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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The House Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held an
oversight hearing on May 20 examining the future of the Bureau
of Reclamation, the federal agency that delivers water to 31
million people across the American West. The hearing exposed a
sharp partisan divide over whether the primary barrier to water
infrastructure is bureaucratic red tape, as Republicans argued,
or the Trump administration’s own budget cuts and staffing
reductions, as Democrats contended. … The hearing’s most
contentious exchange came when [Rep. Jared] Huffman pressed
Scott Cameron, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S.
Department of the Interior, on whether the
administration’s proposed elimination of the Water Smart
program, a drought resilience initiative with bipartisan
support, was a serious budget proposal.
The Nye County Water District Governing Board unanimously
approved an emergency order Tuesday requesting that the Nye
County Commission place a moratorium on data centers in the
Pahrump Valley. The emergency order is non-binding and
includes draft language for an ordinance that would
make data center projects a non-permissive use of
water within the Pahrump Regional Planning District
and Nevada Hydrographic Basin 162, a critically
over-appropriated aquifer. Board members emphasized that
they do not have the authority to approve or deny data centers,
and that any recommendation they make will have to be approved
by the Nye County Commission. … The vote comes after the
Reno City Council placed a temporary pause on new data center
applications earlier this month.
Lawmakers and local water agencies are ramping up efforts to
tackle the spread of Golden Mussels, an invasive species that
experts warn could threaten critical water infrastructure
across the state. At the same time, a photo circulating on
Facebook showing a farmer’s pipe in Tracy covered in mussels is
drawing attention online. FOX26 News was unsuccessful in
obtaining permission to air the image, but scenes like it are
becoming a growing concern throughout Delta-connected
waterways. … Now, those conversations are also happening
at the state level. At the California State Capitol,
Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom introduced California Assembly
Bill 2032, legislation aimed at strengthening California’s
response to Golden Mussels.
Mendocino County is not in a drought. That was the message
Tuesday, May 19, from county Department of Transportation
staff, who delivered the first formal drought briefing since
the county adopted its Drought Resilience Plan on May 20, 2025
— nearly a year ago to the day. … Jeanine Jones,
interstate resources manager for the California Department of
Water Resources, gave the statewide picture and a warning about
the El Niño headlines now circulating. A strong El Niño does
not reliably mean a wet California winter, she said. She
pointed to water year 2016, when one of the strongest El Niño
events on record fell in the fifth year of the 2012-2017
drought.
Communities living with one of the most severe pollution
problems in California could see immediate relief if San Diego
leaders can get a key Tijuana River project out of the
gate. While millions of gallons of untreated sewage enter
the river on a regular basis, one road crossing, known as the
Saturn Boulevard hot spot, is the source of most airborne
pollution from the river. As the U.S. and Mexico pursue a
combined $800 million in upgrades to wastewater facilities on
both sides of the border, local governments are working on a
smaller fix to that chokepoint that could improve conditions as
soon as next year, officials said. San Diego leaders are trying
to secure about $25 million to repair the road crossing at
Saturn Boulevard. … But they’re still trying to nail down a
funding source for the project.
The Kings County Water District Board approved hiring a new
general manager a month after firing its long time manager of
12 years. The district hired Madalyn Vieira with an annual
salary of $155,000 at its May 21 special board meeting. Vieira
is expected to start on May 27. … Vieira founded Valley
Water Strategies, a consulting firm that offers groundwater
management support just this month, according to her
LinkedIn. Before that, she was a water policy manager at
4Creeks, a Visalia-based construction and engineering firm, for
nearly two years then a legal operations director for 11
months, according to her LinkedIn.
A wetlands restoration project in eastern Arizona, which has
revitalized six ponds, is helping a frog species get through
ongoing drought in the area. The Chiricahua leopard frog, which
has been looked after by Arizona Game and Fish in their White
Mountains Grasslands Wildlife Area since 2021, is being given a
better chance to thrive in less-than-ideal
conditions. AZGFD has been attempting to lessen the effect
of drought statewide since 2007 for the frogs protected under
the Endangered Species Act. A total of 48 sites where the frogs
dwell have been enhanced in some way or another.
… Severely dry conditions can negatively impact the
survival of the Chiricahua leopard frog, which is native to
Arizona.
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.
A steady stream of water spilled from Lake Casitas Friday, a
few days after officials declared the Ojai Valley reservoir had
reached capacity for the first time in a quarter century. Just
two years earlier, the drought-stressed reservoir, which
provides drinking water for the Ojai
Valley and parts of Ventura, had dropped under 30%.
The Casitas Municipal Water District was looking at emergency
measures if conditions didn’t improve, board President Richard
Hajas said. Now, the lake is full, holding roughly 20 years of
water.
After nearly a century of people building dams on most of the
world’s major rivers, artificial reservoirs now represent an
immense freshwater footprint across the landscape. Yet, these
reservoirs are understudied and overlooked for their fisheries
production and management potential, indicates a study from the
University of California, Davis. The study, published
in the journal Scientific Reports, estimates that U.S.
reservoirs hold 3.5 billion kilograms (7.7 billion pounds) of
fish. Properly managed, these existing reservoir ecosystems
could play major roles in food security and fisheries
conservation.
California has unveiled an ambitious plan to help combat the
worsening climate crisis with one of its invaluable assets: its
land. Over the next 20 years, the state will work to transform
more than half of its 100 million acres into multi-benefit
landscapes that can absorb more carbon than they release,
officials announced Monday. … The plan also calls for
11.9 million acres of forestland to be managed for biodiversity
protection, carbon storage and water supply protection by 2045,
and 2.7 million acres of shrublands and chaparral to be managed
for carbon storage, resilience and habitat connectivity, among
other efforts.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended
Alternative 3 – Salmon Closure during the final days of the
Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) meeting mirroring
the opinions of commercial and recreational charter boat
anglers. The department’s position is a significant change from
early March. The PFMC meetings are being held in Seattle from
April 6 to 11, and the final recommendations of the council
will be forwarded to the California Fish and Game Commission in
May.
Sustaining the American Southwest is the Colorado River. But
demand, damming, diversion, and drought are draining this vital
water resource at alarming rates. The future of water in the
region – particularly from the Colorado River – was top of mind
at the 10th Annual Eccles Family Rural West Conference, an
event organized by the Bill Lane Center for the American West
that brings together policymakers, practitioners, and scholars
to discuss solutions to urgent problems facing rural Western
regions.
Today, Congresswoman Norma Torres and Congressman David Valadao
– members of the House Appropriations Committee – announced the
introduction of the bipartisan Removing Nitrate and Arsenic in
Drinking Water Act. This bill would amend the Safe Drinking
Water Act to provide grants for nitrate and arsenic reduction,
by providing $15 million for FY25 and every fiscal year
thereafter. The bill also directs the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to take into consideration the needs of
economically disadvantaged populations impacted by drinking
water contamination. The California State Water Resources
Control Board found the Inland Empire to have the highest
levels of contamination of nitrate throughout the state
including 82 sources in San Bernardino, 67 sources in Riverside
County, and 123 sources in Los Angeles County.
