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Overview Jenn Bowles

About Us

Who We Are

Facing the challenges of sustainably managing and sharing water, our most precious natural resource, requires collaboration, education and outreach. Since 1977, the Water Education Foundation has put water resource issues in California and the West in context to inspire a deep understanding of and appreciation for water. 

Taking a steady pulse of the water world, the Foundation offers educational materials, tours of key watersheds, water news, water leadership training and conferences that bring together diverse voices. By providing tools and platforms for engagement with wide audiences, we aim to help build sound and collective solutions to water issues.

What We Do

We support and execute a wide variety of programming to build a better understanding of water resources across the West, including:

Why Water?

Mission: The mission of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit, is to inspire understanding of water and catalyze critical conversations to build bridges and inform collaborative decision-making 

Vision: A society that has the ability to resolve its water challenges to benefit all

Where We Work

Our office is located in Sacramento, CA.

Connect with Us!

Sign up here to get email announcements about upcoming workshops, tours and new publications.

You can learn more about the daily comings and goings of the Foundation by following @WaterEdFdn on Twitter, liking us on Facebook or following us on LinkedIn.

Announcement

Don’t Miss Opportunity to Examine Dire Salton Sea News Firsthand
Just a Few Seats Remain for our Lower Colorado River Tour Feb. 27-March 1

As a plan to ensure water for millions of people in the drought-gripped Colorado River Basin is held up by funding demands to restore the shrinking Salton Sea, ominous predictions about the desert lake’s ecological collapse are beginning to occur. Recent reports have found some birds that rely on this important stop on the Pacific Flyway are dying along its shores and some are not showing up at all.

In the meantime, a water utility that serves the Imperial Valley, where the Salton Sea is located in southeastern California, wants $200 million from the federal government for the lake’s restoration efforts before signing the Drought Contingency Plan for the Colorado River.

You can see this sea up close during our Lower Colorado River Tour, Feb. 27-March 1, when we will visit the fragile ecosystem and hear from several stakeholders working to address challenges facing the sea.

Announcement

Water Education Foundation Is Your Go-To Source For News And Information

Water Education Foundation is your go-to source for news and information about water in California and the West.

Each weekday, we compile Aquafornia, a roundup of major water news from around California, the Colorado River Basin and the western United States.

We produce our own journalism in Western Water, our flagship online publication offering in-depth examinations of critical water issues as well as shorter notebook articles on interesting water topics, spotlight stories offering a look at innovative projects and Q&A’s with newsmakers.

Announcement

We’re Hiring! Join the Foundation as a Programs and Communications Specialist
We're seeking someone keenly interested in water issues to plan conferences, workshops and do multimedia

Join the team at the Water Education Foundation, a nonprofit in Sacramento that has been a trusted source of water news and educational programs in California and across the West for more than 40 years.

We have a full-time opening for an enthusiastic, team-oriented, multitasking Programs & Communications Specialist at our office in midtown Sacramento.

Western Water Gary Pitzer

California Officials Draft a $600M Plan To Help Low-Income Households Absorb Rising Water Bills
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: State Water Board report proposes new taxes on personal and business income or fees on bottled water and booze to fund rate relief program

Filling a glass with clean water from the kitchen tap.Low-income Californians can get help with their phone bills, their natural gas bills and their electric bills. But there’s only limited help available when it comes to water bills.

That could change if the recommendations of a new report are implemented into law. Drafted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the report outlines the possible components of a program to assist low-income households facing rising water bills.

Announcement

Become a Sponsor or Exhibitor at the Santa Ana River Watershed Conference
Registration open for March 29 event in Orange County; some scholarships available

The Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority and the Water Education Foundation are once again teaming up to produce the 2019 Santa Ana River Watershed Conference on March 29 at Cal State Fullerton.

Announcement

2019 Water Leaders Class Examines Impact of Wildfires on Water Resources
Up-and-coming water professionals chosen for highly competitive program

Twenty-three early to mid-career water professionals from across California have been chosen for the 2019 William R. Gianelli Water Leaders Class, the Water Education Foundation’s highly competitive and respected career development program.

Announcement

Updated Colorado River Layperson’s Guide Explores Drought Planning, Tribal Water Rights, Binational Agreements
Newly updated, the guide offers a "mini-textbook" to history, key agreements and challenges

Our popular Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River has just been updated to reflect the latest developments along America’s most contested and meticulously managed river, including efforts to reach agreement on a critical drought contingency plan, an assessment of certain tribal water rights and a new binational water agreement with Mexico.

The Colorado River provides water to more than 35 million people and 4 million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some 246,000 square miles in the southwestern United States and Mexico.

Announcement

California’s Complicated Water Rights System Explained at Feb. 7 Water 101 Workshop
Hop on the bus for the optional one-day groundwater tour the next day

McGeorge Law School professor Jennifer Harder will lead a Water 101 session on California  water law on Feb. 7. Who owns California’s water? 

The State Water Resources Control Board’s recently approved plan to increase flows through the San Joaquin River and its tributaries to help improve conditions for fish in the Bay-Delta estuary sparked passionate arguments over who holds the rights to California’s waters — and whose rights are senior to others. 

So what’s the difference between a senior water right and a junior water right? Or a riparian right and an appropriative right? How are they determined? And how does the concept of public trust come into play?

Announcement

Explore Ecological Challenges Facing the Salton Sea on Our Lower Colorado River Tour Feb. 27-March 1
Get an ‘early bird’ ticket to see this important stop on the Pacific Flyway and hear experts on efforts to aid state’s largest inland water body

Salton SeaThe Salton Sea, California’s largest inland body of water and an important stop on the Pacific Flyway, is struggling ecologically and shrinking as water is transferred from surrounding desert farms to urban San Diego County.

On our Lower Colorado River Tour, Feb. 27-March 1, we will visit this fragile ecosystem that harbors 400 bird species and hear from several stakeholders working to address challenges facing the sea, including managers of the Imperial Irrigation District, the Salton Sea Authority and California’s appointed “Sea Czar,” assistant secretary on Salton Sea policy Bruce Wilcox.

Key California Ag Region Ponders What’s Next After Voters Spurn Bond to Fix Sinking Friant-Kern Canal
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Subsidence chokes off up to 60% of canal’s capacity to move water to aid San Joaquin Valley farms and depleted groundwater basins

Water is up to the bottom of a bridge crossing the Friant-Kern Canal due to subsidence caused by overpumping of groundwater. The whims of political fate decided in 2018 that state bond money would not be forthcoming to help repair the subsidence-damaged parts of Friant-Kern Canal, the 152-mile conduit that conveys water from the San Joaquin River to farms that fuel a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy along the east side of the fertile San Joaquin Valley.

Announcement

Roster of Speakers, Agenda Unveiled for Feb. 7 Water 101 Workshop
Learn about California water basics and go beyond the headlines; jump on the bus for the optional groundwater tour the next day

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta channelLearn from top experts at our annual Water 101 Workshop about the history, hydrology and law behind California water as well as hot topics such as water flows, the Delta, disadvantaged communities and the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. For the first time, the workshop offers an optional groundwater tour the next day.

Announcement

Water 101 Offers Newbies and Veteran Hands A Chance To Gain Deeper Understanding Of Water
Feb. 7th workshop in Sacramento to include optional one-day Groundwater Tour the next day

The 2018 Water 101 workshop at McGeorge School of Law. One of our most popular events, Water 101 offers a once-a-year opportunity for anyone new to California water issues or newly elected to a water district board – and anyone who wants a refresher — to gain a deeper understanding of the state’s most precious natural resource.

Water 101, to be held Feb. 7 at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, details the history, geography, legal and political facets of water in California, as well as hot topics currently facing the state. The workshop is taught by some of California’s leading policy and legal experts, and for the first time will include an optional daylong tour examining one of the state’s most critical resources, groundwater.

Announcement

Registration Now Open for All 2019 Water Tours
Highlights include new tour of California’s Central Coast and new route for Headwaters Tour in the Sierra Nevada

You can now register for our full slate of water tours for 2019, including a new tour along California’s Central Coast to view a river’s restoration following a major dam removal, check out efforts to desalt ocean water, recycle wastewater and manage groundwater and seawater intrusion. We’ll also take a new route for our Headwaters Tour to check out a pilot project for thinning the forest in the Yuba River watershed.

Western Water Douglas E. Beeman

Women Leading in Water, Colorado River Drought and Promising Solutions — Western Water Year in Review

Dear Western Water readers:

Women named in the last year to water leadership roles (clockwise, from top left): Karla Nemeth, director, California Department of Water Resources; Gloria Gray,  chair, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Brenda Burman, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner; Jayne Harkins,  commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico; Amy Haas, executive director, Upper Colorado River Commission.The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.

These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.

We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:

Announcement Jenn Bowles

What’s a New Year Without a Few Changes at the Water Education Foundation?
Read about new tours, new Water 101 focus and new Aquafornia curator in Executive Director's letter

Happy New Year to all the friends, supporters, readers, and tour and workshop participants of the Water Education Foundation! 

As we turn the page on 2018, we are looking ahead to a few changes for 2019.

Western Water Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

As Colorado River Stakeholders Draft a Drought Plan, the Margin for Error in Managing Water Supplies Narrows
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Climate report and science studies point toward a drier Basin with less runoff and a need to re-evaluate water management

This aerial view of Hoover Dam shows how far the level of Lake Mead has fallen due to ongoing drought conditions.As stakeholders labor to nail down effective and durable drought contingency plans for the Colorado River Basin, they face a stark reality: Scientific research is increasingly pointing to even drier, more challenging times ahead.

The latest sobering assessment landed the day after Thanksgiving, when U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Fourth National Climate Assessment concluded that Earth’s climate is changing rapidly compared to the pace of natural variations that have occurred throughout its history, with greenhouse gas emissions largely the cause.

Announcement

Register Now for Popular Water 101 Workshop to Gain A Firm Grounding in California Water
Feb. 7th workshop in Sacramento to include optional one-day Groundwater Tour

The 2018 Water 101 workshop at McGeorge School of Law. Register now for one of our most popular events – Water 101, which for the first time will include an optional daylong tour examining one of California’s most critical resources, groundwater.

Water 101, to be held Feb. 7 at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, details the history, geography, legal and political facets of water in California as well as hot topics currently facing the state. Taught by some of California’s leading policy and legal experts, the workshop gives attendees a deeper understanding of the state’s most precious natural resource.

Announcement

Visit Lake Mead And Hear Firsthand About Major Drought Plans During Colorado River Tour in Late February
Lower Colorado River Tour brings hot topics to life with stops at Hoover Dam, Salton Sea, farms and wildlife areas

Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.Hear firsthand about recent efforts to reach agreement on a drought contingency plan and see the bathtub ring around Lake Mead, now only 38 percent full after 19 years of drought, during our Lower Colorado River Tour Feb. 27 – March 1.

As the tour weaves along the Colorado River, participants will see and learn about the important role water from the river plays in the three Lower Basin states of Nevada, Arizona and California, and how it helps to sustain their cities, farms and wildlife areas.

Announcement

Last Chance: These Holiday Deals on Water Knowledge End At Midnight
50% off Water & the Shaping of California; 20% off maps, guides, teacher resources; $15 off Water More or Less

Don’t miss this last chance to score a sweet holiday deal for anyone interested in water in California and the Southwest: The paperback “Water & the Shaping of California,” a treasure trove of gorgeous color photos, historic maps, water literature and famous sayings about water for just $17.50 — a 50% discount

That is just one of the special holiday deals from the Foundation. We’re also offering a 20% discount on our popular water maps, guides, teacher resources and more, and $15 off copies of “Water More or Less.” 

Announcement

Groundwater a Major Focus of Water 101 Workshop in February
Feb. 7 workshop includes session on groundwater and Sustainable Groundwater Management Act; optional groundwater tour held the next day

Our popular Water 101 Workshop is a once-a-year opportunity to get a solid grounding on the history, legal and regulatory facets of California’s most precious natural resource.

Our Feb. 7 workshop in Sacramento will feature a special focus on groundwater, which provides roughly 40 percent of the state’s water supply in an average year and much more during drought years when creeks, rivers and reservoirs are strapped.