Watch our series of short videos on the importance of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, how it works as a water hub for
California and the challenges it is facing.
Some people in California and across the West struggle to access
safe, reliable and affordable water to meet their everyday needs
for drinking, cooking and sanitation.
There are many ways to support our nonprofit mission by donating
in someone’s honor or memory, becoming a regular contributor or
supporting specific projects.
As atmospheric rivers blasted across California this year, they
brought epic amounts of rain and snow follwing a three-year
drought.
Devastating and deadly floods hit parts of the state and now all
eyes are on the potential for more flooding, particularly in
the San Joaquin Valley as the record amount of snow in the
Sierras melts with warmer temperatures.
With anticipated sea level rise and other impacts of a changing
climate, flood management is increasingly critical in California.
Big
Day of Giving is nearly over but you still have
until midnight to support the Water Education Foundation’s tours,
workshops, publications and other programs with a donation to help us reach our
$15,000 fundraising goal - we are only
$6,405 away!
At the Foundation, we believe that education is as precious
as water. Your donations help us every day to teach K-12
educators how to bring water science into the classroom and to
empower future decision-makers through our professional
development programs.
Our portfolio of programs reach many people and in many
different ways:
Today is Big Day of Giving! Your donation will help
the Water Education Foundation continue its work to enhance
public understanding of our most precious natural resource
in in California and across the West – water.
Big Day of Giving is a 24-hour regional fundraising event that
has profound benefits for our educational programs and
publications on drought, floods, groundwater, and the importance
of headwaters in California and the Colorado River Basin.
Your tax-deductible donation of
any size helps support our tours, scholarships, teacher training
workshops, free access to our daily water newsfeed and more. You
have until midnight to help us reach our $15,000
fundraising goal!
The American Southwest and its drinking water may not be in as
bad of shape as originally thought. A new study coming from
researchers at CU Boulder, reveals that precipitation, not
temperature, will keep the Colorado River fuller than previous
research told us. The Journal of Climate published the study
Tuesday as a guide for policymakers, water managers, states and
tribes to figure out how to monitor the river until 2050. New
guidelines are going to replace regulations from 2007, which
are set to expire at the end of 2026.
One of multiple charges in a lawsuit that pins blame for the
perpetually sinking Friant-Kern Canal on a single Tulare County
groundwater agency was recently removed. The Eastern Tule
Groundwater Sustainability Agency (ETGSA) hailed the move as
vindication. But plaintiffs, the Friant Water Authority and
Arvin-Edison Water Storage District, said the change was simply
meant to narrow the complaint in order to get faster action
against Eastern Tule. The stakes could not be higher as the
entire Tule subbasin, which covers the southern half of
Tulare’s valley portion, is looking down the barrel of a
possible pumping takeover by the state Water Resources Control
Board. The Water Board, the enforcement arm of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, has scheduled a
“probationary hearing” for the subbasin Sept. 17.
After years of pervasive declines, groundwater levels rose
significantly in much of California last year, boosted by
historic wet weather and the state’s expanding efforts to
replenish depleted aquifers. The state’s aquifers gained an
estimated 8.7 million acre-feet of groundwater — nearly double
the total storage capacity of Shasta Lake — during the 2023
water year that ended Sept. 30, according to newly compiled
data from the California Department of Water Resources. A large
portion of the gains, an estimated 4.1 million acre-feet, came
through efforts that involved capturing water from rivers
swollen by rains and snowmelt, and sending it to areas where
the water percolated into the ground to recharge aquifers. The
state said the amount of managed groundwater recharge that
occurred was unprecedented, and nearly double the amount of
water replenished during 2019, the prior wet year.
Are you a journalist enthralled by the history, policy and
science behind Western water issues? The journalism team at the
Water Education Foundation is looking for a full-time writer
who is knowledgeable about the most precious natural resource
in California and the Colorado River Basin, enjoys a fast-paced
environment and possesses strong reporting, writing and
multimedia skills. The ideal candidate has experience reporting
and writing in-depth articles as well as shorter enterprise
articles, posting breaking news on social media channels and
staying current on Western water issues. Our stories often
explore the science, policy and debates centered around
drought, groundwater, sustainability, water access and
affordability, climate change and endangered species involving
key sources of supply such as the Colorado River and the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
As the date of reckoning for excessive groundwater pumping in
Tulare County grows closer, lobbying by water managers and
growers has ramped up. The Friant Water Authority, desperate to
protect its newly rebuilt – yet still sinking –
Friant-Kern Canal, has beseeched the Water Resources Control
Board to get involved. Specifically, it has asked board members
to look into how the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability
Agency (GSA) has, or has not, curbed over pumping that affects
the canal. Meanwhile, the Eastern Tule groundwater agency has
been doing a bit of its own lobbying. It recently hosted all
five members of the Water Board on three separate tours of the
region, including the canal. Because the tours were staggered,
there wasn’t a quorum of board members, which meant they
weren’t automatically open to the public.
Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
Bay Model is a giant hydraulic replica of San Francisco
Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. It is housed in a converted World II-era
warehouse in Sausalito near San Francisco.
Hundreds of gallons of water are pumped through the
three-dimensional, 1.5-acre model to simulate a tidal ebb
and flow lasting 14 minutes.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
