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 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.
The Trump Administration awarded a new, no-bid contract to a
company that’s being sued for allegedly failing to keep the
Tijuana sewage crisis at bay. And two men who work for agencies
on either side of the contract also worked together previously
at the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump’s first
term. In April, the federal government re-hired Veolia,
one of the world’s largest private operators of water, waste
and energy services, to run the South Bay International
Wastewater Treatment Plant at the U.S.-Mexico border. Veolia
has been the private contractor operating and maintaining the
plant for years. But recently it became the target of several
lawsuits filed by residents, a Coronado school district and
environmental groups that allege the plant has violated the
Clean Water Act under Veolia’s stewardship.
… Public uproar has echoed across the Tahoe area since April,
when our yearlong Mother Jones investigation revealed that, in
California, the fastest-growing use of glyphosate—the main
ingredient in Roundup—is to spray forested areas, including
this massive new project around Lake Tahoe. … As our
investigation revealed, the deployment of glyphosate in
California’s forestlands has been growing for decades, driven
in part by the worsening fires, as companies and government
officials scramble to harvest burned wood and replant trees for
future timber sales. Glyphosate is among the effective
methods—and the Forest Service says the cheapest—to get pine
trees to grow back faster, as it kills any other plant that
might compete for sunlight, soil nutrients, and water.
After a public hearing, the City Council on May 11 unanimously
approved the Seal Beach 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and
the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan. The plans were
state-mandated. … California law requires urban water
suppliers that serve more than 3,000 customers—or supply more
than 3,000 acre-feet of water a year—has to submit an Urban
Water Management Plan to the California Department of Water
Resources every five years. … “Imported supplies are
obtained through MWDOC, a member agency of the Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan), while
local groundwater is extracted from the Orange County
Groundwater Basin, which is managed and replenished by the
Orange County Water District (OCWD),” [Public Works Director
Iris] Lee wrote.
As the drought-stricken Colorado River lurches toward a
sprawling water and power crisis, lawmakers are beginning to
discuss an escape hatch: waiving or streamlining environmental
rules. “Several weeks ago, I met with the 14 senators from the
Colorado River Basin, and on a bipartisan basis, several of
them said, ‘Look, if we have a real crisis on the Colorado and
we need to get things done, and if there are any environmental
statutes that are slowing things down, tell us what they are
and maybe we can legislate to clear out some of the unhelpful
bureaucratic paperwork,’” acting Bureau of Reclamation
Commissioner Scott Cameron said during a House Natural
Resources Committee hearing Wednesday.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday declared a
statewide emergency due to widespread drought and severe
wildfire conditions, which mobilizes various state agencies to
provide affected communities with resources. The
governor’s executive order cites the state’s historically low
snowpack, high spring temperatures, severe winds and
ongoing wildfires. It directs the state’s Drought Task Force to
ensure communities receive “available information and resources
to enable them to prepare for and respond to drought conditions
and conserve and protect New Mexico’s water
supplies.” Coinciding with the executive order, the
governor’s office publicized a new website — the Drought
Information Portal.
More than a dozen “friend of the court,” briefs have been filed
with the state Supreme Court debating whether a local judge
erred when he ordered that enough water be kept in the mostly
dry Kern River bed through Bakersfield for fish. The Attorney
General’s office, a slew of environmental and farm groups,
along with far flung water districts, economic development
agencies, fisheries groups and even a northern California tribe
and crab boat association all weighed in on the fight for a
flowing Kern River. The attention from such a wide array of
groups reflects just how high-stakesthe outcome of this case
will be as it involves constitutional questions that
could affect water rights and conservation efforts on rivers
throughout the state.
The Trump administration says it will increase the water it’s
sending to Central Valley farmlands this year from
Shasta Lake, the state’s largest reservoir.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said agricultural water agencies
south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta will receive
25% of their total contracted amount, up from an initial 20%.
Cities and towns will also get more from the federal canals
that are part of the Central Valley Project. The agency cited
“modest improvements” in reservoir levels after some rainstorms
in April. Environmental and fishing groups reacted to
Tuesday’s announcement with concern, saying that taking too
much water out of Shasta Lake threatens to harm Chinook salmon
by depriving them of vital cold water in the Sacramento
River in the late summer and fall.
The coming “Super” El Niño is poised to affect the lives of
hundreds of millions of people worldwide as it strengthens
through the year into the winter season. It may also alter
ecosystems for decades to come, judging from the repercussions
of past intense El Niños. … However, El Niño does not
instigate individual weather systems so much as dial up or down
the odds for particular conditions to prevail at a certain time
of the year. … In the US, for example, El Niño’s influence
tends to peak during the winter months, with weaker
correlations with weather patterns at other times of the year.
And during the winter, El Niño’s role is to put its thumb on
the scale and raise the odds of repeated atmospheric
river events affecting California and
wetter-than-average conditions across the southern tier of the
US.
A new coalition of advocates released their plan to address
California’s water problems. The Water Renaissance Plan
for California addresses current water strategies that the
coalition claims are outdated, unreliable, and costly. … The
long-proposed Delta Conveyance Project, DCP, also known as the
Delta Tunnel, has been supported by various California
Governors. It would distribute water from the Sacramento River
to the south, but its cost has continued to rise and now is
estimated to be over $20-billion dollars. The new Water
Renaissance coalition opposes this plan, and offers an
alternative … including reducing water use, recapturing
water, and restoring groundwater to reach the goal.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced it will rollback maximum contaminant levels for four
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water and
extend the compliance period for two other PFAS chemicals. The
proposed rule would rescind regulations set under the Biden
administration for PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA and PFBS, which is a
mixture of these three PFAS chemicals. The new rule would
remove the requirement for municipalities to install filtration
to remove these specific chemicals. … The EPA says
it is drafting a new rule that would implement new standards on
“key industrial categories” that discharge PFAS in an effort to
keep the chemicals out of the water supply.
California Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla introduced the
“Golden Mussel Eradication and Control Act of 2026” on
Wednesday that would, if passed, create a task force to partner
with state and other entities to develop best practices for
dealing with the invasive species that has rapidly infested the
state’s water ways. This bill is a companion to one introduced
in June 2025 by Rep. Josh Harder (D-Turlock), H.R. 3717, in the
House of Representatives, which was referred to the Committee
on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the
Committee on Natural Resources. Both bills would authorize $15
million a year over the next four years to be given in grants
by the task force to its various partners for research and
development.
Just hours after a second water rights change application for
the proposed Stratos data center was published for public
notice, hundreds of formal protests started to pour in. The
application was filed with the Utah Division of Water Rights on
April 28, though the formal period for public response opened
up Wednesday morning. “I’m encouraged. I think it’s important
for the public to weigh in,” General Counsel for Friends of
Great Salt Lake, Rob Debuc, said. The organization had
previously called for protests against an earlier water rights
change application that called for 1,900 square acre-feet of
water. This second application only asks for 11 square
acre-feet, but Dubuc pointed out there’s likely more to come,
as he said the process for the massive project will likely be
unusual.
The Tijuana Slough at the Tijuana River Mouth ranked among
California’s most polluted beaches, while Playa Blanca near
Tijuana was listed as the state’s worst beach in Heal the Bay’s
annual Beach Report Card released Wednesday ahead of Memorial
Day weekend. The environmental nonprofit’s 2025-26 report
placed the Tijuana Slough ninth on its annual “Beach Bummer”
list of beaches with the poorest summer dry-weather water
quality grades because of elevated bacteria levels and chronic
pollution concerns. According to Heal the Bay, Playa Blanca and
the Tijuana Slough continue to be heavily impacted by
transboundary wastewater flows from Baja California, although
efforts are underway on both sides of the border to reduce
sewage discharges and improve infrastructure.
The Bureau of Reclamation will temporarily open the Delta Cross
Channel Gates over Memorial Day weekend to improve recreational
boating access in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. The gates
are scheduled to open Friday, May 22, at 10 a.m. and will
remain open through Tuesday, May 26, at 10 a.m. The temporary
opening will provide enhanced access for boaters traveling
between the Sacramento River and the central Delta during the
busy holiday weekend. After the holiday period, the gates will
return to normal operations and close on Tuesday morning.
According to the Bureau of Reclamation, gate operations are
coordinated with multiple resource agencies to balance water
quality, fishery protection, flood control, and recreational
opportunities throughout the Delta.
President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Tuesday that will
allow water managers to build a $2 billion pipeline under a
national conservation area. The Sloan Canyon Conservation
and Lateral Water Pipeline Act was championed in Congress
by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Rep. Dina Titus, both
Democrats. Ultimately, the pipeline will meet growing service
demands in Henderson and southwest Las Vegas and ensure that
water service can continue should an older pipeline need
repairs. … The costly, massive construction project is a
response to the aging existing South Valley Lateral pipeline,
which was constructed in 1996 and supplies about 40 percent of
the valley’s water. … In addition to allowing the water
authority to build the pipeline, the law adds 9,280 acres to
the 48,438-acre Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.
If you didn’t know Jon Bishop before the pandemic chased
everyone out of CalEPA headquarters and into a virtual
existence six years ago, the State Water Board’s Chief Deputy
Director provided quite the introduction. … His round
features, accentuated by wire-rimmed, rectangular glasses,
reddened with passion when he leaned into the microphone and
forcefully delivered his latest message. You couldn’t miss him
if you wanted to — and you wouldn’t want to. After 41 years
with the Water Boards — dating back to a time when “total
maximum daily loads” (TMDL) referred to weight limits on box
trucks instead of pollution limits — he knows where all the
pens and pencils are buried.
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.
