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The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is
the West Coast’s largest estuary, a vital hub in California’s
complex water delivery system and a rich farming area. But the
region faces myriad challenges.
On our annual Bay-Delta Tour May
17-19, 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. You’ll also hear firsthand from
people who rely on the Pacific salmon fishery for their
livelihoods and learn why there is likely to be a fishing ban
this season despite one of the wettest winters on record in
California.
California’s climate whiplash has
been on full display in the San Joaquin Valley this winter as the
region has shifted from managing three years of drought
impacts to enduring widespread flooding following a series of
intense atmospheric rivers. Our Central Valley Tour at
the end of April is your best opportunity to
understand both the challenges and opportunities of water
management in the region.
The 3-day, 2-night tour tour weaves around and across the entire
valley to give you a firsthand look at farms, wetlands and
major infrastructure such as Friant Dam in the Sierra Nevada
foothills near Fresno and San Luis Reservoir in the
Coastal Range near Los Banos, the nation’s largest off-stream
reservoir and a key water facility serving both the State Water
Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
As the year comes to a close, so does our schedule of educational
programming with just two more virtual journeys remaining this
Thursday and next Tuesday. And don’t miss your chance this
Thursday to learn more about applying for our 2022 Water
Leaders program, now in its 25th
year.
You still have an opportunity to experience the Foundation’s remaining virtual
journeys this fall (see below) as your favorite
tour guide Nick Gray whisks you
away to explore key California rivers and water
regions. Each tour will run from 2:30-5:30 p.m.
PT and includes:
An overview presentation of the region’s
critical topics
A guided video tour of key locations — farms,
wetlands, dams and reservoirs, wildlife habitats — to gain a
stronger understanding on a variety of water supply issues and
the latest policy developments
Live Q&A with experts in chat rooms so
participants can dive deeper into the topics, including the
drought gripping California.
Join us May 4 for our annual
Open
House & Reception at our office near the Sacramento
River to meet our team and learn more about what we do to educate
and foster understanding of California’s most precious natural
resource — water!
Register today
for our most popular tour, the Bay-Delta Tour May
17-19, and join us as we venture into the most
critical and controversial water region in California, the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The 720,000-acre network of islands and channels supports
the state’s two large water systems – the State Water Project and
the federal Central Valley Project – and together with the San
Francisco Bay is an important ecological resource.
You’ll learn firsthand how the drought-to-deluge of 2023 has
affected the water quality and supply that serves local
farms, cities and habitat. Much of the water heads south via
canals and aqueducts to provide drinking water for more than 27
million Californians and irrigation to about 3 million acres of
farmland that helps feed the nation.
The feast or famine nature of
California water has never been more apparent than now. After
three years of punishing drought, the state has been slammed by a
dozen atmospheric rivers.
On our Central
Valley Tournext month, you will see the
ramifications of this nature in action. Focusing on the San
Joaquin Valley, the tour will bring you up close to farmers,
cities and disadvantaged communities as well
as managers trying to capture flood waters to augment
overpumped groundwater basins while also protecting communities
from damaging flood impacts.
Tiny pieces of plastic shed from
food wrappers, grocery bags, clothing, cigarette butts, tires and
paint are invading the environment and every facet of daily life.
Researchers know the plastic particles have even made it into
municipal water supplies, but very little data exists about the
scope of microplastic contamination in drinking water.
After years of planning, California is embarking on a
first-of-its-kind data-gathering mission to illuminate how
prevalent microplastics are in the state’s largest drinking water
sources. The latest Western Water article by our
journalism team explores California’s groundbreaking program
that could help regulators determine whether microplastics
are a public health threat and lead to the world’s first standard
for microplastics in drinking water.
Join us May 4 for an open house and
reception at our office near the Sacramento River to meet our
team 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
team 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 – and you’ll have a chance to win prizes!
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.
