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.
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.
As your summer adventures wrap up, be sure to reserve your spot
for our popular fall programs. Seating is limited and will fill
up quickly!
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.
Just one year after the signing of Senate Bill 72, the Summit will
feature a panel discussion of California’s 2028 Water
Plan Update as it undergoes a legislatively
mandated shift from being just a guidance document to a blueprint
providing a framework for implementation of actions.
As Clear Lake, which sits in Lake County, north of
Napa, faces mercury contamination, toxic algal blooms
and predatory invasive fish, the Clear Lake hitch — known by
local tribes as the chi — are in serious trouble. Another fish
unique to the watershed, the Clear Lake splittail, is already
extinct. After years of advocacy and on-the-ground work to save
the fish, the seven tribes around the lake signed an agreement
with state agencies and local governments Friday to
formally co-manage the troubled body of water. Nearly
two centuries after Europeans took over these lands, it’s a
literal watershed: the first agreement governing a watershed
since the state launched an initiative to bring 7% of
California’s lands and waters under the care of
tribes. The tribes hope it will turn their ad hoc
emergency work — which has coincided with an increase of chi in
the lake — into a lasting strategy to protect the fish.
The State Water Resources Control Board issued a water quality
certification for the proposed Sites Reservoir Project in
Northern California. The certification satisfies one of the
major requirements for construction of a 1.5
million-acre-foot water storage facility that would be
the largest built in California in more than 50 years. The
off-stream reservoir in Glenn and Colusa counties, near the
community of Maxwell, would divert water from the Sacramento
River when flows are relatively high. The stored water would
serve farms, cities and the environment. The water quality
certification is separate from the Sites Project Authority’s
related water rights application, which the State Water
Board will consider at its Nov. 4 public
meeting.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a
new scientific study designed to identify a broad
range of known and previously unidentified pollutants that
may be present in drinking water. The research will
use non-targeted analysis, an analytical approach that allows
scientists to screen samples for thousands of potential
contaminants rather than testing only for a predetermined list
of chemicals. EPA said the study will examine potential
pollutants including pharmaceuticals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS) and more than 1,000 other contaminants.
… EPA said the findings are expected to help
inform future research and prioritize potential agency
actions.
The Department of the Interior last month announced Colorado
River supply cuts affecting the basin states of Arizona, Nevada
and California, leaving many communities bracing for reduced
water access. San Diego, though, says decades of costly
investments — some criticized for driving up water bills — have
positioned the region to avoid the pain other Southwest
communities now face. … San Diego
continues to grapple with the costs of securing its own water
future, but its investments have shielded it from the outcomes
of other Colorado River communities that are vulnerable to
shortages. That’s created an opportunity for San Diego
to sell its water to those communities — such as
a deal it made with Riverside, netting $100 million in
the first five years.
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.
