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 Trump administration on Monday proposed rolling back limits
on “forever chemicals” that contaminate millions of Americans’
drinking water and have been linked to a range of health
problems. The proposal would partially rescind the first
national drinking water limits for the chemicals — also known
as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — set by the
Biden administration. Under the changes, EPA would eliminate
strict limits for four PFAS and allow utilities to request a
two-year extension to remove two other PFAS from tap water.
PFAS are a class of thousands of synthetic substances nicknamed
“forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break
down.
The Denver City Council unanimously approved a one-year
moratorium [Monday] on new data center development in the city,
marking a major policy pause as officials work to establish new
regulations. The measure halts the acceptance and processing of
new zoning permits and site development plans for data centers
while Denver drafts rules addressing energy use, water
consumption, noise and citing standards. The
moratorium remains in place for up to one year, or until the
city adopts updated data center regulations. The vote
comes despite construction well underway on a data center in
the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood that is estimated to use far
more water and power than anything currently operating in
Denver.
A late-season snowstorm has brought several inches of May
powder to the high country, offering a modest but welcome boost
to a state grappling with drought conditions. Snow fell
steadily throughout the day Monday and into Tuesday morning,
with more than five inches of snow reported in Aspen Springs,
Walden, Nederland, Sawpit, and Estes Park. … While the storm
is part of a pattern of late-April and May precipitation
events, the 9NEWS Weather Impact Team has cautioned it will do
little to reverse the region’s critically low snowpack [in the
headwaters of the Colorado River].
Statewide snowpack is currently sitting around 20% of
normal, and even lower in parts of Clear Creek County,
where it stands at just 9%. … Still, the moisture carries
real benefits as Colorado begins the summer season.
California officials on Thursday convened the inaugural board
meeting of the newly minted Salton Sea Conservancy, marking the
state’s first new conservancy in over fifteen years and
signaling a major escalation in the battle to save its largest,
most troubled lake. The high-stakes session, led by Joe Shea,
Assistant Secretary for Salton Sea Policy at the California
Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), introduced the new governing
board to the public, detailed its financial blueprint, and
underscored a renewed commitment to grassroots community
involvement. … According to the CNRA, the Salton Sea
Conservancy is uniquely armed with a dual mandate: overseeing
the long-term operations and maintenance of projects
constructed under the Salton Sea Management Plan and
aggressively acquiring and holding vital land and water rights.
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.
