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.
Only a few seats are left on the
bus for our Northern California
Tour on Oct. 22-24 that journeys across the
Sacramento Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to
Oroville and Shasta dams!
One of our most popular tours, it will not be offered in
2026 so don’t miss this opportunity for a scenic journey
through riparian woodland, rice fields, nut orchards
and wildlife refuges while learning from experts about the
history of the Sacramento River and issues associated with a
key source for the state’s water supply. Other stops include Red
Bluff Fish Passage Improvement Project, rice farms, Battle Creek,
Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District and Sacramento National Wildlife
Refuge. Only a handful of tickets are left, soclaim your
seat on the bus here!
The Water Education Foundation has
named Alex Hager, KUNC’s reporter covering the Colorado River
Basin, as this year’s recipient of the Rita Schmidt Sudman Award
for Excellence in Water Journalism.
The award recognizes Hager’s clear, deeply sourced reporting that
helps the public understand the people, policies and ecosystems
tied to one of the West’s most important rivers, said Jenn
Bowles, the Foundation’s Executive Director. Hager’s public radio
reports reach audiences across the basin and airs
nationally on NPR programs such as All Things Considered, Science
Friday and Marketplace.
“I’m deeply grateful for this recognition from the Water
Education Foundation,” Hager said. “The Colorado River is the
lifeblood of our region, yet so many people who rely on it
don’t know where their water comes from or the challenges
the river is facing. I was one of those people until I started
this job. It has been a delight and a challenge to learn about
the science and policy that shape our shared resource along the
way.”
An early-season storm was lashing Southern California early
Tuesday, prompting officials in Los Angeles County to issue
evacuation warnings in some areas. Thunderstorms could unleash
heavy rain that sends torrents of water, mud, sand, rocks,
trees and boulders down steep slopes in places recently burned
by wildfires, forecasters warned. … A flash
flood watch was in effect through Tuesday afternoon
for all areas that burned within the past two years. … A
winter weather advisory was issued through Wednesday for the
Lake Tahoe Basin, where the highest peaks were predicted to
pick up two feet of snow.
Other weather and water supply news around the West:
Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed legislation that would have
required data centers to report how much water they
use. … Assembly Bill 93, introduced by
Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo), would have required
new data centers to disclose their expected water use when they
apply for a business license and would have required all to
report their water consumption annually. In a message
explaining his decision Saturday, Newsom said the widespread
adoption of AI “is driving an unprecedented demand for data
center capacity throughout the nation.”
Already heated tensions flared Friday when a southern Tulare
County dairy farmer noticed what appeared to be signs
illustrating subsidence levels being affixed to a telephone
pole across the street from his ranch in the Pixley Irrigation
District. … He wrote in the post that attempts to speak
to the people putting up the signs didn’t yield many answers,
although one man’s hat offered a clue: Delano-Earlimart
Irrigation District (DEID). … The photo op was, indeed,
orchestrated by DEID to illustrate the level of subsidence in
that area.
Washington Evening Star humorist Philander Chase Johnson
created a great character named Senator Sorghum. A 1902 piece
called “A Delicate Distinction” had one character saying, “That
friend of yours seems to have a clear conscience.” Senator
Sorghum answered, “No, not a clear conscience; merely a
bad memory.” A convenient memory is common in politics. And
current negotiations regarding the Colorado River District’s
attempt to purchase the Shoshone water rights from Excel Energy
provide a perfect example. Water providers up and down the
Front Range, and especially Denver Water, seem to be
conveniently forgetting the agreement made more than a decade
ago – to support the purchase, and even help finance it. –Written by Greg Walcher, former director of the Colorado
Department of Natural Resources.
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.
