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Water articles on key water topics and more!
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Water supply for California’s cities
and farms is largely dependent on snowmelt from the upper
watershed in the Sierra Nevada, but that pattern is being
challenged by wildfires, climate change and widespread tree
mortality. Fire damage in an upstream watershed can last for
decades with the effects felt far downstream through increased
risk of flood and erosion.
Our Headwaters
Tour June 27-28 highlights this connection between
fire and water with an up-close look at the critical role healthy
Sierra forests play in water supply and quality across
California.
Sixty percent of California’s
developed water supply originates high in the Sierra Nevada,
making the state’s water supply largely dependent on the health
of Sierra forests. But those forests are suffering from ecosystem
degradation, drought, wildfires and widespread tree mortality.
On our Headwaters Tour
June 27-28, we will visit Eldorado and Tahoe national forests to
learn about new forest management practices, including efforts to
both prevent wildfires and recover from them.
Stakeholders throughout the Colorado
River Basin just wrapped up arduous negotiations on a drought
plan considered critical to keeping water levels in Lake Mead,
the nation’s largest-capacity reservoir, from falling to
unacceptable levels.
There’s little time to rest, however. Stakeholders are expected
to begin the even more difficult task of hammering out
sweeping new guidelines for delivering water and sharing
shortages that could re-imagine how the overworked river is
managed. The existing interim guidelines, first adopted in 2007,
are due to expire in 2026.
The California coast is known for
its scenic landscape, but the beauty belies a region chronically
prone to drought, mudslides and wildfire.
On our August Edge of
Drought Tour, we’re venturing into the Santa Barbara
area to learn about the water challenges and the steps being
taken to boost supplies.
Get a firsthand view of California’s
diverse water resource issues with two of our summer tours — to
the Sierra Nevada headwaters that were blessed this winter with a
plentiful snowpack, and a Southern California coastal region
chronically prone to drought.
On tap this June is a new route for our Headwaters Tour as we
head into the Sierra Nevada mountains, where 60% of California’s
developed water supply originates. With the health of our Sierra
forests suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought, wildfires
and widespread tree mortality, we’ll examine water issues that
happen upstream but have dramatic impacts downstream and
throughout the state. Among our stops is a pilot project for
thinning the forest in the Yuba River watershed.
Big Day of Giving is today, and your
donation can help the Foundation continue its work to enhance
public understanding about California’s most important
natural resource – water.
Big Day of
Giving is an annual 24-hour online event aimed at
raising funds for nonprofits in the Sacramento region and
highlighting the good work they do. You can make your Big Day of
Giving donation until midnight tonight.
Join us for an open house
and reception on Thursday, May 2, at our office in midtown
Sacramento, where you can meet our staff and learn more about
what we do to educate and foster public understanding of water
resource issues in California and the Southwest.
The Water Education Foundation has been doing this work for more
than 40 years! This open house, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30
p.m., is an ideal time to meet some of the people behind our
Water Leaders program for early to mid-career professionals, our
tours and workshops, our Project WET teacher training and
our Western Water online news.
Our upcoming tours will explore diverse areas of California where
attendees can learn about the water-related issues in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the headwaters in the Sierra Nevada
and the coastal areas around Santa Barbara.
Registration is now open
for our newest tour, called Edge of Drought, which will
travel through Southern California and the Santa Barbara region
Aug. 27-29. The tour starts and ends in Burbank.
Learn more about how water is used
in California and across the West for people, farms and the
environment with one of our poster-size water maps – and today, on
Earth Day, you can get these beautiful wall maps for 25% off the
list price.
Use the discount code EARTHDAY19 at checkout. This 25% discount
is good on all our maps, but only until midnight.
Come join us for an open house and
reception on Thursday, May 2 at our office in midtown
Sacramento, where you can meet our staff and learn more about
what we do to educate and foster public understanding of water
resource issues in California and the Southwest.
The Water Education Foundation has been around in California for
more than 40 years! This open house, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30
p.m., is an ideal time to meet some of the people behind our
Water Leaders program for early to mid-career professionals, our
tours and workshops, our Project WET teacher training and
our Western Water online news.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta,
the largest estuary on the West Coast, is a vital hub in
California’s complex water delivery system as well as a rich
farming region, an important wetlands area – and often, a source
of conflict.
On our annual Bay-Delta Tour
June 5-7, participants will hear from a diverse group of
experts including water managers, environmentalists, farmers,
engineers and scientists who will offer various perspectives on
the latest news in the region.
Join us May 2 for an open house and
reception at our midtown Sacramento office to meet our staff
and learn more about what we do to educate and foster
understanding of California’s most precious natural resource —
water.
At the open house, you can enjoy refreshments and chat with our
staff about our tours, conferences, maps, publications and
training programs for teachers and up-and-coming water industry
professionals. You’ll also be able to learn more about how you
can support our work.
The Water Education Foundation is
your trusted go-to source for impartial news, information and
background on water resources in California and the Southwest.
Our flagship publication, Western Water, has
been written and edited by Foundation journalists for more than
40 years.
In one of our latest articles, we looked at how water
managers in Kern County, with its $7 billion a year farm economy,
were striving to devise a plan that manages and protects
groundwater for the long term yet ensures the county’s economy
can continue to thrive, even with less water. We also recently
reported on a talk by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt
in which he urged creation of a Bay-Delta Compact as a way to end
a “culture of conflict” in California’s key water hub, the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is
the West Coast’s largest estuary and a vital hub in California’s
complex water delivery system. It’s also a rich farming area, an
important wetland and an ecologically troubled region.
On our Bay-Delta Tour June
5-7, participants will hear from a diverse group of experts
including water managers, environmentalists, farmers, engineers
and scientists who will offer various perspectives on a proposed
tunnel project that would carry water beneath the Delta, efforts
to revitalize the Delta and risks that threaten its delicate
ecological balance.
World Water Day is today, March 22,
and to mark the occasion the Foundation is offering a special
25 percent discount on our beautiful poster-size maps,
layperson’s guides and other water publications.
Use the promo code WORLDWATERDAY19 when checking
out of our online store.
Time may be running short to
register for our Central Valley Tour April 3-5, but get ahead
on your summer plans now by signing up for a Foundation
water tour to learn about key water resource issues in
California.
On tap this June is our Bay-Delta Tour that traverses the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a 720,000-acre network of islands
and canals that supports the state’s water system and is
California’s most crucial water and ecological resource.
Sign up today to attend next week’s Santa Ana River Watershed
Conference in Orange County, where engaging and informative
discussions on the region’s most pressing water issues will take
place.
Officials from the California Department of Water Resources, the
Public Policy Institute of California and the Water Education
Foundation will join regional water managers and federal agency
representatives at the daylong event,
“Moving
Forward Together: From Planning to Action Across the
Watershed“ at Cal State Fullerton.
For the bulk of her career, Jayne
Harkins has devoted her energy to issues associated with the
management of the Colorado River, both with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
Now her career is taking a different direction. In a Western Water Q&A, Harkins talks about her new
role and her priorities as U.S. Commissioner of the United States
section of the International Boundary and Water Commission. The
U.S.-Mexico agency oversees myriad water matters between the two
countries as they seek to sustainably manage the supply and water
quality of the Colorado River, including its once-thriving Delta
in Mexico, and other rivers the two countries share.
Recent rains have left the San
Joaquin Valley’s reservoirs in better shape, but groundwater
depletion and the resulting ground subsidence continue to beset
farmers and water managers. What will this year hold? How are
regional stakeholders meeting the requirements of the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act? And will there be enough water this
year to satisfy the competing needs of farms, people and the
environment?
Your best opportunity to understand the challenges and
opportunities of this vital resource in the nation’s breadbasket
is to join us on our Central Valley Tour April
3-5.
Former Interior Secretary and
Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt will be the distinguished speaker
at the
2019 Anne J. Schneider Lecture on April 3 at the Crocker Art
Museum in downtown Sacramento.
Babbitt’s talk is titled “Parting the Waters — Will It Take a
Miracle?”
The event begins at 4 p.m. in the Crocker Art Museum’s Setzer
Auditorium. The lecture will be followed by a conversation with
Ellen Hanak, director of the Public Policy Institute of
California’s Water Policy Center, and a reception. Here
is where to sign up for the event, which is free.
