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!
Sign up here to get announcements sent to
your inbox.
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.
Our daily news aggregation known as
Aquafornia keeps you
up-to-date on the most pressing water issues in California and
across the West.
Curated by veteran journalist Alastair Bland and
managed by the Foundation’s news and publications director
Doug
Beeman, Aquafornia gives you the latest articles on
groundwater, Delta issues, the Colorado River and more through an
easy-to-scan headline format.
Curious about water rights in
California? Want to know more about how water is managed in the
state, or learn about the State Water Project, Central Valley
Project or other water infrastructure?
Mark your calendars now for our virtual Water
101 Workshop for the afternoons of April 22-23 to
hear from experts on these topics and more. Registration
is coming soon!
Groundwater keeps the San Joaquin
Valley’s orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a
multibillion-dollar agricultural economy. But that bounty has
come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted
aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
Now, hundreds of agencies in California have the task
of making things right in their respective groundwater
basins. The latest Western Water news is a
special report exploring how two different farming
regions in the San Joaquin Valley are approaching the problem and
their proposed solutions to achieve groundwater
sustainability.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Water Education Foundation
team continues to churn out water news, maps
that provide visual context to key water topics and guides that
help deepen your understanding of California’s most precious
natural resource.
In any given year, whether it’s a wet
winter or a dry one, groundwater is a critical source of water
for California, providing 40 percent to 60 percent of the state’s
supply. Some areas of the state are entirely dependent on
groundwater.
To help you learn more about the importance of groundwater, the
Water Education Foundation has an array of educational materials
on this vital resource. And next week, the Foundation’s flagship
publication, Western
Water news, will publish a special report
examining how two local groundwater agencies are taking different
approaches to achieve sustainability in the San Joaquin Valley,
one of the most critically overdrafted regions in the state. You
can sign up here to be
alerted when this special report is published.
Our 2020 Water Leaders class
completed its year with a report outlining policy recommendations
for adapting California water management to climate change.
The class of
23 up-and-coming leaders from various
stakeholder groups and backgrounds – engineers, attorneys,
planners, farmers, environmentalists and scientists - had
full editorial control to choose recommendations.
For nearly a full year, the ongoing pandemic has disrupted the daily lives of many. Keeping students engaged in their education despite school closures and the limitations of distance learning has been a challenge for teachers, professors, parents and educators at water districts.
For those interested in online educational resources for water, we continue to provide a variety of videos and materials, as well as updates and other water-related information about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Happy New Year to all the friends, supporters, readers and tour and workshop participants of the Water Education Foundation! We’re grateful to each and every person who interacted with us in 2020, especially as we pivoted our in-person programming to virtual platforms.
As we turn the page to 2021, we’re looking ahead to a year of hope that COVID-19 will no longer be a major threat to our health and well-being.
But, with the pandemic in mind, our team is planning a hybrid year starting with virtual water educational experiences and, if deemed safe by health officials, a return to in-person events in the second half of 2021.
Since 1997, we have been running
California’s preeminent water leadership program,
graduating more than 400 engineers, lawyers, scientists,
farmers, environmentalists and others who care deeply about the
future of water in our state.
Our Water Leaders
program aimed at early to mid-career professionals is second to
none, even when the pandemic hit, forcing the 2020 class to meet
virtually for much of the year.
It’s your last chance to sign up for
our San Joaquin River
Restoration Tour this Thursday (Dec. 10) as we
embark on a virtual journey to learn how one of the nation’s most
ambitious river restoration projects is shaping up.
It has been over two years since a Foundation tour last visited
the San Joaquin River downstream of Friant Dam near Fresno to see
firsthand the progress toward reviving populations of chinook
salmon in the river, so don’t miss this opportunity to get an
update!
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history related to
providing in-stream flows for fish, leading to the creation of
the San Joaquin River Restoration Program in 2006.
Register now for the Foundation’s
final online event of the year as we embark on our virtual
San Joaquin River
Restoration Tour next Thursday (Dec. 10) to learn
how one of the nation’s most ambitious river restoration projects
is shaping up.
It has been over two years since a Foundation tour last visited
the San Joaquin River downstream of Friant Dam near Fresno to see
firsthand the progress toward reviving populations of chinook
salmon in the river, so don’t miss this opportunity to get an
update!
Apply for our 2021 Water
Leaders class by Dec. 21, and if you work for a public
water agency that is a member of the Association of
California Water Agencies you could be eligible for a
scholarship.
Our William R. Gianelli Water
Leaders Class is a competitive, one-year program
attended by early- to mid-career, up-and-coming leaders designed
to deepen understanding of California water issues and build
leadership skills by studying a water-related topic in-depth and
working with a mentor, among other activities.
