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.
There is no need to wait to show
your love for the Water Education Foundation! You can donate
early to our Big Day of Giving campaign and help us reach
our fundraising goal of $10,000 by May 7.
Big Day of Giving is a 24-hour online fundraising marathon
for nonprofits. Donations will benefit our programs and
publications centering on the most precious natural
resource in California and across the
West.
Mark your calendars now for our upcoming fall 2026
programs! Registration will open soon, so make sure
you’re among the first to hear by signing up for Foundation announcements!
Water Summit | October 29
Don’t miss the Water Education
Foundation’s 42ⁿᵈ annual Water
Summit in downtown Sacramento! Our premier event of
the year features leading policymakers and experts addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West.
The federal government has agreed to pump more than
$450 million into programs to carry out additional
Colorado River water conservation, Arizona Department of Water
Resources chief Tom Buschatzke said Monday. The
spending is necessary to make the new proposal from
Arizona, Nevada and California work, Buschatzke
and other water officials said Friday in releasing their offer
to save 700,000 to 1 million acre-feet of river water through
2028. … The U.S. Interior Department proposed that the money
be spent, and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, which
must sign off on all federal expenditures, approved it,
Buschatze said at a news briefing Monday afternoon on the new
plan from the three Lower Colorado River Basin states.
Weeks after most of Colorado’s ski resorts shut down for the
spring, a late-season snowstorm is expected to drop more than
two feet of snow across the Rocky Mountains this week. Snow
this time of year is not unusual for the region, but it is
unusual for this year, after a prolonged snow drought
and record heat in March all but eliminated the critical
snowpack across much of the American West. As of late
last week, nearly 60 percent of Colorado was in an “extreme” or
“exceptional” drought, according to the U.S. drought
monitor. “In terms of the liquid content, this will
certainly be one of the bigger storms” the region has had this
year, said Russell Danielson, a meteorologist with the National
Weather Service in Boulder.
A land study shows California’s bearing almond acreage
decreasing for the first time in more than three decades. The
Almond Board of California reported that the 1.385 million
acres of almond acres measured in its Land IQ study means a net
decrease of 15,227 acres from last year. … The
orchard removals come as the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act has growers pulling up trees, especially in areas
outside the scope of California water agencies — called white
areas. … Grape grower Linda Pandol, head of operations
for Pandol Brothers Inc., said at the economic outlook that
because of SGMA, about 70% of the company’s land gets farmed.
In wet years, her family may plant grains on fallowed land.
Despite Paldon Brothers digging recharge basins, Pandol said
the state is not yet giving out credits for water put back into
the ground.
The Box Elder County Commission [Utah] has voted unanimously
to allowa massive data center project
to move forward. The commission held a “special”
meeting Monday afternoon to decide if they’ll approve
the construction of a massive data center, a proposal
that has garnered widespread opposition in their county and
across the state. … The Box Elder County Commission,
made up of three elected commissioners, was supposed to vote on
the proposal last Monday. However, they delayed the vote after
hearing concerns about water usage,
electricity, and fears that the proposal was being
rushed toward a final decision.
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.
