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.
Learn more about our team in the office and on the Board of
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.
We are gearing up for an engaging Water Summit on Oct. 29 and
also prepping our 2027 California Water Leaders program. Join a
virtual Q&A on our Water Leaders program on Nov. 10. Details
below.
Water Summit | October 29
Our 42ⁿᵈ
annual Water Summit is the Foundation’s
premier event of the year and returns to Sacramento October 29
with leading policymakers and experts addressing critical water
issues in California and across the West. Capacity is
limited and filling up quickly, so register here while
seats are available!
Conversations during the Summit will revolve around this year’s
theme, Stewarding a New Era in Western
Water, with a focus on emerging topics related to
the challenges and opportunities facing water resource
management.
The mandate to identify 9 million acre-feet of
additional water supply in California by 2040
The need for clarity in the ongoing AI/data center
discourse related to water resources management
The latest developments in desalination
efforts and their implications for the arid West
Our 42ⁿᵈ annual Water
Summit, an engaging day of discussions addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West, will be
held on Thursday, Oct. 29, in Sacramento with the theme,
Stewarding a New Era in Western Water.
Speakers and conversations will highlight emerging topics related
to the challenges and opportunities facing management of the
West’s most precious natural resource.
Lively conversations will focus on topics such
as:
The mandate to identify 9 million acre-feet of additional
water supply in California by 2040
The need for clarity in the ongoing AI/data center discourse
related to water resources management
The latest developments in desalination efforts and their
implications for the arid West
A full agenda will be posted soon, and speakers
include:
Joel Metzger | Deputy Director, Statewide
Water Resources Planning, California Department of Water
Resources
Sandi Matsumoto | California Water Program
Director, The Nature Conservancy
Cannon Michael | President, Bowles
Farming
Craig Miller | General Manager, Western
Municipal Water District
Dave Pederson | General Manager, Las Virgenes
Municipal Water District
As previously announced,
the day will open with a keynote address from Tom
Gibson, the new director of California’s Department of
Water Resources. An attorney who has held several roles in
the state’s Natural Resources Agency and its various departments,
Gibson was appointed by Gov. Newsom on June 29 and sworn in on
July 6 to lead DWR and its nearly 4,000 employees.
California state agencies have quietly been using
confidentiality agreements to keep some scientific data and
discussions behind the Newsom administration’s updated
Bay-Delta plan a secret, raising concerns about transparency in
the rule-making process. The California State Water Resources
Control Board is set to vote later this month on the
updated Bay-Delta plan, a massive policy proposal that
aims to balance water needs for communities and agriculture
while protecting fish, wildlife, and the environment in the San
Francisco Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
… State officials have denied they are hiding
anything and maintain the process has been
transparent. The proposed update to the Bay-Delta
plan heavily relies on voluntary agreements, deals negotiated
between state agencies and major water users, such as
farmers.
Arizona needs to cut back on Colorado River use, and water
managers are working on a new plan that would tap into
an underground water savings account to help do that.
As part of its response to record-low reservoir levels, the
federal government is mandating water cutbacks for Arizona,
California and Nevada. On top of that, the states are
volunteering to cut back more water. To do that, they’re
passing the hat, getting contributions from water users — like
cities and farms — that add up to a larger total. Many of those
users get money from the federal government to cut back on
water use. But on Thursday, officials with the Central
Arizona Project laid out the details of another strategy to
help reach that goal. Some cities and private
utilities in the Phoenix metro could promise to conserve water
and, instead of money, get access to an underground
backup supply held by the Arizona Water Banking
Authority.
A groundbreaking ceremony in southern Tulare County last week
signaled the start of another chapter in the long and expensive
effort to fix the sinking Friant-Kern
Canal. Construction began on five new Friant
Water Authority pump stations that will lift water out of the
canal and into Tea Pot Dome Water District and Saucelito
Irrigation District systems, reducing growers’ reliance
on groundwater. The project is expected to cost
$46 million and take two and a half years to complete. More
than $500 million – so far – in local, state and federal
funding has been dedicated to fixing the canal, which
has sunk along a 33-mile section from about Pixley to
the Kern County line due to excessive groundwater
pumping. Friant is looking for up to $400 million more
to start the next phase of construction.
After a long dry spell starting in early spring and lasting
through the summer, Lake Oroville’s high-level streak came to
an end this year. The lake currently sits at 752 feet in
elevation, roughly 47% of its total capacity.
However, as California Department of Water Resources
spokesperson Jaden Torres noted, it remains at 85% of
its historical level for this time of year, likely in part
because of past droughts. … The other question that
remains is how the El Niño event will affect water levels in
the north state. In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared an
emergency in response to the incoming weather event, but how it
will play out for Northern California is unknown.
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.
No portion of the West has been immune to drought during the last
century and it occurs with much greater frequency in the West
than in any other region of the country.
