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.
Registration for our first water tour of 2026 along the lower
Colorado River is now open and the bus will fill up quickly! You
can also find more information below on next year’s programming
calendar packed with engaging tours, workshops and conferences.
And don’t forget that current Foundation member organizations
receive access to coveted sponsorship options for our
tours and events, which are all prime networking
opportunities for the water professionals in attendance! Contact
Nick Gray for more information.
Lower Colorado River Tour | March 11-13
Be sure to catch the return of our
annual Lower Colorado
River Tour as we take you from Hoover Dam to
the U.S.-Mexico border and through the Imperial and
Coachella valleys to learn about the challenges and opportunities
facing the “Lifeline of the Southwest.”
Following the river as it winds through Nevada, Arizona and
California, the tour explores infrastructure, farming
regions, wildlife refuges and the Salton Sea. Experts discuss
river issues, such as water needs, drought management, endangered
species and habitat restoration.
In anticipation of high demand, space is limited to two
tickets per organization so reserve your spot soon while
tickets last. Get more tour
details and register here!
Since 1977, the Water Education
Foundation has worked to inspire better understanding
and catalyze critical conversations about our most vital
natural resource: water.
This is not a mission our nonprofit can carry out alone.
Today on Giving Tuesday, a global day of philanthropy, please
consider making a
tax-deductible donation to support the important
work we do to provide impartial education and foster informed
decision-making on water issues in California and the West.
The State Water Resources Control Board has added a new chapter
and made other language updates to its draft Bay-Delta
Plan. … ”The release of these documents puts us on
track for updates to the Bay-Delta Plan to come before the
State Water Board for adoption in 2026,” E. Joaquin Esquivel,
chairman of the board, said in a statement. … In July 2025,
staff proposed updates to the plan that would allow water right
holders in the Sacramento/Delta to comply with water quality
requirements by either leaving a percentage of unimpaired flow
instream … or implementing a combination of flow and
habitat restoration commitments as a party to the [Healthy
Rivers and Landscapes] program. … The July 2025 proposal
also incorporated tribal beneficial uses and a formal
designation of tribal tradition and culture beneficial uses in
the Bay-Delta watershed.
For three days [this] week, water leaders from across the
Colorado River Basin will gather in Las Vegas to talk about
water and the looming failure of the seven basin states to work
out differences on a plan to manage the river through drought.
Tribal leaders and water protectors will arrive with their own
goals and a clear message for delegates to the Colorado River
Water Users Association conference. They’re worried about not
being at the negotiating table despite holding about 20% of the
Colorado’s senior water rights. They want to see a more
holistic approach to river management as the Southwest’s
long-term drought threatens to permanently impact the
Colorado’s flow.
Snow season is off to a rough start for Utah and its neighbors.
Most of the West is in a snow drought, with so little white
stuff covering the ground that the region hit a 25-year low. If
the trend continues, it could be a recipe for disaster for the
Colorado River and its reservoirs. That
includes the nation’s two largest, Lake Powell
and Lake Mead, which prop up a system that
provides water to communities on the Wasatch Front and tens of
millions of other Americans across the West. A new report from
more than a dozen Colorado River experts projects that even
near-average snowpack this winter could send the two reservoirs
to record lows in 2026.
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
After years of water shortfalls that have cost Texas farmers
about $1 billion annually, Mexico agreed late Friday to begin
immediate deliveries of water to the United States, averting a
5% tariff threatened by President Donald Trump. In a statement
late Friday, USDA announced Mexico has agreed to release
202,000-acre-feet of water – 65.8 billion gallons — to the
United States with deliveries expected to begin this week.
… Under the 1944 Water Treaty, Mexico is obligated to
deliver 1.75 million acre-feet over five years to the United
States from the Rio Grande River. The United States in turn
delivers 1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico from the
Colorado River.
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.
