The Water Education Foundation’s just-released 2022 Annual Report recaps how we returned to hosting in-person events and tours and expanded our programs across the West as the global pandemic began to wane early in the year.

Some highlights from 2022:

• We celebrated the 25^th anniversary of our popular Water Leaders program in California with an alumni reunion picnic along the American River. Watch a short video here.
• We launched our Colorado River Water Leaders program to coincide with the centennial of the Colorado River Compact. The inaugural cohort offered some great recommendations on reshaping river operating guidelines at our invitation-only Colorado River Symposium in Santa Fe.
• Our journalism team created out first-ever story map, providing an interactive exploration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – the hub of California’s water supply and an important ecological and agricultural region.
• We honored the first recipient of the Foundation’s Rita Schmidt Sudman Award for Excellence in Water Journalism. Sudman, a former broadcast journalist who led the Foundation for more than 30 as executive director, established the award.

Learn who got the award and more about our 2022 accomplishments in the Annual Report.

While we had much to celebrate in 2022, we lost our beloved Board President, Mike Chrisman, who served as California Natural Resources Secretary from 2003-2010. We carry on in his memory.