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.
Calling all future water leaders! Are you an emerging leader
passionate about shaping the future of water in California
or across the Colorado River Basin?
The Water Education Foundation will
be hosting two dynamic water leadership programs in 2026 – one
focused on California water
issues and the other on the Colorado River
Basin. These competitive programs are designed for
rising stars from diverse sectors who are ready to deepen their
water knowledge, strengthen their leadership skills and
collaborate on real-world water challenges.
Are you an
up-and-coming leader in the water world? The application
window is now open for our 2026 California Water
Leaders cohort, and submissions are due no later than Dec.
3, 2025.
If interested in applying, start by checking out the
program
requirementsand look at the
frequently asked questions and mandatory
dates on
the application page. Make sure you have the time to
commit to the program next year and approval from your
organization to apply.
Then sign
up here to join a virtual Q&A
session on Nov. 5 at noon with Jenn Bowles,
our executive director, and other Foundation team members to get
an overview of the program and advice on applying.
Negotiators for seven Western states are under mounting
pressure to reach an agreement outlining how they plan to share
the Colorado River’s dwindling water. The Trump administration
gave the states a Tuesday deadline to agree on
the initial terms of a plan for cutting water use to prevent
the river’s reservoirs from declining to dangerously low
levels. Because California uses more Colorado River water
than any other state, it will play a central role in any deal
to take less from the river.
A fast-moving atmospheric river is heading toward California
this week and could pack a punch, with the possibility of
periods of heavy rain, and a risk of flooding and debris flows
in recently burned areas. After arriving in Northern California
on Wednesday, the storm system is expected to land in Southern
California on Thursday. … Sacramento could get up to 2
inches of rain. The storm could bring heavy snow to the
Sierra Nevada. … Donner Peak could get 12 to 18
inches of snow.
The Kings County Farm Bureau is passing the hat to raise
between $1.5 million and $2 million to take its legal claims
against the state Water Resources Control Board to the
California Supreme Court. “We’re not stopping,” Executive
Director Dusty Ference told a gathering of about 30 farmers
Friday. … Ference referred to opinions issued last week
by the Fifth District Court of Appeal that both sided with the
state by tossing out a preliminary injunction and kept the meat
of the Farm Bureau’s lawsuit intact for trial in Kings County
Superior Court.
The Colorado River Indian Tribes have formally accorded
personhood status to the Colorado River, creating a powerful
new mechanism to protect the eponymous river that makes life
possible in their arid homelands. The resolution was approved
by the CRIT Tribal Council on Nov. 6 in Parker.
… Granting personhood to natural resources, such as
rivers, allows people or parties to take legal action to
protect them. For example, forum participants said a person
could sue a company or entity that pollutes a river because the
river has the right to be pollution-free.
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.
