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:
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.
Our 2021 Water Leaders class
completed its year with a report outlining policy recommendations
for achieving water equity in California.
The class of 23 up-and-coming
leaders from various water-related fields – engineers,
attorneys, planners, environmentalists and scientists – had full
editorial control to choose recommendations.
Land and waterway managers labored
hard over the course of a century to control California’s unruly
rivers by building dams and levees to slow and contain their
water. Now, farmers, environmentalists and agencies are undoing
some of that work as part of an accelerating campaign to restore
the state’s major floodplains.
Apply by Dec. 7 for our 2022
Water Leaders class and be part of the cohort that will mark the
25th anniversary of California’s pre-eminent water leadership
program.
The Water Leaders class, which started in 1997, is aimed at
providing a deeper understanding of California water issues
and building leadership skills by working with a mentor, studying
a water-related topic in-depth and crafting policy
recommendations on that topic with your cohort.
The deadline to apply for the 2022 class is Dec.
7 at 5 p.m. Find the online application form and other
required items for your application
package here.
You can more easily support the
important work done by the Water Education Foundation in
California and across the West by making a tax-deductible gift
via a one-time payroll deduction through your employer or a set
amount per pay period.
The contributions through Workplace Giving programs support our
nonprofit’s mission to inspire understanding of water and
catalyze critical conversations to build bridges and inform
collaborative decision-making.
Applications are now available for
our yearlong Water
Leaders class.
One of our most popular programs, the Water Leaders class is
aimed at providing a deeper understanding of California
water issues and building leadership skills with class members by
studying a water-related topic in-depth and working with a
mentor.
Register today for
our Water Summit,
hosted this year as an engaging virtual experience on the
afternoon of Oct. 28, to hear a variety of
perspectives detailing the on-the-ground impacts of the the
current drought in California.
Applications will soon be available
for our yearlong Water Leaders class, which will mark its 25th
year in 2022, so now is the time to start polishing those resumes
and seeking support from employers.
One of our most popular programs, the William R. “Bill” Gianelli Water
Leaders class is aimed at providing a deeper
understanding of California water issues and building leadership
skills with class members by studying a water-related topic
in-depth and working with a mentor.
Register now for next week’s virtual
Northern
California Tour on Oct. 14 to explore the
Sacramento River and its tributaries and learn about issues
associated with a key source for the state’s water supply,
including the drought now gripping California.
During the afternoon online event, you’ll visit rice farms and
wetlands in the Sacramento Valley and hear from farmers and
environmentalists about efforts to restore runs of endangered
chinook salmon and help birds along the Pacific Flyway. You’ll
also get up close to Oroville Dam, a key component of the State
Water Project, and learn how its two spillways were repaired
following a catastrophic 2017 storm, and visit other major
infrastructure such as Shasta Dam, part of the federal Central
Valley Project. In addition, you’ll visit the area being eyed for
the proposed Sites Reservoir. Seating on the virtual “tour
bus” is limited, so get your ticket
here.
Registration is now open for the
Foundation’s Water Summit,
hosted this year as an engaging virtual experience on the
afternoon of Oct. 28, followed by an optional in-person
reception during an open-air cruise along the Sacramento River.
With the theme, Pivoting Today’s Pain into Tomorrow’s
Gain, the online event will examine what’s being
done to get through the drought now gripping California and
highlight some of the innovative programs, projects and
partnerships aimed at addressing the challenges.
Our annual premier event now in its 37th year, the Water
Summit features policymakers, water managers and
other water experts who will provide the latest information
and viewpoints on issues affecting water across California and
the West.
The Foundation’s virtual
journeys will whisk you away to explore California’s
key rivers and water regions this fall from the Sacramento River
to the headwaters in the Sierras.
Plus, our annual Water Summit will feature water
managers and other water experts who are dealing with the “new
normal” as unprecedented drought and wildfires challenge the
status quo.
The Water Education Foundation’s
just-released 2020 Annual Report recaps how, even in
the midst of a global pandemic, we continued educating about the
most crucial natural resource in California and the West –
water.
The annual report takes readers along to see the array of
educational events, trainings and articles we produced last year,
including engaging virtual water
tours that educated participants on pressing water
issues and allowed them to interact with each other and a wide
range of experts offering different viewpoints.
Join us next Thursday,
Sept. 9, for an engaging online Bay-Delta
Tour that will feature live Q&A with key experts on the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the state’s vital water hub and the
West Coast’s largest freshwater tidal estuary.
You’ll learn about Delta ecosystem restoration, impacts to
ocean fisheries from changes in the Delta, agriculture and
municipal water use and the Delta’s role in supplying water to
Southern California. You’ll hear from farmers, fish biologists,
water managers, people working on restoration efforts and
more. Plus, you’ll get your hands on the newest update of our
Layperson’s
Guide to the Delta, published in 2020.
Water is flowing once again
to the Colorado River’s delta in Mexico, a vast region that
was once a natural splendor before the iconic Western river was
dammed and diverted at the turn of the last century, essentially
turning the delta into a desert.
In 2012, the idea emerged that water could be intentionally sent
down the river to inundate the delta floodplain and regenerate
native cottonwood and willow trees, even in an overallocated
river system. Ultimately, dedicated flows of river water were
brokered under cooperative
efforts by the U.S. and Mexican governments.
The Water Education Foundation was
hoping to host a few in-person events this fall (and you
told us in a survey that you wanted us to) but with the rise in
the Delta variant of COVID-19 cases, we have decided to
present our Water Summit and Headwaters Tour in a virtual
format.
However, while our annual Water Summit will be virtual on Oct.
28, we are hoping to include an optional outdoor reception
aboard a boat for a Sacramento River cruise. Stay tuned for
details!
The Water Education Foundation has a
full-time job opening for a programs and communications
manager interested in educating and informing the
public about our most vital natural resource — water.
In addition, our news and publication team is looking for
freelance writers with deep knowledge and experience covering
water issues in California and the Colorado River Basin.
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.
Join us for an engaging online
journey on Sept. 9 to go deep into
the Delta and its 720,000-acre network of islands and
canals that supports the state’s two large water systems -
the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley
Project.
Join us for a Sept. 9 virtual
journey into California’s most critical and
controversial water region in the state, the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta, and learn how the drought is impacting water
quality and supply.
The Delta, a 720,000-acre network of islands and canals, 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, forms an important ecological resource.
State work to improve wildlife habitat and tamp down dust at California’s ailing Salton Sea is finally moving forward. Now the sea may be on the verge of getting the vital ingredient needed to supercharge those restoration efforts – money.
The shrinking desert lake has long been a trouble spot beset by rising salinity and unhealthy, lung-irritating dust blowing from its increasingly exposed bed. It shadows discussions of how to address the Colorado River’s two-decade-long drought because of its connection to the system. The lake is a festering health hazard to nearby residents, many of them impoverished, who struggle with elevated asthma risk as dust rises from the sea’s receding shoreline.
Curious about the significance of
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta? Looking for the latest
information on the drought hitting California and the West? Want
to read up on some of the historic figures in California water?
The Water Education Foundation has an array of online resources
to help you keep up with what’s new, what you need to know and
what you might be curious about involving water in California and
the West.
The Water Education Foundation’s tours offer participants a
first-hand look at the water facilities, rivers and regions
critical in the debate about the future of water resources.
From recent news articles to publications, maps and tours, Water
Education Foundation has everything you need, including the
award-winning Layperson’s Guide to the Delta.
