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.
Groundwater basins in California
and across the world are the source for much of the water that
grows our food. But many challenges come with groundwater:
Keeping use sustainable, nitrate contamination and impacts
from climate change.
The world’s top scientists, policymakers and experts will be
addressing these topics June 18-20 in San
Francisco at the
3ʳᵈ International Groundwater Conference Linking Science &
Policy, along with the latest advancements on
groundwater demand management, conjuctive use, managed aquifer
recharge, groundwater governance and emerging artificial
intelligence resources related to groundwater and agriculture.
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:
For the first time in more than four years, all of Northern
California is free of drought or abnormally dry
conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor data released
on Thursday. California now has its lowest amount of drought
conditions since 2011. “Considering how long they were in some
form of abnormal dryness or drought, it’s pretty significant,”
said Lindsay Johnson, a climatologist with the National Drought
Mitigation Center at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln. It’s the first time all of Northern
California is free of abnormally dry or drought conditions
since October 2019. Parts of Siskiyou and Modoc counties that
were previously a stronghold of dry conditions are now
classified as normal for the first time since Nov. 19, 2019.
The Kings County Farm Bureau and two of its farmer members have
filed suit against the state Water Resources Control Board,
claiming the board exceeded its jurisdiction when it placed the
Tulare Lake groundwater subbasin on probation April 16. A writ
of mandate was filed May 15 in Kings County Superior Court. A
writ is an order asking a governmental body, in this case the
Water Board, to cease an action. The farm bureau is asking the
board to vacate the resolution, which was passed unanimously.
“The board’s decision to place the (Tulare Lake Subbasin) on
probation violated the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
and expanded the board’s authority beyond its jurisdiction,” a
Kings County Farm Bureau press release states. The filing
asks for declaratory and injunctive relief, and cites eight
causes of action under the writ that the “probationary
designation is arbitrary, capricious, and lacking in
evidentiary support.”
Gov. Spencer Cox said Thursday he is open to alternatives to
bring more Colorado River water to Southern Utah, including a
suggestion from the Utah Senate president to help California
fund desalination facilities in exchange for part of its water
share. … Earlier in the week, a report by Fox 13 News
and the Colorado River Collaborative journalism
initiative said that Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams,
R-Layton, has put forward the idea of providing part of
the funds for California to construct desalination facilities
to remove salt and brine from Pacific Ocean water to convert it
to safe drinking water. In exchange, Utah would get a portion
of California’s share of the river’s water.
Time has passed, but tension once ran deep between Oroville and
Cal Water, when the utility company refused the city’s request
to add fluoride to its water supply in 1954. In fact, Oroville
complained to the California Public Utilities Commission in
1955, asking it to order Cal Water to obtain its fluoridation
permit. Its case with the CPUC met a petition with the
California Supreme Court in 1957, but Cal Water ultimately
applied for and received its permit from the state Department
of Health by the end of that year. It was said to be the first
request of its kind in the United States to a state regulatory
body like the CPUC, according to the March 1, 1955 Oroville
Mercury-Register. But that’s all history, now that the Oroville
City Council will consider Tuesday whether to require Cal Water
add fluoride to the domestic water supply in city limits.
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.
