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.
The first discovery of golden mussels in North
America at Rough and Ready Island near Stockton in San Joaquin
County has water managers throughout California on the alert,
including the Yuba Water Agency, which manages New Bullards Bar
Reservoir. On Tuesday, the Yuba Water Agency announced that it
will launch a new watercraft screening pilot program later this
summer at New Bullards Bar Reservoir in Yuba County. The pilot
program aims to prevent the spread of the golden mussel, a
highly invasive species found in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta last fall that could pose a
significant ecological and economic threat to the Yuba River
watershed. … Thus far, all the sightings of golden
mussel have been concentrated in the delta, although five
additional sightings have been reported in the San Joaquin
Valley.
… For more than a century, hydroelectric dams have diverted
water through the valley from the northward flowing Eel River’s
watershed to the southerly Russian River’s east fork, where the
two wind within a mile of each other near the Lake County
border. The local ecology, economy and culture have adapted
accordingly. Now that the alteration is no longer
profitable, Pacific Gas & Electric is looking to undo the
diversion by removing the dams, with potentially devastating
ramifications for the communities that have grown to depend on
the water they store and divert. … A coalition of
considerable political force has aligned behind PG&E’s
effort to relinquish its license for the Potter Valley
Project. Environmental nonprofits, tribal
representatives and elected officials, including Rep. Jared
Huffman, have endorsed the removal of Scott Dam, citing seismic
risk, fish habitat restoration and historical justice for the
Round Valley Indian Tribes as core motivations.
Over 250 million acres of public lands could be eligible for
sale if the President’s budget reconciliation package,
something he has called the “big, beautiful bill,” is passed. A
map and analysis were created by The Wilderness Society using
source data from BLM, USFS, USGS, NPS, and SENR reconciliation
bill text (Senate Energy and Natural Resources) as of June
16, 2025. … The map includes Kiva Beach, much of Fallen Leaf
Lake, Tallac Historic Site, and even ski resorts who lease land
from USFS, including Alpine Meadows, Heavenly Valley, as well
as other treasured acreage through the Sierra and beyond.
… The mandates of the bill call for the sale of .5-.75
percent of each BLM and USFS land across 11 western states, or
about 3.3 million acres. It opens up 250 million acres for
“developers to pick from,” to get to the 3.3 million acres,
according to Oliva Tanager of the Sierra Club.
New data from Nasa has revealed a dramatic rise in the
intensity of weather events such as droughts and
floods over the past five years. The study shows that
such extreme events are becoming more frequent, longer-lasting
and more severe, with last year’s figures reaching twice that
of the 2003-2020 average. The steepness of the rise was not
foreseen. The researchers say they are amazed and alarmed by
the latest figures from the watchful eye of Nasa’s Grace
satellite, which tracks environmental changes in the planet.
They say climate change is the most likely cause of the
apparent trend, even though the intensity of extremes appears
to have soared even faster than global temperatures. A Met
Office expert said increases in extremes have long been
predicted but are now being seen in reality. He warned that
people were unprepared for such weather events, which would be
outside previous experience.
President Donald Trump recently addressed Mexico’s failure to
pay the water it owes the U.S. under a decades-old treaty.
Under the 1944 treaty, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet
of water to the U.S. from the Rio Grande every five years, and
the United States is to pay Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet of
water annually via the Colorado River out West. Mexico,
however, has fallen behind on its payments. … The water
payments are just one of several water-related issues at which
the U.S. and Mexico are at odds. In San Diego, raw sewage has
been flowing in from Mexico for decades via the Tijuana River,
which runs from the south to the north. When it rains, tons of
debris and trash, in addition to millions of gallons of
sewage-tainted water, make their way north of the border and,
eventually, into the Pacific Ocean. The bacteria in the water
has forced the closure of beaches in southern San Diego that
have already been in place for years.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to allow
a developer to purchase public land for a planned $3.6 billion
data center just southeast of Tucson, and approved a rezoning
of the parcel to allow for the construction project. After
being rezoned with a 3-2 vote, the board voted to sell the the
290-acre parcel, which will be acquired by the San
Francisco-based developers for nearly $20.8 million. The
controversial agenda items passed after dozens spoke in front
of the board about what they saw as problems with the planned
project, including the large amounts of water and electricity
the data center will require. … The developer, San
Francisco-based Beale Infrastructure, promises to remain 100
percent sustainable through reclaimed water
delivered by a pipeline built at the developer’s expense. They
also agree to replenish all potable water used. Despite these
promises, much of the public continued to voice their
frustration with the potential long-term negative impacts.
… Over the course of his (Alameda Creek Alliance founder Jeff
Miller’s) career, he has participated in lawsuits, protests,
and hundreds of board meetings, alongside hundreds of other
people. More than $100 million dollars have been spent across
state funding, federal grants, and agency money. Almost every
barrier to fish migration in Alameda Creek has been removed.
This week, the last barrier that can feasibly be removed in our
lifetimes—a concrete structure over a PG&E gas
pipeline—will begin coming down. By 2026, Alameda Creek will
flow free. This final barrier removal opens up some twenty
miles of creek—a new survival path for steelhead in the Bay.
But what is just as remarkable is the three-decade process that
got us to this point has reshaped not only the creek but our
public agencies, and their approach to fish and watershed
stewardship.
A major lithium extraction project in Imperial County,
currently blocked in state court, just got a boost from the
Trump administration aimed at helping the project navigate
federal hurdles. Controlled Thermal Resources’ Hell’s Kitchen
project was designated under the federal FAST-41 program, an
Obama-era initiative that helps coordinate and keep
environmental reviews on schedule. The designation is the first
show of support since Trump took office in January for projects
in Lithium Valley, named for the vast stores of lithium
estimated to be buried beneath the Salton Sea.
… Controlled Thermal Resources broke ground on the
Hell’s Kitchen project on the south end of the Salton Sea last
year, racing to be the first to extract lithium on a commercial
level in the region. But environmental groups sued to block the
project, which remains on hold after the groups appealed the
dismissal of their lawsuit. No companies have launched
commercial extraction yet.
A special fund set up by the Arizona Legislature and former
Gov. Doug Ducey in 2022 to provide $1 billion to secure new
water supplies in the desert state is once again being raided
to help balance the state budget. The move to use more than $70
million in the Long Term Water Augmentation Fund was called
shortsighted by a representative of the state agency charged
with using the cash to bring new water to the state.
… All that started with 2022 legislation championed by
former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey to set aside $333 million a
year in three successive years so the authority would have $1
billion dedicated to finding and developing new water sources —
mainly from outside of the state. Ducey was intent on having
the state develop a water desalination plant on the Gulf of
Cortez in Mexico and piping the water to Arizona. That plan
fell apart, at least in part because of the secrecy surrounding
it and in part because the Mexican government said it never was
consulted. That has left the WIFA fund with money that
lawmakers decided could be used for something else.
The first visitors to enter the renovated Hoover Dam Visitor
Center on Tuesday morning made their way slowly through the
building’s new exhibit, exploring each facet of life that made
the dam’s construction possible. For the people behind the
project, that meant illustrating both the dangers people put
themselves through during the Great Depression and the
typically ignored spouses who made life in Boulder City
possible. Terri Saumier, a facility services manager under the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said the $15 million project had a
focus on telling the dam’s “story through the people who lived
it” from Day 1. … U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and
Boulder City Mayor Joe Hardy joined reclamation officials for
the visitor center’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, which also
coincided with the bureau’s 123rd anniversary.
A pipeline project designed to provide clean, accessible water
to residents living in eastern Coachella Valley has been
completed, Coachella Valley Water District officials announced
today. The Avenue 66 Transmission project, also
known as the Saint Anthony Mobile Home Park Water Consolidation
project, involved the installation of more than 26,000 linear
feet of water pipes along Avenue 66. The project connects to
three mobile home parks — Saint Anthony, Seferino Huerta and
Manuela Garcia — and will supply water to the communities of
Mecca and North Shore. ”Access to safe, affordable water
and sewer services brings additional benefits, including new
housing opportunities and economic growth,” CVWD Board Vice
President Castulo Estrada said in a statement. Numerous eastern
Coachella Valley residents previously received water from
failing or at-risk private water systems and unreliable
sanitation systems, district officials said.
President Donald Trump has quietly nominated a veteran Arizona
water official to lead the Bureau of Reclamation. Ted Cooke, who
spent more than two decades at the Central Arizona Project (CAP)
— the state’s largest water delivery agency, which distributes
Colorado River water to Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties — would
become Reclamation’s next commissioner if confirmed by the
Senate. Trump submitted Cooke’s nomination to
Congress on Monday.
President Donald Trump promised to break California’s water
rules wide open. So far, he’s mostly working within them. Five
months after Trump issued a pair of directives for federal
agencies to overturn state and Biden-era rules limiting water
deliveries, the federal government has done no such thing.
Instead, it’s quietly increasing water flows following the very
rules Trump once railed against — at least for
now. … What’s changed? For one, California had a
wet winter, which tends to smooth over political differences.
… Newsom has also aligned himself more with Trump on water,
as when he jilted Delta-area Democrats last month in pushing to
expedite a tunnel to move more supplies from Northern to
Southern California. More substantively, some of the water
districts that might be expected to agitate for Trump to
overturn Biden-era water rules concede that they actually allow
more deliveries than Trump’s version.
Other Trump administration and California water news:
… The Colorado River system rushes through
turbines inside Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell, producing
affordable, carbon-free hydropower. … Climate change and
chronic water overuse continue to constrict the mighty river’s
flows, though, jeopardizing the dam’s ability to produce
hydroelectric power. The lack of water has also created a slew
of environmental problems in the Grand Canyon’s ecosystem,
which sprawls below Glen Canyon Dam — most notably for an
ancient, threatened fish species, the humpback chub, which is
hunted by invasive smallmouth bass. Under Biden last year, the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation finalized a decision that allows the
dam to periodically release surges of water that bypass the
machinery that generates power. These flows cool the river
below the dam, which curbs smallmouth bass reproduction. Utah
Republicans and power providers say that decision has only
further threatened the valuable energy source — and they hope
to undo it.
After sitting near capacity for almost a month, Lake Oroville
is beginning to slowly creep back down in water elevation as
the California Department of Water Resources steadily increases
outflows. Lake Oroville was reported at 896.35 feet in
elevation Monday and will likely lower more in the weeks to
come. DWR spokesperson Raquel Borrayo said the lake was once
again bolstered by a wet and snowy winter. “Thanks to
above-average precipitation and average snowpack levels in the
northern Sierra for the last three years, water levels at Lake
Oroville have been peaking in May and June and then slowly
declining to their low point around November,” Borrayo said.
Borrayo said the higher releases are sent into the Feather
River, though some of the water remains local. … On
Monday, inflows into Lake Oroville were estimated at 3,000
cubic feet per second.
Other reservoir and snowpack news around the West:
… Trump has found a perhaps obvious avenue to pursue his goal
to ensure the United States is getting a fair shake on the
world stage. But some experts fear bringing tariff threats and
“America First” rhetoric into the world of water negotiations
will backfire, and that the careful work of administering the
1944 water treaty could get damaged in the process.
… The treaty is a complex document, but it requires the
United States to deliver water from the Colorado River to
Mexico, and Mexico to deliver water from the Rio Grande to the
United States. … After Trump threatened tariffs in
April, Mexico’s president did announce an additional water
shipment to Texas from Mexico’s reservoirs on the Rio Grande.
But experts say there just isn’t enough water available for
Mexico to get back on track by October. … Many of
northern Mexico’s reservoirs are low or empty, and in some
places, a lack of rain means rivers run dry.
2026 is shaping up to be a key year for the Colorado River and
the seven basin states that rely on its water. Those states
hope to wrap up negotiations on how to use less of the
overallocated river’s water by the end of this year — that
means Arizona lawmakers and the governor would have next year
to approve the deal. Joanna Allhands, digital opinions editor
for The Arizona Republic, has written about this and joined The
Show, along with editorial page editor Elvia Díaz, to discuss.
… “If it plays out like what groundwater negotiations have
done so far, that just means no one compromises, everything
falls apart, we don’t get anywhere. And then that could be
really disastrous for us, specifically because Arizona is the
only Colorado River basin state that is required to have
legislative approval for whatever deal comes our way,” (says
Joanna Allhands).
Lake Tahoe’s iconic blue waters were the third murkiest on
record last year and the worst they’ve been in several years,
according to data from scientists who have studied the lake for
decades. Clarity of the alpine lake — measured by dropping a
white disk into the water and noting when it disappears from
sight — is a signal of its overall health. Tiny particles are
major culprits of reduced clarity, including the sediment and
other pollutants that wash into the lake from runoff and air
pollution and the plankton that grow in its
waters. Researchers with UC Davis’ Tahoe Environmental
Research Center reported today that the average murkiness in
2024 was exceeded only in 2021, when fires blanketed the lake
in smoke and ash, and in 2017, when the lake was clouded by
sediment-laden runoff during a near-record wet year. The
report says that clarity levels are “highly variable and
generally not improving,” and recommends that “future
research should focus on examining the nature of the particles
that affect water clarity.”
The remote and rugged Klamath River in Oregon and California,
one of the mightiest in the American West and an ancient
lifeline to Indigenous tribes, is running free again, mostly,
for the first time in 100 years after the recent removal of
four major dams. At the burbling aquifer near Chiloquin, Ore.,
that is considered the headwaters, a sacred spot for native
people, a group of kayakers, mostly Indigenous youth from the
river’s vast basin began to paddle on Thursday. Ages 13 to 20,
they had learned to kayak for this moment. Stroke by stroke,
mile by mile, day by day, they plan to reach the salty water of
the rugged Northern California coast, more than 300 miles away,
in mid-July. If all goes as planned, the kayakers will
pass the rehabilitated sites of the largest dam-removal project
in U.S. history. They will pass salmon swimming upstream
in places that the fish had not been able to reach since the
early 1900s. They will pass through the ancient territory of
their tribes — the Klamath, Shasta, Karuk, Hoopa Valley and
Yurok among them.
If you know anything about the Salton Sea, maybe you’ve heard
that California’s largest lake has been shrinking for decades,
the fish are dying, and toxic dust from the lakebed is blowing
around the Coachella Valley. The term “apocalyptic” gets thrown
around. For the people who live here, that’s not a helpful
way to think of the place. … Thinking of the Salton Sea as a
place that’s doomed can make it hard to see it as a place in
the middle of dramatic change, affected in real time by humans
— and lately by the equivalent of a really big faucet.
Long-running plans to add more water — more sustainable water —
to the edges of the sea are now coming online, which should be
great news for the region’s most devoted tourists: the birds.
… As water is rerouted from the lake to San Diego and
other urban areas, the Salton Sea is getting saltier. So the
fish are dying off, and the fish-eating birds, like pelicans,
are also going elsewhere as the place changes.
