A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation News & Publications Director Vik Jolly.
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The headlines below are the original headlines used in the publication cited at the time they are posted here and do not reflect the stance of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit that remains neutral.
… This megadrought—defined as a multidecade period of extreme
dryness—has been ongoing for 25 years across the southwestern
United States and northwestern Mexico. Scientists say it’s
driven by anthropogenic climate change, supercharged by
greenhouse gases. … This drought is impacting agriculture,
industry, and water availability for people’s everyday use, but
it has also hit animals hard. Its impacts are particularly
visible in birds, who have lost habitat, struggled to find
food, and in some cases have begun to decline dramatically.
Colorado oil and gas companies used toxic chemicals prohibited
under state law in operations involving dozens of wells on
either side of the Rocky Mountains over at least the last 18
months, a Capital & Main investigation found. Disclosures to
the state’s fossil fuel regulator showed operators combined
banned substances with water, sand and other chemicals as part
of a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”
… Physicians and environmental groups say that
it’s important to disclose such substances because drilling
machinery penetrates aquifers without any concrete casing
around the bit, potentially exposing
groundwater to contamination.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has approved a renewed
15-year water supply agreement with the Marin Municipal Water
District that will run through 2040. The new agreement updates
how Russian River water is delivered to Marin Water and
includes a one-time $12.5 million payment from Marin Water to
support regional water resiliency projects. … The
deal also recognizes Marin Water’s interest in studying a new
pipeline connection from the North Marin Aqueduct to a Marin
Water reservoir to store locally available winter water for
future drought use.
The San Diego Foundation has awarded more than $650,000 in
grants to 18 nonprofits in the U.S. and Mexico as part of the
foundation’s Binational Resilience Initiative. Much of this
year’s funding focuses on community-led projects in the Tijuana
River watershed and Cali-Baja Coast to address sewage pollution
and cross-border water management that have threatened public
health and environmental resilience. This year’s grants range
from $15,000 to $103,000 and will go to nonprofits to monitor
water quality, restore the watershed and improve coastal
resilience.
The Tahoe Institute for Global Sustainability through the
University of Nevada, Reno’s Lake Tahoe Campus is gaining
momentum after its launch in early June. … In its Tahoe
focused research, a number of institute scientists are
furthering insight on clarity, wildfire effects on landscape,
stream ecology and its connection to the lake’s nearshore
areas. The institute has also developed the Tahoe Environmental
Observatory Network, which offers an information and
interactive story-map explaining intricacies of the basins’
watershed, streams and lake. It will eventually offer real time
and publicly available data from sensors placed around Lake
Tahoe.
As California enters a new water year, the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) has released two new groundwater reports – the
Semi-Annual Groundwater Conditions Update and a draft of
California’s Groundwater Update 2025– that show measurable
progress towards achieving groundwater sustainability in
California. Combined, the two reports along with DWR’s
California’s Groundwater Live (CalGW Live) incorporate
historical data with near real-time insights to help
groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) monitor conditions
in their region and adjust custom-tailored solutions to meet
sustainability objectives defined in their groundwater
sustainability plans and the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act (SGMA).
On October 10, 2025, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 394 (SB
394) into law. This legislation is designed to strengthen
existing legal protections for utility service providers
against utility theft, particularly water theft resulting from
the unauthorized use or tampering of fire hydrants. Under
existing California law, a utility provider may bring a civil
action for damages against any person who diverts, attempts to
divert, or aids in utility theft. In certain cases, such as
where a device was used to steal the utility, or when a meter
is tampered with, there is a rebuttable presumption that the
party who controls the premises or receives the direct benefit
of the utility is liable for damages.
Climate disasters, from wildfires to frequent floods, have
accelerated in recent years – emphasizing the importance of
being prepared and planning ahead for extreme weather events.
That is why for California Flood Preparedness Week, which runs
from October 18 through October 25, the California Department
of Water Resources (DWR) is calling on all Californians to
understand the risk posed by flooding and how to respond during
an emergency.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) submitted a
Certification of Consistency with the Delta Plan for the Delta
Conveyance Project on October 17, 2025. According to Delta
Stewardship Council regulations, materials relevant to this
certification will be posted on their website (https://coveredactions.deltacouncil.ca.gov),
if the Certification is appealed, an appeal hearing will be
held by the Council followed by the issuance of a determination
on the appeal. However, to support consideration of these
materials by the public, DWR has prepared the Delta Conveyance
Project Certification of Consistency Explainer.
… In an attempt to slow the river’s decline and to
convince the Lower Basin states that the Upper Basin can
voluntarily conserve water as opposed to shouldering mandatory
cuts, Wyoming has been developing a pilot water conservation
program in the Green River Basin. Wednesday’s meeting offered
members of the public and Wyoming’s Colorado River Advisory
Committee an opportunity to give feedback on the draft
legislation. … Wyoming’s pilot conservation program
would allow water users with a proven consumptive water right
in Wyoming’s portion of the Colorado River
basin to apply to the state engineer’s office to implement a
conservation project.
The Trump administration is “pausing” more than $11 billion in
water infrastructure projects to 12 Democrat-controlled states,
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ
Vought said Friday. The Army Corps of Engineers projects in
California, Illinois, Maryland, New York,
Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware and
Colorado are now “under review,” according to
the Office of Management and Budget. … One project would
restore aquatic habitat for salmon and steelhead trout in
California.
In a desert landscape dominated by sagebrush, a piece of Los
Angeles’ immense water empire stands behind a chain-link fence:
a hydrant-like piece of metal atop a well. The electric pump
hums as it sends water gushing into a canal, forming a stream
in the desert. This well is one of 105 that L.A. owns across
the Owens Valley. … While many Californians know the story of
how L.A. seized the valley’s river water in the early 1900s and
drained Owens Lake, fewer know that the city also pulls up a
significant amount of water from underground. The pumping has
led to resentment among leaders of Native tribes, who say it is
leaving their valley parched and harming the environment.
In a landmark move for environmental policy, California has
fully established and funded the Salton Sea Conservancy, the
state’s first new conservancy in over 20 years, paving the way
for a more coordinated and sustainable future for the imperiled
region, the California Natural Resources Agency announced. The
conservancy, officially created by Senate Bill 583 authored by
Senator Steve Padilla and signed in September 2024, received
its crucial operational funding last month when Governor Gavin
Newsom signed Senate Bill 105. This dual legislative action
marks a significant shift in the state’s approach to the
long-standing challenges at the Salton Sea.
For the first time in more than 100 years, Chinook salmon have
been spotted at the confluence of the Sprague and Williamson
rivers in Chiloquin, the government seat of the Klamath Tribes
in Southern Oregon. It’s the latest milestone following the
removal of four dams on the Klamath River last year, which was
the largest river restoration project in U.S.
history. … Scientists have been tracking the
migration of this year’s run of fall Chinook as they’ve passed
all of the old dam sites on the river. Last week they reached a
huge milestone: A Chinook was photographed entering Upper
Klamath Lake.
At least two residents of the tiny community of Pond were
excited and hopeful by news that state money for flood control
might go toward Poso Creek, which flooded several Pond homes in
2023. “I think it’s a great start,” Kevin and Diane White said
in unison. The couple has lived in Pond for 38 years and said
they only got about a 10 minute warning in 2023 that flood
water was headed their way. The couple attended a press
conference Friday in McFarland touting the appropriation of
$21.5 million [from Proposition 4] – half the
amount originally sought – for flood safety projects in Kern,
Kings and Tulare counties.
… [A] powerful “parent” low-pressure system will deepen
explosively in the Gulf of Alaska, probably undergoing
bombogenesis by Wednesday as it drops toward 965 millibars. On
its southern flank, the jet will tap subtropical moisture,
spinning up two distinct atmospheric rivers. … For
California, the edge of that storm energy may only glance the
far north. A few light showers could reach the North Coast, but
widespread rain looks unlikely for now. Still, forecasts this
far out tend to wobble. Even a slight shift in the jet stream’s
orientation could steer one of those atmospheric rivers closer
to California.
… Nevada waterways are currently free of zebra and golden
mussels. But, Nevada officials and water managers are preparing
for what it could mean if the zebra or golden mussels find
their way into Lake Mead and other state water bodies and using
their experience with quagga mussels as a baseline.
Research shows that if quagga and zebra mussels are found in
the same area, quagga dominate zebra mussels, according to
Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) Regional Water Quality
Manager Todd Tietjen. Research also shows that golden mussels
could outperform both of them, “which is why we are really
ramping up our detection efforts.”
Tucked into California’s remote northwest corner, the Smith
River winds through Del Norte County. … Down on the river’s
lower plain, though, the wilderness gives way to farmland.
Here, a handful of growers produce nearly all of America’s
Easter lily bulbs, which are then shipped off to greenhouses
across the country. The iconic plant is the most famous export
from Del Norte County — yet state scientists say decades of
pesticide use by these growers have contaminated the
tributaries that flow through those fields, threatening fish,
wildlife and nearby residents.
New research shows how a variety of natural disasters are
impacting the nation’s food supply, presenting costly
challenges to ranchers and farmers who are already struggling.
The full report covers over 3,000 U.S. counties and all 50
states. … Drought is a persistent challenge on the West
Coast, particularly in California, as well as the Southwest and
parts of the Southern Plains, where water scarcity hampers crop
yields and livestock production. In fact, California leads the
nation in agricultural losses due to natural hazards, with
farms in the state incurring an estimated $1.3 billion in
losses annually.
… [T]he [Monterey Peninsula Water Management District] board
is poised to consider finally taking the historic step of
applying to the State Water Resources Control Board to modify
its cease-and-desist order against Cal Am, which has precluded
the private utility from setting new water meters since 2009.
… [W]ith the expansion of Pure Water Monterey complete and
online as of Oct. 10, the Peninsula’s current supply of water
is more than 11,000 acre-feet annually (as approved by the CPUC
in August), while in the past water year that ended Sept. 30,
the Peninsula’s demand was 9,092 acre-feet of water.
