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announcements about upcoming events, tours, new Western
Water articles on key water topics and more!
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This is National Groundwater Awareness Week and we have an array
of groundwater-related events and resources to help you deepen
your knowledge of this vital part of California’s water resources
and keep up with developments as they happen.
As climate whiplash grips California and much of the West, water
challenges intensify. Our Water 101 Workshop on
Feb. 23 in Sacramento is your once-a-year
opportunity to gain a foundational understanding of water in the
state and learn more about the impacts of changing hydrology.
Registration closes this Friday.
Also, registration is now open for our two spring water
tours, the Central Valley Tour April 26-28 and
Bay-Delta Tour May 17-19. You can see a
full schedule and save the dates for all of our 2023 popular
tours here.
Don’t miss a once-a-year opportunity at our
one-day Water 101 Workshop on Feb. 23
in Sacramento to gain a deeper understanding of the state’s most
precious natural resource.
Plus, mark your calendars now for our full slate of
popular water tours this year that will give you a
firsthand look at the water facilities, rivers and regions
critical in the debate about the future of water resources.
Attendance at our
annual Water
101 Workshop includes the option of
participating in a daylong ‘watershed’ journey on Friday,
Feb. 24, that will take you from the foothills of
the Sierra Nevada, along the American River and into the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The tour includes an on-the-water lunch cruise aboard the
River City Queen as we head down the
Sacramento River from the confluence of the American River
to the community of Freeport, the “Gateway to the Delta.”
Among the tour stops are Folsom Lake, Nimbus Dam, salmon spawning
habitat in the American River, Freeport Regional Water
Facility, Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge,
Delta farmland and the Delta Cross Channel.
Led by Foundation staff and featuring a host of other water
experts, the tour will also include a firsthand look at efforts
to better handle the effects of climate change through a
“Supershed
Approach” that stretches from the headwaters to the valley
floor.
Twenty-two early to mid-career
water professionals from across California have been chosen for
the 2023 William R. Gianelli Water Leaders Class, the Water
Education Foundation’s highly competitive and respected career
development program.
This Water Leaders cohort includes engineers, lawyers, resource
specialists, scientists and others from a range of public and
private entities and nongovernmental organizations from
throughout the state. The roster for the 2023
class can be found
here.
Seats are full but a waitlist is now
available for our popular Lower Colorado River
TourMarch 8-10 that takes
participants from Hoover Dam and weaves south along the river
through Nevada, Arizona and California to learn
firsthand about the challenges and opportunities now facing the
“Lifeline of the Southwest.”
Don’t miss a once-a-year
opportunity at our Water
101 Workshop to get a primer on California’s
water history, laws, geography and politics.
One of our most popular events, the annual workshop will be
hosted at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento
on Thursday, Feb. 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 directly with the guest
speakers during Q&A sessions.
Four new members bringing a wide
range of water resource experiences and perspectives have joined
the Water Education Foundation Board. They include
representatives from Environmental Defense Fund, a Southern
California water agency, an engineer and a water policy manager
for a municipal utility association.
They join a volunteer board of more than 30
directors representing a broad cross-section of
water, education, business, environmental, agricultural and
public interest communities that governs the Foundation, an
impartial nonprofit
based in Sacramento.
The Water Education Foundation has
unveiled an
interactive online tour of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta that offers viewers and readers a broad overview of
the heart of California water – its history and development, its
importance as an ecological resource and water hub and the array
of challenges it faces.
Titled “Exploring the Heart of California Water,” the online
tour, built as a story map, guides readers and viewers through
different facets of the Delta. It includes the Delta’s history
and the people – including the Native American tribes – who have
lived there, the fish and wildlife that depend on its waters and
its role as a crossroads for federal, state and local water
projects.
One of the Foundation’s most popular
events, our daylong Water
101 Workshop on Feb. 23 offers a
once-a-year opportunity for anyone new to California water issues
or newly elected to a water district board — and really anyone
who wants a refresher — to gain a solid statewide grounding
of California’s most precious natural resource.
Hosted at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, Water 101 details
the history, hydrology and law behind water management in
California and is taught by some of the state’s leading policy
and legal experts.
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 2022.
As we turn the page to 2023, flood-swamping atmospheric rivers have put a dent in our drought in California and across the West. Time will tell just how much. Ideally we want storms more spaced out through the winter. However they come, you can always keep up with the latest drought/flood/snowpack developments of our “feast or famine” water world with our weekday news aggregate known as Aquafornia.
At the Foundation, our array of 2023 programming begins later this month as we welcome our incoming Water Leadersclass. We’ll be sure to introduce them to you and let you know what thorny California water policy topic they’ll be attempting to solve.
Registration for the Foundation’s early 2023 programming is now
open, so don’t miss once-a-year opportunities
for our Water 101 Workshop Feb. 23 and
our Lower Colorado River Tour March 8-10.
Find more information and registration details below.
With persistent drought and climate
change challenging water supplies in California and across the
West, it has never been more important to be informed about our
most vital natural resource. Our tours, events and publications
help educate and inspire understanding about water.
Your support helps
make that work possible.
With 2022 coming to a close, registration for the Foundation’s
early 2023 programming is right around the corner. Don’t
miss the once-a-year opportunities for our
Water 101 Workshop in February and our
Lower Colorado River Tour in March.
Mark your calendars now for the week of Jan. 9
when registration will open for both events.
The Water Education Foundation’s
seventh edition of the Layperson’s
Guide to Water Conservation is hot off the
press and available for purchase. With California and the West in
the grip of persistent drought, the guide provides an excellent
overview of the forces driving conservation and the measures
water users are taking to more efficiently use our most vital
natural resource.
The 20-page guide covers such topics as how drought and climate
change are affecting California and the Colorado River Basin, how
some Southwestern cities are stretching supplies, the impact of
landscape choices on water use, how farms are changing to more
efficient irrigation practices, and what homeowners can to do
save water.
Our 2022 Water Leaders class
completed its year with a report outlining policy recommendations
for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Water Quality Control Plan
update.
The cohort of 20
up-and-coming leaders from various water-related
fields – engineers, attorneys, planners, scientists and
those from the environmental and agricultural sectors – had
full editorial control to choose recommendations.
Attend a Southern California workshop this Thursday or join
virtually to find out more about what’s in store for Water Year
2023.
Apply for the 2023 cohort of our popular Water Leaders
program by tomorrow (Dec. 7) at 5 p.m.
Support water education with year-end donation or workplace
giving programs.
Take advantage of a holiday special on a California water
book.
Winter Outlook Workshop in Irvine, Dec. 8
Don’t miss our Winter Outlook
Workshop in Irvine this Thursday, Dec. 8, to
hear what may be ahead for California’s water supply in 2023 as
well as the latest improvements to snowmelt runoff forecasts.
This one-day workshop will include insight into whether La
Niña conditions projected to persist into this winter really mean
anything as a predictor in the new reality of climate whiplash.
Speakers include:
Mike Anderson, California’s state climatologist, who will
provide a recap of Water Year 2022 and a look at
prospects for Water Year 2023
Sean DeGuzman, Chief of Snow Surveys and Water Supply
Forecasting for the California Department of Water Resources, who
will talk about improvements to snowmelt runoff
forecasting
Emerson Lajoie, meteorologist at NOAA’s Climate Prediction
Center, who will talk about the the
center’s experimental Water Year outlook
You can
view a full agenda here. The event is ideal for
anyone involved in managing, modeling or forecasting water
resources or anyone simply interested in hearing the latest
science.
Hear what may be ahead for
California’s water supply in 2023 as well as the latest
improvements to snowmelt runoff forecasts at our Winter
Outlook Workshop next Thursday, Dec. 8 in
Southern California.
The one-day workshop in Irvine will include insight into whether
La Niña conditions projected to persist into this winter really
mean anything as a predictor in the new reality of climate
whiplash. You also will learn about what is and isn’t known
in forecasting winter precipitation weeks to months ahead, the
skill of present forecasts and ongoing research to develop
predictive ability.
This event is ideal for anyone involved in managing, modeling or
forecasting water resources or anyone simply interested in
hearing the latest science.
