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.
Happy New Year to all the friends, supporters, readers and participants of the tours, articles and workshops we featured in 2025! We’re grateful to each and every person who engaged with us last year.
As we turn the page to 2026, one of our most exciting projects will be launching a new mobile-adapatable and streamlined website that will allow for easier research, xxxxx and signing up for tours and events.
Along with our new website we’ll be launching a new and improved daily water newsfeed to align with our reach across California and the Colorado River Basin. Stay tuned!
lpg to california water in english and spanish..
On social media, we’ll continue focusing on LinkedIn as our primary go-to channel as we cease posts on Facebook and maybe even X. Instagram will contijue!!
Our array of 2026 programming begins later this month when we welcome our incoming California Water Leaders cohort. We’ll be sure to introduce them to you and let you know what thorny California water policy issue they’ll be tackling.
We’ll also be welcoming our third cohort for our Colorado River Water Leaders …. applications are due Jan. 26 so be sure….
In March, we return to the Southwest’s most important river with our Lower Colorado River Tour, and the bus is quickly filling up! We then journey across the San Joaquin Valley on our Central Valley Tour in April and take a deep dive into California’s water hub in May with our signature Bay-Delta Tour.
The biennial program, which will run from March to September
next year, selects about a dozen rising
stars from the seven states that rely on the river
– California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New
Mexico – Mexico and tribal nations.
The seven-month program is designed for working professionals who
explore issues surrounding the iconic Southwest
river, deepen their water knowledge, and build leadership
and collaborative skills.
Listen to
a recording of our virtual Q&A session
where executive director Jenn Bowles and other Foundation staff
provided an overview on the program and tips on applying.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today conducted the
first snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. The manual
survey recorded 24 inches of snow depth and a snow water
equivalent of 5 inches, which is 50 percent of average for this
location. The snow water equivalent measures the amount of
water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s
water supply forecast. Statewide, the snowpack is
71 percent of average for this date. Today’s results are
welcome news for water managers who rely on the statewide snow
surveys to make water supply decisions for the year ahead.
Thanks for being avid readers of Aquafornia in 2025!
Aquafornia is off for the holidays although we will
post any big breaking news. We will return with a full slate of
water news on Monday, Jan. 5. In the meantime,
follow us on X/Twitter and
on LinkedIn for
Foundation-related news.
Heavy rain and flash flooding soaked roads in northern
California, leading to water rescues from vehicles and homes
and at least one confirmed death, authorities said Monday.
… The National Weather Service expects rain through the
Christmas week as a series of atmospheric rivers was forecast
to make its way through Northern California. A large swath of
the Sacramento Valley and surrounding areas were under
a flood watch through Friday. … Up to 6
feet of snow was predicted for parts of the Sierra
Nevada and winds could reach 55 mph in high
elevations by Wednesday.
California state water managers are likely to be able to
increase how much water they pump out of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta under a new set of environmental rules
approved Thursday, which align the state more closely with
federal water managers. The California Department of Fish and
Wildlife on Thursday largely approved the Department of Water
Resources’ request to loosen the operating rules of the State
Water Project. … The new rules give state water managers
greater leeway to pump more water out of the Delta,
particularly during the winter and spring, when young Delta
smelt can get caught up in and die at the pumps.
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.
