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.
Big Day of Giving may be ending soon but
you have until midnight to support the Water Education
Foundation’s tours, workshops, publications and other programs
aimed at building water literacy across California and the West!
Donate
now to help us reach our $10,000
fundraising goal by midnight - we are only
$4,120 away!
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.
The likelihood of a potentially powerful El Niño taking shape
in the Pacific Ocean is rising, heightening concerns that
Southern California could be in for an extreme rainy season.
There is now an 82% chance that El Niño is likely to
emerge over the next few months, up from the 61%
chance estimated a month ago. And there’s now a 96% chance
that the climate pattern — characterized by warmer
ocean waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific — will
be in force this winter, the National Weather Service’s Climate
Prediction Center said Thursday. … While it’s no given
that El Niño will bring a potent rain season to Southern
California, some previously high-powered patterns have been
monsters.
Arizona climate experts recommended Thursday that Governor
Katie Hobbs renew a drought declaration in effect since 1999 as
the state continues to reel from the hottest March on
record. … In Northern Arizona, wildfires are
already raging about a month ahead of schedule. Little to no
snowpack, drought-stressed trees and a lot of dead pinyon and
juniper means a higher risk this year for crown fires, in which
fire climbs to the tops of trees and quickly spreads across the
canopy. … Both the 1999 declaration and a later drought
declaration enacted in 2007 by then-Governor Janet Napolitano
will remain in effect for the foreseeable future. Hobbs last
renewed the declarations in 2024.
After months of pressing Western states to come to their own
agreement, the Trump administration told their leaders it’s
drawing up a 10-year plan for dealing with water shortages on
the Colorado River. The river is a major water source
forSouthern California and much of the
Southwest, but its largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and
Lake Powell, are severely depleted and their
levels continue to drop. News of the federal government’s
preliminary plan surfaced Wednesday during
a meeting in Phoenix. Tom Buschatzke, director of the
Arizona Department of Water Resources, said federal officials
informed state water managers they are developing a
“10-year framework” with specific rules requiring water
reductions that would be reassessed every two years.
Golden mussels are continuing to spread throughout
California, potentially imperiling key water infrastructure and
leading Kern County to declare an emergency. … This
week, Kern County officials declared a local emergency over the
invasive species. … Kern County is the second to
declare an emergency due to the invading bivalves. On
April 28, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors also
declared a local emergency, reporting that golden mussels had
already affected key infrastructure, including a $100 million
floodgate. And the invasive mussels are also impacting the
Bay Area. Earlier this month, water officials in Santa Clara
County reported two golden mussels were found for the first
time in their water treatment facilities.
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.
