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.
Some people in California and across the West struggle to access
safe, reliable and affordable water to meet their everyday needs
for drinking, cooking and sanitation.
There are many ways to support our nonprofit mission by donating
in someone’s honor or memory, 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.
In case you missed it, registration for our first water tour of
2025 along the Colorado River opened last week and the bus is
filling up quickly! Seating is limited, so reserve your spot soon
while tickets last.
Lower Colorado River Tour: March 12-14
Don’t miss the return of our annual
Lower
Colorado River Tour as we take you from Hoover
Dam to the U.S.-Mexico border and through the Imperial and
Coachella valleys to learn about the challenges and opportunities
facing the “Lifeline of the Southwest.” Experts discuss river
issues such as water needs, drought management, endangered
species and habitat restoration. Get more tour
details and register here!
The Water Education Foundation has a full-time opening for an
experienced, energetic and motivated News & Publications Director
who can elevate our online and print publications with sharp
editing, innovative storytelling and a passion for clearly
explaining the complexities and nuances of water resource issues.
We are looking for a veteran journalist who is a strong editor
with fluency in digital media (including website management and
social media). This position oversees our staff writer and is
responsible for producing articles examining water issues in
California and the Colorado River Basin, managing our weekday
water news feed and posting breaking news and other news on
social media, among other tasks.
Phoenix is negotiating with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to
give up some of the city’s allotment of Colorado River water in
exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars. If approved, this
would be the second such deal. In May 2023, Phoenix leaders
agreed to a smaller allotment for three years in exchange for
$60 million. The new deal could net Phoenix up to $300 million.
It’s part of the Bureau of Reclamation’s efforts to incentivize
long-term conservation. In Phoenix’s case, Water Services
director Troy Hayes says the deal involves an advanced water
purification plant at the future North Gateway Water
Reclamation Facility.
San Diego’s congressional delegation announced Tuesday it had
secured the remaining funding needed to upgrade the
long-neglected federal wastewater treatment plant at the
U.S.-Mexico border that has allowed sewage from Tijuana to
pollute South County shorelines. But the stopgap spending bill
that would provide the $250 million to complete the critical
repairs was scrapped late Wednesday after President-elect
Donald Trump and others urged the House of Representatives to
reject the deal, putting the fate of the plant funding in
limbo. … The South Bay facility has long been
underfunded and undermaintained. It repeatedly takes in more
sewage from Tijuana than it was designed to treat, which has
left the agency with multiple Clean Water Act violations for
releasing wastewater into the Pacific Ocean beyond what it is
permitted.
Even as groundwater levels have rapidly declined in farming
regions from California’s Central Valley to the High Plains,
the federal government has mostly taken a hands-off approach to
the chronic depletion of the nation’s aquifers. But in a new
report for the White House, scientists say the country is
facing serious and unprecedented groundwater challenges that
call for the federal government to play a larger role. Members
of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology said the country needs better data to provide a
comprehensive picture of how much groundwater there is and how
fast it is being depleted. The scientists called for a national
effort to advance strategies for safeguarding aquifers,
including establishing a federal program that would provide
incentives to encourage states and communities to manage
underground water supplies sustainably.
A series of atmospheric river storms are expected to impact
Northern California over the weekend, raising the likelihood of
making holiday plans for many travelers more complicated. …
The first of the storm systems is expected to move into the Bay
Area on Saturday morning, bringing about a quarter of an inch
to a third of an inch of rain to San Francisco and Oakland,
according to National Weather Service meteorologist Dial Hoang.
The North Bay valleys are expected to get around half an inch
to three-quarters of an inch of rain while the mountains could
record one and a half inches, Hoang said. San Jose and the
inland portions of the East Bay could see a few hundredths of
an inch.
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.
