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.
Are you an emerging leader ready to
make a greater impact on California water policy and management?
Applications are now being accepted for the Water Education
Foundation’s 2027
California Water Leaders cohort, with submissions
due Dec. 3.
Designed for rising professionals in California’s water
community, the program offers participants an unparalleled
opportunity to deepen their understanding of water issues, expand
their professional network and develop leadership skills
alongside a cohort of peers from across the state.
Visit the
application page, paying close attention
to frequently asked questions and mandatory
program dates to ensure you can fully
participate.
Confirm that you have your organization’s support and can
commit the time necessary to partipating in the program.
Interested in learning more? Join our executive director, Jenn
Bowles, and other members of the Foundation team for
a virtual Q&A session at 12:30 p.m. on Nov.
10. We’ll provide an overview of the program and
share tips for submitting a strong application. Sign up here.
What role will desalination play in
the arid West? That topic is one of many engaging conversations
that will be explored at our Oct. 29 Water
Summit revolving around this year’s theme,
Stewarding a New Era in Western Water.
Led by Central Arizona Project’s General Manager Brenda Burman,
the panel will discuss all topics worth their
salt - from emerging desalination technologies to the
latest developments in innovative desalination programs to the
regulatory challenges and opportunities that face the region.
The panel of accomplished speakers will provide deep
insight on desalination’s implications for water management
in the West.
The Water Summit is the Foundation’s premier event of
the year and returns to Sacramento on Oct. 29
with leading policymakers and experts addressing critical water
issues in California and across the West. Capacity is
limited and registration closes soon, so grab your ticket
here while they’re still available!
… Turbine A8, the eighth turbine on the Arizona side, is one
of only five wide-head turbines at the dam that are primed for
drought, able to function with water levels below 1,035 feet
elevation at Lake Mead without guaranteed risk
of permanent damage. A8 has been out of commission
awaiting repairs for months. The dam has 17 turbines
in all. Now, Lake Mead’s projected decline could
spell crisis for rural utilities across Nevada, Arizona
and California that have counted on Hoover Dam hydropower for
decades. The federal government intends to see how far
it can push the dam’s infrastructure. Bureau of Reclamation
spokesman Peter Soeth said the agency will, for the
first time in history, test whether those older turbines can
operate at lower water levels, with strict limits on
operating hours as well as monitoring and frequent inspections
to ensure safety.
First came the flood. Then the fire. In a matter of weeks,
neighboring cities in Orange County were battered by
dueling disasters that laid bare the risks posed to California
as the world warms. In early September, powerful waves
from the Pacific Ocean began to wallop the houses along Beach
Road, a ribbon of multimillion-dollar waterfront properties
hugging the coast in the picturesque hamlet of Dana Point.
Several factors conspired to create the strongest swell that
anyone in the area can recall. But a main culprit was
El Niño, the natural climate pattern that typically
happens a few times a decade and scrambles weather patterns
worldwide. The current El Niño is dangerously strong.
In California, it is elevating sea levels and creating
more intense storms. A phenomenon known as a Kelvin
wave — a huge, slow-moving pulse of warm water in the ocean
that’s linked to El Niño — is raising sea levels as well.
A project that could carry groundwater about
162 miles across the desert from Cadiz, in a remote area of San
Bernardino County, to Mojave has garnered some support in Kern
County. The Kern County Board of Supervisors, the city of
Tehachapi, the Boron Community Services District, and the
Desert Lake Community Services District have expressed varying
levels of support for the project in letters to the California
State Lands Commission. The right-of-way for the
project — known as the Cadiz Northern Pipeline —
was approved by the Bureau of Land Management in July,
but the project still needs additional approvals. The
project is sometimes called the Mojave Groundwater Bank. The
BLM’s approval was challenged in court in late
July by the Center for Biological Diversity and the
Sierra Club, and the litigation is ongoing.
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.
