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.
As we head into summer, be sure to
mark your calendars for our popular fall programs which will all
be opening for registration soon!
Importantly, we will launch our first-ever Klamath River Tour to
visit the watershed and, among other things, see how the
river has responded to the dismantling of four obsolete dams. It
will not be an annual tour, so don’t miss this opportunity!
Check out the event dates and registration
details:
Big Day of
Giving is ending soon but you still have until
midnight to support the Water Education Foundation’s tours,
workshops, publications and other programs with a donation to help us reach our
$10,000 fundraising goal - we are only $2,502
away!
At the Foundation, we believe that education is as precious
as water. Your donations help us every day to teach K-12
educators how to bring water science into the classroom and to
empower future decision-makers through our professional
development programs.
Negotiations over a new operating plan for the Colorado River
are being hobbled by the federal government’s failure to take a
more aggressive role in the discussions, said current and
former state and federal officials Thursday. The critiques came
from a cadre of former water managers who took part in previous
deals on the waterway under both Democratic and Republican
administrations, speaking during the annual 45th Annual
Colorado Law Conference on Natural Resources at the University
of Colorado. “The current process kind of feels like the
conclave,” said Jim Lochhead, the former CEO of Denver Water
and former executive director of the Colorado Department of
Natural Resources, referring to the process of electing a new
Catholic pope. “We’re waiting for the black smoke or the white
smoke to come out of the seven-state negotiating meeting.”
After a two-year shutdown, fishing boats will fan out along the
California coast angling for Chinook salmon this weekend as
recreational fishing resumes under strict limits. Coastal
salmon fishing was banned in 2023 and 2024 in an effort to help
the population recover after years of declines. … The
California Department of Fish and Wildlife is limiting ocean
fishing under quotas in two windows in the summer and fall. The
first is set to open Saturday-Sunday and allow for up to 7,000
salmon to be caught statewide. … Biologists say salmon
populations have declined because of a combination of factors
including dams, which have blocked off spawning areas, the loss
of vital floodplain habitats, and global warming, which is
intensifying droughts and causing warmer temperatures in
rivers. … Those who work in fishing also blame California’s
water managers and policies, saying too much water has been
pumped to farms and cities, depriving rivers of sufficient cold
water at the times salmon need it.
An invasive species of mussels first discovered in the Port of
Stockton is now getting attention in Washington, D.C. Rep. Josh
Harder, D-Tracy, said this week he has joined other Delta-area
members of Congress in introducing a bill aimed at trying to
halt the spread of golden mussels. The mollusks have been found
in various parts of the Delta and as far south as Bakersfield.
The discoveries have prompted a variety of measures, including
closure of at least one popular San Joaquin County reservoir to
the launching of boats, kayaks and other watercraft. Perhaps
most alarming, officials at Lake Tahoe say their inspectors
found a boat that the owner had hoped to launch that was
encrusted with golden mussels. … Harder said the
bill that was introduced will protect Delta and
waterways by initiating a rapid response program to
contain and eradicate infestations. It also will fund new
technology and inspection stations and foster coordination
between local, state and federal agencies.
The Kern County Water Agency filed a motion May 30 seeking to
remove Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp from
the long-running Kern River lawsuit saying it believes he is
prejudiced against the agency. It’s highly unusual – one
opposing attorney said improper – to try and get a judge
removed from a case without a ruling, much less one that hasn’t
even gone to trial yet. Disqualification efforts are typically
filed if one side gets a negative ruling at trial that’s later
overturned at a higher level and then sent back down to the
original judge. … The Kern County Water Agency is
making its case to Kern County’s Presiding Judge John Lua that
Pulskamp is biased against it because his preliminary
injunction, which had required enough water in the
river to support fish, was overturned by the 5th
District Court of Appeal. “The term ‘new trial’ is
interpreted broadly to include any reexamination of actual or
legal issues in controversy in the prior proceeding,” the
agency’s motion states.
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.
