The next Lunch-MAR presentation will focus on removing suspended solids from surface water recharge systems to improve groundwater recharge. Presenter Adam Hutchinson, recharge planning manager at Orange County Water District, will discuss how the district’s innovative riverbed filtration system more than doubled recharge capacity while removing 96% of suspended solids from Santa Ana River water. The hour-long webinar begins at 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 28.

Co-hosted by California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the California State Library, the next Conservation Lecture Series discussion will address the importance of estuaries, why they’re in trouble, and what CDFW is doing to restore them. These vital ecosystems are at risk from invasive species, pollution, urban development, and sea level rise. To date, 85% of California’s original estuaries have been lost in the past 150 years. This lecture will feature CDFW experts reporting live from different coastal CDFW lands. Registration is required to attend this virtual event. “Where Land Meets the Sea: Exploring California Estuaries” will be on Thursday, May 29, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

After more than a decade of collaboration among agencies, interested parties, and conservation groups, in April 2005, the federal government and non-federal participants signed an agreement that officially launched the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program (MSCP). Under it, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), irrigation districts, and municipal water agencies committed to a 50-year, $626 million inflation-adjusted program, splitting the cost evenly between the federal government and State parties. Managed by Reclamation, the program pledged to create nearly 1,000 acres of marsh and backwaters — habitat for Colorado River native fish — as well as more than 7,000 acres of mesquite woodland cottonwood-willow forest along the river for the imperiled birds. Last month, the Trump administration proposed a rule that would strip federal protections for habitat needed by threatened and endangered species to survive. Fully repealing the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act would take an act of Congress, but if that were to happen it would gut the primary drivers behind the creation of the MSCP. To learn more about the threats to the MSCP, now in its 20th successful year, read the in-depth article "Changes Loom for Innovative Lower Colorado River Endangered Species Program Amid Drought, New River Rules" on the Water Education Foundation website.

The California Association of Resources Conservation Districts (CARCD) will hold its 80th annual conference Tuesday through Thursday, November 18–20 in Sacramento. To help prepare for the event, CARCD is inviting participants to submit proposals for presentations. This year, preference will be given to proposals aimed specifically at resource conservation districts and those that are especially interactive and engaging. Those interested in presenting must use the Call for Proposals submission form. The deadline is Sunday, June 15.

The Water Education Foundation’s 2024 Annual Report is now available in a new interactive, digital format. The report revisits its successful international groundwater conference in San Francisco; water issues covered by the Water Education Foundation in 2024, particularly those involving the Colorado River Basin, which provides water to approximately 40 million people; 44 Project WET (Water Education Today) workshops held across the state for K-12 educators to bring lessons on water into the classroom; and, among other important events, recaps a big anniversary in California: The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) turning 10. Learn more about these and other accomplishments by checking out the 2024 Annual Report and find out which journalist received the Rita Schmidt Sudman Award for Excellence in Water Journalism.