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.
The Water Education Foundation’s
2025 Annual
Reportis now available in an interactive,
digital format and recaps how we accomplished a lot of
“firsts” last year.
A standout moment was our first-ever Klamath River
Tour, where we brought 45 participants into the heart of
the watershed that underwent the nation’s largest dam removal
project.
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aimed at building water literacy across California and the West!
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At the Foundation, we believe that education is as precious as
water. Your donations help us empower next-generation
leaders from all sectors of the water world to broaden their
knowledge and build their collaborative skills through our
popular Water Leader programs in
California and the Colorado River Basin.
As the drought-stricken Colorado River lurches toward a
sprawling water and power crisis, lawmakers are beginning to
discuss an escape hatch: waiving or streamlining environmental
rules. “Several weeks ago, I met with the 14 senators from the
Colorado River Basin, and on a bipartisan basis, several of
them said, ‘Look, if we have a real crisis on the Colorado and
we need to get things done, and if there are any environmental
statutes that are slowing things down, tell us what they are
and maybe we can legislate to clear out some of the unhelpful
bureaucratic paperwork,’” acting Bureau of Reclamation
Commissioner Scott Cameron said during a House Natural
Resources Committee hearing Wednesday.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday declared a
statewide emergency due to widespread drought and severe
wildfire conditions, which mobilizes various state agencies to
provide affected communities with resources. The
governor’s executive order cites the state’s historically low
snowpack, high spring temperatures, severe winds and
ongoing wildfires. It directs the state’s Drought Task Force to
ensure communities receive “available information and resources
to enable them to prepare for and respond to drought conditions
and conserve and protect New Mexico’s water
supplies.” Coinciding with the executive order, the
governor’s office publicized a new website — the Drought
Information Portal.
More than a dozen “friend of the court,” briefs have been filed
with the state Supreme Court debating whether a local judge
erred when he ordered that enough water be kept in the mostly
dry Kern River bed through Bakersfield for fish. The Attorney
General’s office, a slew of environmental and farm groups,
along with far flung water districts, economic development
agencies, fisheries groups and even a northern California tribe
and crab boat association all weighed in on the fight for a
flowing Kern River. The attention from such a wide array of
groups reflects just how high-stakesthe outcome of this case
will be as it involves constitutional questions that
could affect water rights and conservation efforts on rivers
throughout the state.
The Trump administration says it will increase the water it’s
sending to Central Valley farmlands this year from
Shasta Lake, the state’s largest reservoir.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said agricultural water agencies
south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta will receive
25% of their total contracted amount, up from an initial 20%.
Cities and towns will also get more from the federal canals
that are part of the Central Valley Project. The agency cited
“modest improvements” in reservoir levels after some rainstorms
in April. Environmental and fishing groups reacted to
Tuesday’s announcement with concern, saying that taking too
much water out of Shasta Lake threatens to harm Chinook salmon
by depriving them of vital cold water in the Sacramento
River in the late summer and fall.
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.
