A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation Writer Matt Jenkins.
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Lake Powell, a key reservoir on the Colorado River, is
shrinking toward “dead pool,” which means water won’t flow
downriver anymore — and that could in turn pinch Wyoming’s
municipal and industrial water supplies with more demand from
Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Lake Powell, on the
Utah-Arizona state line, is in dire condition, USA Today
reported. By next spring, it’s expected to fall into “minimum
power pool,” meaning having barely just enough water to
generate hydroelectric power at Glen Canyon Dam. If it
falls even farther, that could put the reservoir at
“dead pool,” or unable to generate hydroelectric
power, according to reports. That’s despite roughly 1
million acre-feet expected to be pulled from Flaming Gorge
Reservoir on the Wyoming-Utah state line and sent downriver
through Wyoming to replenish Lake Powell.
The House of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
approved on July 1 the authorization of $155 million under the
latest Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA) bill to
support the Sacramento River Basin, newly elected Congressman
James Gallagher (CA-01) announced. The authorization is part of
the House Water Resource Development Act (WRDA) 2026 bill,
which operates through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’
Environmental Infrastructure program. … If the WRDA 2026
bill passes, the $155 million would support the basin’s
water and wastewater infrastructure, environmental restoration
and surface water protection. It would support
environmental restoration meant to improve drought resilience,
salmon recovery, and bird migration without increasing flood
risk.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced the appointment of Jared
Blumenfeld, former California Environmental Protection
Secretary, to the State Water Resources Control Board.
Blumenfeld served as California Environmental Protection
Secretary from 2019 to 2022. His experience also includes
serving as Regional Administrator for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency from 2010 to 2016. Blumenfeld will succeed
former Board Member Laurel Firestone, who
departed the State Water Resources Control Board on June 18.
Firestone was first appointed February 2019. Newsom also
announced the reappointed Dorene D’Adamo as
Vice Chair of the State Water Board earlier this year.
Blumenfeld’s appointment requires state Senate confirmation.
The next phase in the state’s crackdown on over pumping in
Tulare County will be revealed July 16 in Visalia. The meeting,
which is not open to the public, will give water managers their
first glimpse at the state’s plan for correcting severe
overdraft in the Tule subbasin. It’s known as an “interim
plan” and will definitely include pumping limits and a
fee increase from $20 to $35 per acre foot pumped. The
draft interim plan won’t be released until summer 2027 and
would have to be approved by the Water Resources Control Board
later that year before going into effect. But the clock is
ticking and the July 16 meeting is the first step to
lay out the process and timeline.
… Rock glaciers are slow-moving masses of rock debris and ice
that flow downhill the same way that glaciers do, but they are
covered by a thick layer of rock and boulders that can easily
be mistaken for stable ground. There are at least 1,500
active rock glaciers across the western U.S., and
they’re important. That’s because while the icy white glaciers
people typically picture have been shrinking and even
disappearing, our new study shows that rock glaciers and their
frozen water are remaining mostly stable despite rising
temperatures. … The result is that rock glaciers
continue to provide meltwater for streams in summer as they
always have. … Because of this, streams fed by
rock glaciers have emerged as potentially critical climate
refugia – places likely to stay cooler while everything around
them warms – for cold-water wildlife in high-mountain
ecosystems.
… Earlier this year, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA,
jointly offered a $5.9 million grant for tribal salmon
restoration and called for tribes to apply for the
competitive funding. … But because salmon had been
extirpated from Klamath ancestral territory for 114 years, the
federal government did not consider them a restoration tribe.
… Fortunately, the tribes’ downriver relatives had their
back; Mike Belchik, the Yurok Tribe’s senior fisheries
biologist, moved to assist. … The BIA awarded the grant
jointly between the Yurok Tribe, the Klamath Tribes, and Oregon
Fish and Wildlife. Belchik said the Yurok Tribe will act as a
pass-through, sending the money to the Klamath Tribes and
serving in an administrative capacity only.
Crews broke ground this spring on new pump stations and river
gates meant to curb Tijuana sewage flows, but two pipeline
collapses in May were a reminder of how fragile the existing
system remains, according to the latest binational progress
report. A quarterly report released this week by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Section of
the International Boundary and Water Commission outlined
construction progress, funding releases, and challenges as the
U.S. and Mexico work to address the decades-long Tijuana sewage
crisis. The EPA released a batch of previously committed
infrastructure funds after Mexico met its obligations under a
2025 agreement between the two countries — freeing Mexico to
begin construction on two new projects aimed at reducing sewage
flows into the Tijuana River.
As data centers continue to be a regional and national
hot-button issue over their use of resources compared to the
benefits they can provide to residents, Brentwood leaders are
looking for ways to ban such facilities from coming to their
city. In a joint request, Councilmembers Faye Maloney and
Jovita Mendoza are seeking to place on a future agenda an
ordinance that would prohibit the “establishment, construction,
expansion, or operation of any new data center facilities”
within the city’s limits, said Maloney. … Aside from
potential water, noise, and environmental impacts, Mendoza said
there should be better use of land to generate more jobs for
residents.
The Los Angeles Department of Power and Water issued a
boil-water notice on Wednesday for a two-block area of
Koreatown after routine testing came back positive for E. coli,
the department said. The positive test, which came on Tuesday,
was from a single water quality testing station, and did not
affect any other part of the water distribution system, the
department said. Although there was no information on what
caused the positive test result, officials said it was
unrelated to the warehouse fire in Boyle Heights and that
“fire-related contaminants” were not found in the water
samples.
A study examining air quality and respiratory health in
communities surrounding the Salton Sea in Southern California
shows how environmental conditions, poor housing quality, and
structural inequities combine to place children at greater risk
for respiratory illness. The Salton Sea, California’s largest
inland lake, has been shrinking as water inflows decline and
temperatures rise. The exposed lakebed generates windblown dust
that can worsen air quality and poses growing health concerns
for nearby communities. The study, conducted with 15 Latina
mothers caring for children with asthma or other respiratory
conditions, paired indoor air quality monitoring with a
photovoice project that allowed caregivers to document and
share their experiences through photographs and personal
narratives.
It’s not every day that a small mountain community in the
Sierra Nevada helps shape environmental conservation efforts on
the other side of the world. But that’s exactly what happened
when three Chilean conservationists began searching for a model
to protect their country’s rapidly changing lake region.
… For nearly 70 years, Keep Tahoe Blue has worked to
protect and restore the Lake Tahoe Basin while navigating the
challenges that come with tourism, population growth and
development. To the Chilean team, Keep Tahoe Blue represented a
successful example of how environmental stewardship and
economic vitality could coexist.
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On July 9, the Trump administration delivered a gift to Cadiz
Inc., a politically well-connected firm that has been trying
for decades to win approval for a scheme to pump water out of
the Mojave Desert and market it to water agencies across the
Southland.The administration approved the company’s application
to convert an abandoned 220-mile oil and gas pipeline crossing
the desert to carry water instead. Susan Kennedy, the chief
executive of Cadiz, called the approval “a pivotal
milestone” that would enable the project to move into its
construction stage. Here’s betting that Kennedy’s statement was
somewhat premature. The project still faces significant
opposition from environmentalists, local Indian tribes and the
state of California. It has been declared ready to go — and
declared dead, too — so often that it could serve as a
character in a zombie movie or streaming series.
Seeking to prevent the California State Water Resources Control
Board from stepping in to regulate groundwater in critically
overdrafted subbasins, local agencies are working to correct
deficiencies in their plans to protect groundwater. With
groundwater sustainability agencies formed and groundwater
sustainability plans evaluated, the state water board has moved
to implement the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
or SGMA. … Under probation, groundwater extractors in
the Tulare Lake subbasin face annual fees of $300 per well and
$20 per acre-foot pumped, plus a late reporting fee of 25%.
SGMA also requires well owners to file annual groundwater
extraction reports.
Last year’s snow deluge in California, which quickly erased a
two decade long megadrought, was essentially a
once-in-a-lifetime rescue from above, a new study found. Don’t
get used to it because with climate change the 2023 California
snow bonanza —a record for snow on the ground on April 1 — will
be less likely in the future, said the study in Monday’s
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
… UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, who wasn’t part
of the study but specializes in weather in the U.S. West, said,
“I would not be surprised if 2023 was the coldest, snowiest
winter for the rest of my own lifetime in California.”
Six tribes in the Upper Colorado River Basin, including two in
Colorado, have gained long-awaited access to discussions about
the basin’s water issues — talks that were formerly
limited to states and the federal government. Under an
agreement finalized this month, the tribes will meet every two
months to discuss Colorado River issues with an interstate
water policy commission, the Upper Colorado River Commission,
or UCRC. It’s the first time in the commission’s 76-year
history that tribes have been formally included, and the timing
is key as negotiations about the river’s future intensify.
… Most immediately, the commission wants a key number:
How much water goes unused by tribes and flows down to the
Lower Basin?
A group of Western lawmakers pressed the Biden administration
Monday to ramp up water conservation, especially in national
forests that provide nearly half the region’s surface water.
“Reliable and sustainable water availability is absolutely
critical to any agricultural commodity production in the
American West,” wrote the lawmakers, including Sens.
Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), in a
letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The 31
members of the Senate and House, all Democrats except for Sen.
Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), credited the administration for
several efforts related to water conservation, including
promoting irrigation efficiency as a climate-smart practice
eligible for certain USDA funding through the Inflation
Reduction Act.
A study led by NASA researchers provides new estimates of how
much water courses through Earth’s rivers, the rates at which
it’s flowing into the ocean, and how much both of those figures
have fluctuated over time—crucial information for understanding
the planet’s water cycle and managing its freshwater supplies.
The results also highlight regions depleted by heavy water use,
including the Colorado River basin in the United States, the
Amazon basin in South America, and the Orange River basin in
southern Africa.
State water management officials must work more closely with
local agencies to properly prepare California for the effects
of climate change, water scientists say. Golden State
officials said in the newly revised California Water
Plan that as the nation’s most populous state, California
is too diverse and complex for a singular approach to manage a
vast water network. On Monday, they recommended expanding the
work to better manage the state’s precious water resources —
including building better partnerships with communities most at
risk during extreme drought and floods and improving critical
infrastructure for water storage, treatment and distribution
among different regions and watersheds.
It’s the most frustrating part of conservation. To save water,
you rip out your lawn, shorten your shower time, collect
rainwater for the flowers and stop washing the car. Your water
use plummets. And for all that trouble, your water supplier
raises your rates. Why? Because everyone is using so much less
that the agency is losing money. That’s the dynamic in
play with Southern California’s massive wholesaler, the
Metropolitan Water District, despite full reservoirs after two
of history’s wettest winters. … Should water users be
happy about these increases? The answer is a counterintuitive
“yes.” Costs would be higher and water scarcer in the future
without modest hikes now.
