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California experienced one of the
most deadly and destructive wildfire years on record in 2018,
with several major fires occurring in the wildland-urban
interface (WUI). These areas, where communities are in close
proximity to undeveloped land at high risk of wildfire, have felt
devastating effects of these disasters, including direct impacts
to water infrastructure and supplies.
One panel at our 2019 Water
Summit Oct. 30 in Sacramento will feature speakers
from water agencies who came face-to-face with two major fires:
The Camp Fire that destroyed most of the town of Paradise in
Northern California, and the Woolsey Fire in the Southern
California coastal mountains. They’ll talk about their
experiences and what lessons they learned.
Applications are now available for
our yearlong Water
Leaders class.
One of our most popular programs, the Water Leaders class is
aimed at providing a deeper understanding of California
water issues and building leadership skills with class members
attending water tours, studying a water-related topic in-depth
and working with a mentor.
Atmospheric rivers, the narrow bands
of moisture that ferry precipitation across the Pacific Ocean to
the West Coast, are necessary to keep California’s water
reservoirs full.
However, some of them are dangerous because the extreme rainfall
and wind can cause catastrophic flooding and damage, much
like what happened in 2017 with Oroville Dam’s spillway.
Learn the latest about atmospheric river research and forecasting
at our 2019 Water
Summit on Oct. 30 in Sacramento, where
prominent research meteorologist Marty Ralph will give the
opening keynote.
A multiphased project to remove
a levee along the Sacramento River north of Sacramento and
restore hundreds of acres of floodplains to reconnect to the
river is now underway.
Participants on our Northern California
Tour Oct. 2-4 will visit the site of the
restoration project near Hamilton City led by River Partners. The
project also involves the construction of a setback levee
to provide more reliable flood protection to the community
and agricultural areas along the river.
The Foundation’s final tour of 2019
is all new and will highlight urban, agricultural and
environmental water use on California’s scenic Central Coast,
traveling from the technology hub of Silicon Valley’s San Jose to
the coastal enclave of Monterey and to the wine country of Paso
Robles.
Participants on our Nov. 6-7 Central Coast Tour will learn
about the challenges of a region struggling to be sustainable
with limited local supplies and the efforts to address them.
Participants on our Northern California
Tour Oct. 2-4 will get updates on changes planned or
completed at key dams that anchor California’s two major water
delivery projects — Shasta Dam and Oroville Dam.
The tour will visit Shasta Dam, keystone of the federal Central Valley Project,
for a firsthand look at plans to raise the height of the
structure and increase storage capacity, and hear from some who
oppose the expansion. A tour of the Shasta Powerplant and a
houseboat outing on Shasta Lake, already California’s largest
reservoir, are also part of the tour.
With a key deadline for the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in January, one of the
featured panels at our Oct.
30thWater
Summit will focus on how regions around California
are crafting groundwater sustainability plans and working on
innovative ways to fill aquifers.
The theme for this year’s Water Summit, “Water Year 2020: A Year
of Reckoning,” reflects critical upcoming events in California
water, including the imminent Jan. 31, 2020 deadline for
groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) in high- and
medium-priority basins.
The deadliest and most destructive
wildfire in California history had a severe impact on the water
system in the town of Paradise. Participants on our Oct. 2-4
Northern California
Tour will hear from Kevin Phillips, general manager of
Paradise Irrigation District, on the scope of the damages, the
obstacles to recovery and the future of the water district.
The Camp Fire destroyed 90 percent of the structures in Paradise,
and 90 percent of the irrigation district’s ratepayer base. The
fire did not destroy the irrigation district’s water storage or
treatment facilities, but it did melt plastic pipes, releasing
contaminants into parts of the system and prompting do-not-drink
advisories to water customers.
Dates are now set for two key
Foundation events to kick off 2020 — our popular Water 101
Workshop, scheduled for Feb. 20 at McGeorge School of Law in
Sacramento, and our Lower Colorado River Tour, which will run
from March 11-13.
In addition, applications will be available by the first week of
October for our 2020 class of Water Leaders, our competitive
yearlong program for early to mid-career up-and-coming water
professionals. To learn more about the program, check out our
Water Leaders program
page.
Here’s a golden deal to celebrate
today’s anniversary of California’s 1850 admission into
the Union: Get 50 percent off the paperback Water & the
Shaping of California, a treasure trove of
gorgeous color photos, water literature and famous sayings about
water.
This beautifully designed oversize book discusses the engineering
feats, political decisions and popular opinion that reshaped the
nature – flood and drought – and society – gold, grain and
growth – that led to the water projects that created the
California we know today.
The book includes a foreword by the late Kevin Starr, the Golden
State’s premier historian.
California Natural Resources
Secretary Wade Crowfoot, a key player in carrying out Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s water priorities, will give the keynote address at the
2019 Water Summit on Oct. 30 in
Sacramento.
Now in its 36th year, the Water Summit features a
variety of policymakers, experts and stakeholders discussing
important topics in water across California and the West. This
year’s theme is “Water Year 2020: A Year of Reckoning.” Click
here to register before prices go up on Sept. 26th. Foundation
contributors of $100 or more should choose the discounted price.
Or you can become a contributor and
get the discount right away.
Executive Director Jennifer Bowles
stressed the importance of impartiality — a value she has
embraced throughout her journalism career — in explaining
the Water Education Foundation’s role as a source of water news
and information in California and the West during a podcast
interview published last week.
During the
Talk+Water podcast by the Texas + Water newsletter, Bowles talked about
serving as executive editor of the Foundation’s flagship
publication, Western Water, whose
most recent article explored how private capital is speeding
up forest restoration in the Sierra Nevada that could benefit
water quality and supplies.
Get an up-close look at some of
California’s key water reservoirs and learn about farming
operations, salmon habitat restoration, flood management and
wetlands on our Northern California Water Tour Oct. 2-4.
Each year, participants on the tour enjoy three days exploring
the Sacramento Valley during the temperate fall. Join us as we
travel through a scenic landscape along the Sacramento and
Feather rivers to learn about issues associated with storing
and delivering the state’s water supply.
World Water Week runs through
Friday, Aug. 30, and to mark the occasion the Foundation is
offering a special 30 percent discount on our beautiful
poster-size maps, layperson’s guides and other water
publications.
Use the promo code WORLDWATER19 when checking
out of our online store.
Our new Edge of Drought Tour Aug.
27-29 highlights the connection between the Santa Barbara
region’s distinctive hydrology and the lurking threat of drought
from persistent water scarcity with an up-close look at water
projects and programs across the southern Central
Coast. With the next California drought around the corner,
the variety of efforts underway to enhance the area’s limited
local water resources have potential applications across the
state.
The Santa Barbara region’s recovery
from drought often has lagged behind much of the rest of
California due to the nature of its watershed. But a variety of
efforts are underway to enhance the region’s limited local water
resources.
Our new Edge of Drought
Tour Aug. 27-29 explores the connection between the area’s
distinctive hydrology and the lurking threat of drought and
persistent water scarcity with an up-close look at water projects
and programs across the southern Central Coast.
Our event calendar is an excellent
resource for keeping up with water events in California and the
West.
Groundwater is top of mind for many water managers as they
prepare to meet next January’s deadline for submitting
sustainability plans required under California’s Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act. We have several upcoming featured
events listed on our calendar that focus on a variety of relevant
groundwater topics:
Ranchers and conservationists in the
headwaters of the Colorado River decided that to get something
done to benefit the ranches, the fish and the river, they needed
to work together. Their partnership, which could serve as a
template for similar regions across the West, is the focus of
a new article in our flagship publication, Western
Water.
The article by the Foundation’s team of veteran journalists
explores what drove the need to act, how the partnership came
together and some of the projects undertaken to improve
irrigation for ranchers and habitat for fish.
A planned indirect potable reuse
project in Carpinteria that will inject highly treated wastewater
into the local groundwater basin is just one of several drought
resiliency efforts examined as we trek across the water-scarce
Santa Barbara region on our Edge of Drought Tour Aug.
27-29.
Construction of the project, called the Carpinteria Advanced
Purification Project, is expected to begin in 2021. It is
currently undergoing engineering design and environmental
review.
New to the Foundation’s water tours
this year, our Edge of
Drought Tour Aug. 27-29 will journey through the
Santa Barbara area to examine the portfolio approach being taken
to the challenges of limited surface and groundwater supplies by
several local agencies as they work to build drought resilience
for the future.
Solutions such as ocean and brackish water desalination, advanced
purification and groundwater injection and pervious concrete
retrofitting for groundwater recharge will be explored, as
well as cloud seeding and atmospheric river research.
