Our 2022 Water Summit, the Water Education Foundation’s premier event of the year, featured engaging conversations about critical issues impacting water statewide and across the West revolving around the theme: Rethinking Water in the West.

The in-person event was hosted on Thursday, October 27, at The Westin Sacramento and included lunch and an evening reception along California’s largest and longest river, the Sacramento River, for an opportunity to network with speakers and other attendees.

Conversations at the Summit revolved around rethinking of water management, water rights, groundwater and other related issues in light of drought and climate change.

Speakers included Mike Anderson, California’s state climatologist with the California Department of Water Resources; Felicia Marcus, former State Water Board chair now with Stanford’s Water in the West program; Nancy Vogel, deputy secretary for water at the California Natural Resources Agency; The Nature Conservancy’s Sandi Matsumoto, who also sits on the California Water Commission; and DWR’s Paul Gosselin, who provided an update on SGMA.  

The Summit’s keynote speaker was science journalist and author Erica Gies, whose book, Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge, explores what she calls “Slow Water” innovations that can potentially offer resilience to the increasing severity of droughts and floods brought on by climate change. She signed copies of her book, which were available for purchase at the Summit.

View full agenda here

In its 38th year, the Water Summit was an ideal event for water district managers and board members, state and federal agency officials, city and county government officials, farmers, environmentalists, attorneys, consultants, engineers, business executives and public interest groups.

Sponsorship Opportunities:

Why sponsor the Water Summit?

• Gain publicity for your organization at one of California’s premier water conferences, attended by decision-makers, water agency personnel & board members, state & federal agency representatives and many more
• Receive complimentary tickets to attend the event for members of your organization or your guests
• Receive several benefits at the event, where lunch and the reception were held outside with a lovely view of the Sacramento River

Sponsorships were available for breaks, lunch and the networking reception.

Location Details:

Our 2022 Water Summit was hosted in person at The Westin Sacramento, 4800 Riverside Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95822.

Check-in began at 9 a.m. and the hosted reception began at 5 p.m.

Pricing Details:

Registration included refreshments & materials, gourmet lunch and a hosted reception along the Sacramento River.

Foundation members, either individual or organizational, received a $100 discount on registration for this event. Not a member of the Foundation? Become a member now to receive registration discounts in addition to all the great benefits of Foundation membership!

• General Admission: $385
• Foundation Member: $285

Event Timing:

Check-in for the event began at 9 a.m. and the first speaker started at 9:30 a.m. The conference concluded around 5 p.m. at which time a reception began along the Sacramento River.

Continuing Education Credits:

Continuing education credits were available for California attorneys for an additional fee, and were available for water plant/wastewater plant operators and other vocations/professions.

COVID-19 Policy:

The Foundation continues to monitor any new developments with COVID-19, but an inherent risk of exposure exists in any place where people gather. All attendees considered their personal choices around harm reduction and risk tolerance in the face of current variants and the likelihood of additional variants emerging in the future.

Acceptance of an assumption of risk waiver was required during registration for the event.

We asked registrants not to attend if, within 72 hours of the event date, they had experienced symptoms of COVID-19 (e.g., a fever of 100.4F or higher, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking muscle pain/achiness, headache, sore throat, loss of taste or smell, nasal congestion, runny nose, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue or any other symptoms associated with COVID-19 identified by the CDC).

Regardless of vaccination status, if any attendee tested positive or was exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 within 5 days of the event date, they had to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of the event date.

Cancellation & Refund Policy:

Deadline to cancel and receive a refund was two weeks prior to the event. Substitutions were allowed up to three business days before the event. Eventbrite fees are nonrefundable and the remaining amount was subject to an additional processing fee.

Staying at The Westin Sacramento:

The Foundation set aside a limited number of discounted hotel rooms at The Westin Sacramento for Water Summit attendees. Rooms were available for both Oct. 26th & 27th on a first come, first served basis. The deadline to reserve the room rate was Oct. 8.