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.
As we head into summer, don’t miss your chance to explore the
statewide impact of forest health on water resources in July and
be sure to mark your calendars for our popular fall programming!
Northern
California Tour, October 16-18: Explore the
Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape
while learning about the issues associated with a key source
for the state’s water supply. Registration opens June
12!
Water Summit, October 30: Attend the Water
Education Foundation’s premier annual event hosted in
Sacramento with leading policymakers and experts addressing
critical water issues in California and across the West. More
details coming soon!
Headwaters Tour: July 24-25
Venture with experts into the
foothills and mountains of the Sierra Nevada to examine water
issues that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts on water
supply and quality downstream and throughout California on our
Headwaters Tour July
24-25!
With more than half of the state’s developed water supply
originating high in the Sierra Nevada,
millions of Californians are affected by the health of
our forests. Despite a few wet years, forests are suffering
from multi-year droughts and historically intense
wildfires.
The 2-day, 1-night tour starts and ends in Sacramento and
travels up the American River watershed, around Lake Tahoe
(where we stay overnight) and down the Yuba River watershed.
Space is more limited on this tour than any other that we
host, soreserve your seat on the bus
herewhile they last!
Mark Arax, an award-winning
journalist and author of books chronicling agriculture and water
issues in California’s Central Valley, will provide the keynote
talk at an international groundwater conference next month.
Back in 2003, farmers in California’s Imperial Valley agreed to
send some of their Colorado River water to cities on the coast.
The deal was touted as a win for thirsty Californians and a
boon for efforts to conserve water. But the deal also caused
dangerous pollution for those living near the Salton Sea,
according to a new study published in the American Journal of
Agricultural Economics on Wednesday. For the study, researchers
looked at 20 years of daily air pollution data collected from
around the inland and heavily saline Salton Sea between 1998 to
2018. As the water-transfer program reduced agricultural runoff
that replenishes the sea, once-underwater lakebed was exposed
to wind, leading to increased dust and air pollutants that can
cause heart and respiratory issues, they found.
Los Angeles area legislators are leading the charge to combat
chemicals connected to leukemia, ADHD, hearing loss and breast
cancer — and more — through a series of proposed environmental
laws. … [L]egislators are also trying to do better by
California’s kids, whose developing brains and immune systems
are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of
chemicals. … Assemblymember Holden wants to see a crackdown
against the state’s longtime enemy of lead in drinking water —
a potent neurotoxin that can cause irreversible damage to
children’s intellectual development, hearing and ability to
concentrate. In 2018, Holden authored a law requiring
licensed child care centers in the state to test their tap
water for lead contamination. The results came out last year
and found that one in four centers had lead levels above the
allowable threshold.
The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear San Francisco’s appeal
of a ruling that tightened offshore water pollution standards
and said the city was failing to adequately protect swimmers
and bathers from discharges of sewage into the Pacific. The
ruling, due next year, could limit the authority of federal and
state environmental agencies. The issue is whether — as
San Francisco and other local governments contend —
environmental laws require them only to limit water pollution
to amounts set in advance, such as specific discharges per
million parts of water. Federal and state regulators argued
that the city was still violating its legal duty to prevent
dangerous pollution from bacteria and other contaminants from
flowing through its Oceanside Water Pollution Control
Plant into the ocean.
The president of the Navajo Nation has signed the resolution
approving the historic Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights
Settlement Agreement. In doing so, he joined officials from the
Hopi and San Juan Paiute tribes. Before the historic signing,
Navajo speaker Crystalyne Curley pointed out how many Navajo
live off 10 to 30 gallons of water a day, a fraction of the
average American home. “Just even having the efficiency,
the convenience of turning on a faucet of water, that’s
something that’s going to change the livelihoods of many of our
Navajo people,” she said. Navajo president Buu Nygren said the
tribes need the agreement to survive. “Through COVID, through
all the national news over the last several years, people truly
understand the need for water on Navajo,” Nygren said. But
Nygren warned: If we don’t settle the water rights for the
Navajo Nation, the Hopi tribe and the San Juan Paiute, it’s
just another form of genocide.”
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.
Drought—an extended period of
limited or no precipitation—is a fact of life in California and
the West, with water resources following boom-and-bust patterns.
During California’s 2012–2016 drought, much of the state
experienced severe drought conditions: significantly less
precipitation and snowpack, reduced streamflow and higher
temperatures. Those same conditions reappeared early in 2021
prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom in May to declare drought emergencies
in watersheds across 41 counties in California.
