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.
Are you an emerging leader ready to
make a greater impact on California water policy and management?
Applications are now being accepted for the Water Education
Foundation’s 2027
California Water Leaders cohort, with submissions
due Dec. 3.
Designed for rising professionals in California’s water
community, the program offers participants an unparalleled
opportunity to deepen their understanding of water issues, expand
their professional network and develop leadership skills
alongside a cohort of peers from across the state.
Visit the
application page, paying close attention
to frequently asked questions and mandatory
program dates to ensure you can fully
participate.
Confirm that you have your organization’s support and can
commit the time necessary to partipating in the program.
Interested in learning more? Join our executive director, Jenn
Bowles, and other members of the Foundation team for
a virtual Q&A session at 12:30 p.m. on Nov.
10. We’ll provide an overview of the program and
share tips for submitting a strong application. Sign up here.
What role will desalination play in
the arid West? That topic is one of many engaging conversations
that will be explored at our Oct. 29 Water
Summit revolving around this year’s theme,
Stewarding a New Era in Western Water.
Led by Central Arizona Project’s General Manager Brenda Burman,
the panel will discuss all topics worth their
salt - from emerging desalination technologies to the
latest developments in innovative desalination programs to the
regulatory challenges and opportunities that face the region.
The panel of accomplished speakers will provide deep
insight on desalination’s implications for water management
in the West.
The Water Summit is the Foundation’s premier event of
the year and returns to Sacramento on Oct. 29
with leading policymakers and experts addressing critical water
issues in California and across the West. Capacity is
limited and registration closes soon, so grab your ticket
here while they’re still available!
Floods have overwhelmed parts of the parched American Southwest
in recent days and weeks, pouring water into critically
low reservoirs. But the deluge did little to ease
worries over the water crisis that required significant limits
on usage across the Colorado River basin
earlier this year. Instead, it exemplified a sort of
weather whiplash that is becoming more common
as the climate warms, making it harder to maintain a
stable water supply for the West. Right after enduring
one of its driest stretches of spring and summer on record, the
Southwest is now experiencing one of its wettest
autumns. … [T]he wet weather could provide
some medium-term benefits. … The rain has saturated
soils across much of the Southwest, causing more precipitation
to run off rather than percolate into the ground. While that is
making the floods worse, it could also mean that more
of any precipitation that falls in the coming months will make
it into reservoirs.
Renewable energy companies and environmental groups have a long
history of joining forces to push for favorable government
policies. Then came the bipartisan bill to overhaul the
nation’s permitting rules. While groups representing
wind, solar, batteries and other renewable energy companies are
lobbying hard to get the landmark deal through Congress by the
end of the year, environmental groups are riven by the
bill’s potential to cut red tape for fossil fuel projects
alongside renewable ones. The break reflects not just
an ideological split, but an economic one. The renewables
industry is reaching maturity and argues it can compete on an
even playing field with fossil fuels. Renewable energy
companies, like their fossil fuel counterparts, would also find
it easier to build under the Bipartisan American Affordability
and Jobs Act’s rewrites of the National Environmental
Policy Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species
Act.
The Solano County Planning Commission on Thursday will consider
making a recommendation on a proposed zoning change affecting
1,312 acres of land east of Collinsville that California
Forever has proposed using for shipbuilding.
… It will consider making a recommendation to the Solano
County Board of Supervisors on a proposal to change the
property’s zoning from Exclusive Agriculture to
Industrial-Water Dependent. The proposed changewould bring the
property’s zoning into alignment with the county’s 2008 General
Plan,which designated the area for water-dependent industrial
development along the Sacramento River.
… The General Plan specifically designated the property
east of Collinsville for water-dependent industrial uses,
envisioning development along the Sacramento River
while protecting significant marshland, wetland habitats, and
water quality, according to the staff report.
“Cheap water is over.” That’s the quote from
Queen Creek Utilities Director Mark Skocypec at a recent town
meeting. It made it into The Washington Post, which recently
profiled the town and some of its residents who are not
exactly happy about a new water resource fee being debated in
the East Valley town. It’s part of a plan the town has
been working on to prepare for a drier future
for almost a decade. The idea is to buy water from the
Harquahala Valley, pump it out of the ground and
transport it via canal to the fast-growing suburb. But
it won’t come cheap, hence that quote from Mark Skocypec. The
Town Council is voting on the new fee later this
month, and I spoke with Skocypec more about Queen
Creek’s long-term future water plan and why he thinks they are
a model for other cities facing uncertain water futures.
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.
No portion of the West has been immune to drought during the last
century and it occurs with much greater frequency in the West
than in any other region of the country.
