Find out what the Water Education Foundation is up to with
announcements about upcoming events, tours, new Western
Water articles on key water topics and more!
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As we wrap up our year at the Water Education Foundation, we
are busy looking ahead to our 2025 slate of engaging
tours, workshops and conferences on key water topics in
California and across the West. Make sure to save the dates
below!
Meanwhile, as we approach the holidays, we want to remind
everyone:
We will soon announce a holiday sale of our
popular maps and guides on key water
regions and topics so you can get gifts for the water
wonk in your life. Stay tuned!
Giving
Tuesday is right after Thanksgiving
and a national day to support nonprofits. We’ll be sure to
let you know how to support water education in the West on that
day.
If you are an
up-and-coming leader in the water world who is thinking
about applying for our 2025 California Water Leaders
cohort, you can view a virtual Q&A
sessionto get tips on applying for the
competitive program.
During the session, Jenn Bowles, our executive director, and
other Water Education Foundation team members provided an
overview of the program and gave advice on submitting an
application by Dec. 5, 2024.
The 2024 Colorado River Water
Leaders cohort completed its seven-month program
with policy recommendations involving ”augmentation” –
projects that increase the availability and supply of water – as
the Colorado River Basin grows hotter and drier.
The cohort of
12 up-and-coming leaders included engineers,
lawyers, resource specialists and others working for public,
private and non-governmental organizations from across the
river’s basin. The cohort had full editorial control to choose
its recommendations.
Lois Henry, a journalist who
launched SJV
Water as a nonprofit news site devoted to
covering water in the San Joaquin Valley, was named the
2024 recipient of the Water Education Foundation’s Rita
Schmidt Sudman Award for Excellence in Water Journalism.
Henry said she was honored to receive the award, which
acknowledges outstanding work that illuminates complicated
water issues in California and the West.
“I’m grateful and humbled to receive this recognition,” Henry
said. “Water is such an arcane and politically rife topic. We
really strive to explain what’s happening in layman’s terms and
walk an unbiased line. So, it’s exciting to know our work has hit
the mark and provided value to our readers.”
Registration closes Friday for our
2024 Water
Summit, set for next Wednesday, Oct.
30, in downtown Sacramento with conversations focused on
our theme, Reflecting on Silver Linings in Western
Water.
Our Water
Summit on Oct. 30 will take a deep dive on issues
critical to our most precious natural resource in the West but
it’s so much more.
During our event, you’ll also have
a chance to network with people from across the water
communityfrom municipal water agencies to
irrigation districts, farming and lending organizations to state
and federal agencies that manage or regulate water to
environmental and other nonprofit organizations.
Karla Nemeth, director of the California
Department of Water Resources, will deliver the opening keynote
and participants will be treated later in the day to a
presentation by visual artists whose work seeks to expand
perspectives on how we relate to water.
Are you an
up-and-coming leader in the water world? Applications are
now available for our 2025 California Water Leaders cohort, and
are due no later than Dec. 5, 2024.
If interested in applying, start by checking out the
program
requirements. Make sure you have the time to commit
to the program next year and approval from your organization
to apply.
Only a few seats are left on the
bus for our Northern California
Tour on Oct. 16-18 that explores the Sacramento
Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to Oroville and
Shasta dams!
Don’t miss this scenic journey through riparian woodland, rice
fields, nut orchards and wildlife refuges while learning
from experts about the history of the Sacramento River.
Grab your
ticket here before they’re gone!
Visit Shasta & Oroville Dams; Learn about Park Fire Impacts
Firsthand during NorCal Tour
Only a few seats are left on the
bus for our Northern California
Tour October 16-18 that journeys across the
Sacramento Valley from Sacramento to Redding with visits to
Oroville and Shasta dams!
Don’t miss this scenic journey through riparian woodland, rice
fields, nut orchards and wildlife refuges while learning
from experts about the history of the Sacramento River.
Grab your
ticket here before they’re gone!
Water Summit: Exclusive Sponsorship Opportunities Available
In case you missed the news last
week, you can now register for the Water Education Foundation’s
40ᵗʰ annual
Water Summit to be held on Wednesday, Oct. 30, in
Sacramento, with the theme, Reflecting on Silver
Linings in Western Water.
You can now register for the Water
Education Foundation’s 40ᵗʰ annual Water
Summit! The one-day conference will feature leading
policymakers and experts sharing the latest information
and insights on water in California and the West. The event
includes lunch and an evening reception for networking with
speakers and fellow attendees from a variety of backgrounds.
The Water Summit will be held Wednesday, Oct. 30, in Sacramento,
with the theme, Reflecting on Silver Linings in
Western Water. Speakers and conversations will
focus on the promising advances that have developed from myriad
challenges faced in managing the West’s most precious
natural resource.
It may be the dog days of summer but it’s a busy time at the
Water Education Foundation as we prep for our fall events!
Space is becoming limited for one of our most popular water
excursions, the three-day Northern California
Tour in mid-October.
Registration opens in just a few weeks for our premier annual
event, the Water Summit, on Oct. 30 in
Sacramento. Make sure you’re among the first to know this year’s
theme by signing up for Foundation
announcements.
While you’re signing up for announcements, you can also sign
up for our weekday water newsfeed known as Aquafornia to help you stay in the
know.
Much of California’s water supply
originates in the Sierra Nevada, making it dependent on the
health of forests. But those forests are suffering from
widespread tree mortality and other ecosystem degradation
resulting mostly from the growing frequency and severity
of droughts and wildfires.
On our Headwaters
Tour July 24-25, we will visit Eldorado and Tahoe
national forests to learn about new forest management practices,
including wildfire prevention and recovery.
Registration Now Open for Northern California Tour:
October 16-18
Registration is now open for
our popular Northern California
Tour October 16-18, and seats always fill
quickly! This 3-day, 2-night excursion across the
Sacramento Valley travels north from Sacramento to Oroville,
Redding and Shasta Lake.
With temperatures spiking across
California this week, now is a great time to reserve your
spot on our Headwaters Tour July
24-25 when we’ll explore the role of the Sierra
Nevada snowpack in the state’s water supply and how heatwaves can
accelerate snowmelt.
As we head into summer, don’t miss your chance to explore the
statewide impact of forest health on water resources in July and
be sure to mark your calendars for our popular fall programming!
Northern
California Tour, October 16-18: Explore the
Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape
while learning about the issues associated with a key source
for the state’s water supply. Registration opens June
12!
Water Summit, October 30: Attend the Water
Education Foundation’s premier annual event hosted in
Sacramento with leading policymakers and experts addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West. More
details coming soon!
Mark Arax, an award-winning
journalist and author of books chronicling agriculture and water
issues in California’s Central Valley, will provide the keynote
talk at an international groundwater conference next month.
Groundwater basins in California
and across the world are the source for much of the water that
grows our food. But many challenges come with groundwater:
Keeping use sustainable, nitrate contamination and impacts
from climate change.
The world’s top scientists, policymakers and experts will be
addressing these topics June 18-20 in San
Francisco at the
3ʳᵈ International Groundwater Conference Linking Science &
Policy, along with the latest advancements on
groundwater demand management, conjuctive use, managed aquifer
recharge, groundwater governance and emerging artificial
intelligence resources related to groundwater and agriculture.
We are midway through Big Day of Giving, a 24-hour regional
fundraising event that benefits our tours, workshops and
publications that educate about floods, drought, groundwater,
climate change and more!
You have until midnight to
make a donation that will help keep the Water
Education Foundation as a go-to resource for in-depth, impartial
information about water in California and the West.
If you have had the amazing opportunity to attend one of our
water tours, enjoyed reading our
Western Water articles, or have
purchased any of our beautiful water maps or
Layperson’s Guides, you can show your
appreciation by helping us reach our $15,000
goal!
Donate here on our campaign
page. We have $7,931 to
go!
Big
Day of Giving is nearly over but you still have
until midnight to support the Water Education Foundation’s tours,
workshops, publications and other programs with a donation to help us reach our
$15,000 fundraising goal - we are only
$6,405 away!
At the Foundation, we believe that education is as precious
as water. Your donations help us every day to teach K-12
educators how to bring water science into the classroom and to
empower future decision-makers through our professional
development programs.
Our portfolio of programs reach many people and in many
different ways:
