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.
Construction crews have begun clearing brush and working on the
road leading to the planned $165 billion Project Jupiter data
center in Doña Ana County, N.M. … Project Jupiter
intends to produce its own gas-generated electricity for now
and possibly incorporate solar-generated power later. Its four
coolers will initially require a 625,000-gallon water “charge,”
recycle it and thereafter a daily infusion of 20,000 gallons a
day. … That’s a fraction of what a 100,000 square-foot
water park would use, according to trade sources.
The Mountain Counties Water Resources
Association joined Placer County Water
Agency, The Nature Conservancy and the Sierra
Nevada Conservancy to sponsor the American River
Forest Health Legislative Tour on Oct. 13, bringing members of
the California Legislature and Capitol staff into the Sierra
Nevada headwaters. Co-hosted by Assemblymembers Diane Papan and
Joe Patterson, the tour highlighted how proactive forest
management and watershed restoration protect California’s water
supply while showcasing the power of local-state collaboration
in addressing wildfire resilience and long-term water
reliability.
… Several state legislators traveled to San Diego County on
October 10th to host a committee on the sea level rise and the
impact it might have on the state’s economy. … The
Executive Officer Of The San Diego Water Quality Control Board
Dave Gibson says his research indicates that sea level rise and
climate change are indeed real. … ”We could now turn the
question around and say, what could we do on the coast to
emphasize, expand, enhance the wetlands there, enable them to
advance inland as sea level rises,” Gibson said. “Can we create
mitigation banks along the coast in existing areas where they
can be expanded?”
The fresh waters of California support a diverse native fish
fauna, 130 taxa by our count (Leidy and Moyle 2021). At least
56 of these taxa are on trajectories towards extinction 7 are
already extinct; 32 are listed as threatened or endangered by
state and federal agencies. Not surprisingly, the declining
species attract lots of attention because protecting them
affects water use statewide. In this blog series, however, we
discuss native fishes that are not considered to be in trouble.
… The first species we discuss in this series is the
Sacramento Sucker (Catostomus occidentalis).
One of the core services provided by the Department of water
Resources is to monitor the state’s snow pack to predict annual
runoff. The department uses multiple methods including taking
remote readings from sensors high in the Sierra Nevadas called
“snow pillows.” A number of those sensors need to be repaired
and enhanced but it’s not an easy task. Crews had to trek into
the Emigrant Wilderness on horseback 18 miles for just one
sensor. … The trip took four days. And it made for epic
photos, which DWR shared online. Here are just a few.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its
2025-2026 winter forecast outlook on Thursday, which predicts
seasonal changes for different parts of the United States for
the months of December, January and February. … NOAA’s
winter outlook does not offer snowfall predictions, but it does
forecast above-normal overall precipitation between December
and February for the Pacific Northwest and northern
California along the West Coast, as well as the
northern Rockies, Great Plains and western
Great Lakes, all of which are consistent with the presence of
La Niña.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the nation’s two largest reservoirs,
are following patterns very similar to 2021, the year the water
shortage was declared by the federal government. There’s one
big difference: Lake Mead is already 10 feet lower than it was
then, despite ongoing conservation efforts. And that’s a
problem for Las Vegas and millions of people who rely on the
Colorado River for water. A report
released on Wednesday shows that Lake Mead is expected to be 5
feet lower a year from now. More concerning is the projection
that shows it will drop an additional 15 feet by September 2027
— so, a total of 20 feet compared to now.
… Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill into law that aims to
improve resiliency in the county’s water system. AB 367
requires water districts to develop wildfire plans that include
filling backup tanks during high-threat Red Flag Warnings.
Water agencies would need to ensure that power backup is
available to keep pumps operating in the event of an electric
utility interruption. The new law also requires water systems
to take steps to protect their infrastructure against wildfire
damage. Democratic State Assemblyman Steve Bennett of Oxnard
authored the legislation, which applies specifically to water
agencies in Ventura County.
Environmental groups are preparing to sue the federal
government for approving a mining exploration project near the
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, a desert wetland that
supports a trove of endangered and threatened species found
nowhere else in the world. … Conservation groups say the
mining exploration project could potentially harm several
federally listed endangered and threatened plants that rely on
groundwater-fed springs in the area.
… Federal hydrologists acknowledged that groundwater at
the site of the proposed project was relatively shallow, making
it likely that boreholes drilled beyond 100 feet would hit
groundwater in the area.
Professor Omar Yaghi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for
a scientific breakthrough that his startup is now on the verge
of commercializing. Its technology harvests water from the
atmosphere in an increasingly arid world, with the global
recognition set to give it a boost. “He has always been
highly regarded in the scientific community, but the Nobel
Prize gives us additional validation in the business world and
simplifies the communication of what we are doing,” said Samer
Taha, chief executive officer of Atoco, the Irvine company
Yaghi founded in 2020. … Atoco … is targeting
data centers as the artificial intelligence
boom stresses water supplies across the U.S.
… In April, the Trump administration proposed limiting the
Endangered Species Act’s power to preserve habitats. Ecologists
argue that the move could have severe consequences for a wide
range of ecosystems and species, including the southern sea
otter, which is listed as threatened under federal law.
… Supporters of the change claim environmentalists have
abused the law to limit real estate development, farming,
logging and other business activities. What this would
mean for Elkhorn Slough, the only estuary
along the West Coast where sea otters have significantly
colonized, won’t be known until after the final rule is
released.
The Jurupa Community Services District (JCSD) has received more
than $12.4 million through the national PFAS contamination
settlement with 3M, funds that will help offset costs tied to
safeguarding the community’s drinking water supply. The
district has already received its first disbursement, with
additional payments expected in the coming months. JCSD was one
of the first agencies in California to proactively test for
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—well before state
mandates or funding programs were in place. After discovering
elevated PFAS levels, the district took 60% of its production
capacity offline.
Quick actions by boaters and paddlers this year helped prevent
the dangerous golden mussel and other aquatic invasive species
from entering the Lake Tahoe watershed, according to agencies
leading the Lake Tahoe Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) program.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and Tahoe Resource
Conservation District (Tahoe RCD), which manage the watercraft
inspection program, reported that inspectors performed more
than 4,700 decontaminations in 2025, a 60 percent increase
compared to the previous year.
A new study states that Solano County farms are expected to
lose about $48.42 million per year to natural disasters – an
average of $68,008 per farm. That is a loss rate of 12.6% for
the 712 Solano County farms. The total agricultural value,
according to the 2024 Solano County Crop & Livestock Report,
is $437.94 million. … “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,” the study statement said.
A study led by University of Arizona researchers shows
that decades of groundwater pumping by humans
has depleted Tucson-area aquifers far more than natural climate
variation. Published in the journal Water Resources
Research, the study provides the first multi-millennial
reconstruction for the region that places human impacts on
groundwater into long-term context. … [M]odern pumping
from the mid-20th century to present day caused twice the
drawdown of the water table compared with natural climate
fluctuations.
Dangerous flooding has damaged neighborhoods in almost every
state in 2025, leaving homes a muddy mess. … We study
flood resilience and have been mapping the results of
government buyout programs across the U.S. that purchase
damaged homes after disasters to turn them into open space. Our
new national maps of who relocates and where they go after a
flood shows that most Americans who move from buyout areas stay
local. However, we also found that the majority of them give up
their home to someone else, either selling it or leaving a
rental home, rather than taking a government buyout offer. That
transfers the risk to a new resident, leaving the community
still facing future costly risks.
The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) joined utilities and
organizations across the country in recognizing the critical
role water plays in daily life through the nationwide “Imagine
a Day Without Water” awareness campaign, the district
announced Thursday, Oct. 16. From the morning cup of coffee to
the crops in the fields, water powers every part of life in the
Imperial Valley. The “Imagine a Day Without Water” message
encourages communities to pause and consider what life would be
like without this essential resource.
A 15-year water supply agreement between agencies in Sonoma and
Marin counties has received final approval. Under the
agreement, the Marin Municipal Water District will pay $12.5
million to the Sonoma County Water Agency to boost regional
drought resiliency. The agreement replaces previous contracts
and establishes the terms for how Russian River water is
delivered to Marin County through 2040. Marin Municipal Water
District officials approved the contract at a meeting in
August. The board governing the Sonoma County agency solidified
the agreement on Tuesday.
The San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) is
partnering with several local agencies to host a public
workshop inviting community members to give their input on the
Morro Bay Estuary Climate Resilience Transportation Plan. The
plan outlines a long-range effort to protect the roads, bike
routes, and coastal access connecting Morro Bay and Los Osos.
Looking ahead to 2030, 2060, and 2100, officials say the plan
explores conceptual, nature-based solutions that make the
corridor safer, more accessible, and better prepared for
long-term coastal vulnerability.
San Diego County residents are turning to rain barrels to make
the most of Tuesday’s rainfall, with environmental advocates
saying even small amounts of precipitation can provide months
of garden irrigation. A 50-gallon rain barrel can capture
significant amounts of water during San Diego’s infrequent rain
events, according to Jessica Toth, executive director of the
Solana Center for Environmental Innovation. … Through
the rain barrel program, they’ve kept about 90,000 gallons of
water from going into the rainwater system.
