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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On this Big Day of Giving, help the Water Education
Foundation continue being your resource for in-depth, impartial
information on drought, water rights, groundwater, environmental
restoration, water quality, and other water resource issues.
At the Water Education Foundation,
we focus on telling the complex story of water in California and
the West because of its critical role in sustaining our lives,
growing our food and nourishing our environment.
As a nonprofit we rely on the generosity of people who value
what we do – enhancing public understanding of our most important
natural resource and catalyzing critical conversations to
inform collaborative decision-making.
Enjoy happy hour tomorrow with the
Water Education Foundation, test your water knowledge in a trivia
contest, win some prizes and socialize in chat rooms!
The team behind
our programs that inspire a deeper understanding of California’s
most precious natural resource – water – will be on hand
during the hour-long virtual event starting at 4:30 p.m.
Hear directly from a range of
experts offering a variety of perspectives on our May 20 virtual
Lower
Colorado River Tour as they put into context the
20-plus year drought on what is the most contested and
meticulously managed river in the United States.
Among the experts featured are farmers, tribal representatives,
and managers from wildlife agencies, water districts, the Bureau
of Reclamation and others who will discuss drought impacts,
habitat projects, farming and restoration efforts at the Salton
Sea.
As California slowly emerges from
the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, one remnant left behind by
the statewide lockdown offers a sobering reminder of the economic
challenges still ahead for millions of the state’s residents and
the water agencies that serve them – a mountain of
water debt.
Concerns about water affordability, long an issue in a state
where millions of people struggle to make ends meet, jumped into
overdrive last year as the pandemic wrenched the
economy. Our
latest article in Western Water explores
the hurdles to helping consumers, how some water agencies have
devised workarounds and how far more lasting solutions remain out
of reach.
Join us May 6 for our
annual open
house where you can test your water trivia
knowledge, win prizes and meet the people behind our programs
that foster a deeper understanding of California’s most precious
natural resource – water.
The Foundation’s open house will be held next Thursday via Zoom
from 4:30–5:30 p.m.
Time is running out to register
for this week’s Water
101 Workshop, which offers a primer on California’s
water history, laws, geography and politics.
One of our most popular events, this once-a-year workshop will be
held as an engaging online event on the afternoons of
Thursday, April 22 and Friday, April 23.
California’s water basics will be covered by some of the state’s
leading policy and legal experts, and participants will have an
opportunity to engage with the guest speakers individually
during live Q&A in breakout rooms.
Visit key infrastructure and
environmental restoration sites along the lower Colorado
River during our online tour May 20 of the
iconic river as it weaves through the Lower Basin states of
California, Nevada and Arizona.
Our Lower
Colorado River Tour starts at Hoover Dam near
Las Vegas and stops at major agricultural regions, tourist
destinations and key wildlife areas such as the Salton Sea
and a wildlife refuge in Yuma, Ariz. resulting from a
tribal-city partnership.
Join us May 6 for a virtual
open house where you can test your water trivia
knowledge, win prizes and meet the people behind our programs
that foster a deeper understanding of California’s most precious
natural resource – water.
The Foundation’s open house runs from 4:30–5:30 p.m., when you
will be able to bounce among chatrooms to catch up with old
friends, meet new ones and join a fast and fun trivia contest
hosted by our Programs Director Nick Gray.
There’s just one week left to
register for our
Water 101 Workshop, which offers a primer on the
things you need to know to understand California water.
Our two-day Water
101 Workshop begins on Earth Day, when you can
gain a deeper understanding of California’s most precious
natural resource.
One of our most popular events, the once-a-year workshop will be
held as an engaging online event on the afternoons of Thursday,
April 22 and Friday, April 23. California’s water basics will be
covered by some of the state’s leading policy and legal experts,
including the history, geography, legal and political facets of
water in the state, as well a look at hot topics and current
issues of concern.
Registration is now open for our May 20 virtual Lower Colorado
River Tour! Learn about the role this ‘lifeblood of
the Southwest’ plays in the three Lower Basin states of Nevada,
Arizona and California, and how its water helps to sustain
their cities, farms and wildlife areas.
The 24-page guide explores the history of the Central Valley
Project, from its roots as a state water project that stalled
amid the Great Depression to its development as a federal project
that stretches from Shasta Dam in far Northern California to
Bakersfield in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
Join us in early May for a
virtual open house and happy hour event to meet our staff, learn
how we pivoted last year amid the coronavirus pandemic and find
out what we have planned for later this year to foster
understanding of California’s most precious natural resource -
water.
During the May 6 open house from 4:30 to 6 p.m., you will be
able to enter chatrooms and speak to our executive director and staff
about our water tours, conferences, maps, publications and
training programs for teachers and up-and-coming community
leaders involved in water. You’ll also be able to learn more
about how you can support our work.
From the very first gold miners
making claims to divert streams in the Sierra Nevada foothills to
the later wrangling that enabled irrigation of Central Valley
farmland and drinking water to be sent to growing cities in
California, water rights are an indispensable cornerstone of the
state’s water supply and delivery system.
But they can also be complex, and gaining an understanding of
their history at our Water
101 Workshop in April will provide context for
issues that could come up in the future. In the last drought, for
example, the state curtailed some water rights as surface
supplies became more scarce.
Each year, the Board of Directors of
the Water Education Foundation votes to accept a member of
the graduating Water
Leaders class to join the board for a
three-year term.
For the 2020 class, the board selected Carl B. Evers III,
vice president of water resources for Hancock Natural
Resource Group, where he is responsible for the management of
water policy at the state and national level for the company’s
agricultural investments in the western United States.
Explore the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta, one of California’s most vital ecological and water
resources, with a special
discounted education bundle that includes our
brand-new Delta Map and our recently updated Layperson’s Guide to
the Delta.
Purchased separately, the map retails for $20 and the guide sells
for $15. But with our Delta Education Bundle you can get
both items for just $30.
Our map of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta has been updated with a fresh, new look and
new text and images to better tell the story of one of
California’s most important ecological and water supply
resources.
The new
map explores the Delta’s importance as a haven for
birds, fish and other wildlife, its vital role in moving water to
farms and cities across California, and the array of challenges
facing the Delta’s present and future. The map also highlights
life in the Delta, including its role as a farming region and its
attractions for fishermen, boaters and others looking for
recreation.
Learn from top water experts at our
annual Water
101 Workshop about the history, hydrology and
law behind California water as well as hot topics such as water
equity, the Delta and flows, new federal
administration and more.
This year’s workshop, set for April 22-23, will be held virtually
and feature a presentation devoted
solely to groundwater. In a typical year, groundwater
quenches some 40 percent of the state’s freshwater needs, and 85
percent of Californians depend on groundwater for at least
portion of their drinking water supply. With California using
more groundwater than any other state, participants will learn
how all this affects efforts to comply with the state’s 2014
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
Mark your calendars now for our
virtual Lower Colorado River Tour on May 20 to
learn about the important role the river’s water plays in the
three Lower Basin states of Nevada, Arizona and California, and
how it helps to sustain their cities, wildlife areas and farms.
Registration is coming soon!
This virtual journey will cover a stretch of the Colorado
River from Hoover Dam and its reservoir Lake Mead, the
nation’s tallest concrete dam and largest reservoir
respectively, down to the U.S./Mexico border and up to the
Salton Sea.
Registration is now open for one of
our most popular events, the Water
101 Workshop, to be held this year virtually on the
afternoons of April 22-23.
The annual workshop serves as a refresher for more veteran water
professionals and a good statewide primer for others.
Participants will come away with a deeper understanding of the
state’s most precious natural resource.
