-page publication traces the history
of the vital resource at the core of California’s identity,
politics and culture since its founding in 1850.
The Trump administration injected a surprising twist into the
fight over Northern California’s Eel River on
Tuesday, offering up a potential plan to stop the removal
of two dams in the basin — though how serious the
plan is remains to be seen. In a social media post, U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she had been in touch
with a Southern California water agency that
was interested in buying the Scott Dam in Lake County and Cape
Horn Dam in Mendocino County and continuing their
operation. Such a move would run counter to longtime plans
by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the owner of the dams, to
remove the facilities as part of the retirement of the
century-old Potter Valley hydroelectric
project.
Utah and other Upper Basin states gave their reluctant support
for the federal government to release an unprecedented amount
of water from Flaming Gorge to bolster Lake Powell, which could
fall below hydropower-generating levels as soon as August,
forecasts show. The Upper Colorado River Commission on Tuesday
approved a drought response operations agreement with the
Bureau of Reclamation that authorizes releasing up to 1 million
acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge, which straddles the Utah
and Wyoming border. … Projections shown during the
commission meeting show that even a 1 million acre-feet release
from Flaming Gorge will not be enough to prevent Powell from
dropping below minimum power pool, or 3,490 feet.
Over the next two days, forecasters expect a cold storm to
temporarily reblanket the Sierra Nevada with several feet of
snow. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm
warning through 5 p.m. Wednesday for the Northern Sierra above
5,000 feet. While the storm will bring yet another round of
April snow after a historically warm, dry March for California,
it’s not expected to do much lasting good for the state’s
meager snowpack, which sits at 18% of normal for this time of
year. “My guess is if you look at the snowpack analysis on
Thursday, this will show up as just a blip on the curve,” said
Chris Smallcomb, a meteorologist with the weather service’s
Reno office.
California environmental officials proposed upholding the
state’s approval of the Delta Conveyance Project in a draft
decision Monday, rejecting most of the legal challenges brought
by opponents while ordering a redo on two environmental issues
that could complicate the project’s path forward. In a draft
ruling released Monday, the Delta Stewardship Council rejected
the bulk of 10 appeals challenging the Department of Water
Resources’ consistency certification for the long-contested
Delta Conveyance Project — a planned 45-mile tunnel to move
more water beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta — finding
the state had sufficient evidence to comply with most Delta
Plan policies.
Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
Bay Model is a giant hydraulic replica of San Francisco
Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. It is housed in a converted World II-era
warehouse in Sausalito near San Francisco.
Hundreds of gallons of water are pumped through the
three-dimensional, 1.5-acre model to simulate a tidal ebb
and flow lasting 14 minutes.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
Drought—an extended period of
limited or no precipitation—is a fact of life in California and
the West, with water resources following boom-and-bust patterns.
During California’s 2012–2016 drought, much of the state
experienced severe drought conditions: significantly less
precipitation and snowpack, reduced streamflow and higher
temperatures. Those same conditions reappeared early in 2021
prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom in May to declare drought emergencies
in watersheds across 41 counties in California.
