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 cities of Phoenix and Tucson are setting up a new system
for sharing water among cities, towns and other water users in
Arizona. City officials are framing it as a way to help keep
cities around the state from going dry in the face of a
shrinking Colorado River. The program, which will be called the
“Secure Water Arizona Program” or “SWAP” will create an
emergency reserve of water and connect cities that are
interested in buying and selling water from other cities and
businesses. … SWAP is designed to be a completely
voluntary program that can help cities and towns facing water
cutbacks.
Members of the House Natural Resources Committee debated
Wednesday whether to give local water contractors input into
Endangered Species Act reviews, as shrinking water supplies
across the West increasingly put agricultural and environmental
needs at odds. The Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and
Fisheries reviewed H.R.8259, the “Federal Water Projects
Consultation Improvement Act,” which would require federal
agencies to involve local contractors during ESA biological
assessments, which can dictate when and how much water flows.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.), focuses on
the Bureau of Reclamation which operates across 17 western
states. That includes the Klamath Basinin Oregon [and California], where Reclamation
is rewriting the endangered species rules that govern its dams
and pumps.
Summer 2026 is expected to bring a volatile mix of heat, severe
thunderstorms and flooding to the United States, with El Niño
developing and flexing its influence on the weather pattern.
… Flooding can also be a concern in the
Southwest and southern Rockies when the North American monsoon
ramps up and tropical moisture surges northward. … While
flooding is a concern in some parts of the country,
drought is expected to worsen in others.
Drought conditions are likely to expand across the Northwest
and Northern California. … Moisture
could start to arrive near the end of June, which is slightly
earlier than normal. That may bring some welcome relief to the
Southwest after a hot, dry start to the summer.
San Luis Obispo County is investigating the potential for
building a desalination facility as a new drinking water
source. As weather patterns change and the length of droughts
increase due to climate change, the county is interested in
pursuing a drinking water source that doesn’t rely on
rainfall. … The San Luis Obispo County Flood
Control and Water Conservation District launched an almost $1.2
million feasibility study to evaluate where a desalination
facility could be located, how it could be funded and what
communities could use the water, San Luis Obispo Public Works
Department resource management group deputy director Courtney
Howard said.
There is no need to wait to show your love for the Water
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most precious natural resource in California and across the
West. In conjunction with the Big Day of Giving, we are
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now to let us know you’re coming and to get
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water map or guide!
The California Department of Water Resources says it is ending
its invasive mussel inspection program at Lake Oroville, the
Thermalito Forebay and the Thermalito Afterbay. Effective
Wednesday, DWR says watercraft inspections, decontamination
services and seal checking at the Oroville facilities are no
longer required. … The decision to implement an
invasive mussel boat inspection program at DWR’s Oroville
facilities in May 2025 was based on available information about
how best to protect DWR infrastructure from golden mussel
establishment. Additional analyses of golden mussel biology and
habitat requirements, as well as an assessment of DWR’s
Oroville infrastructure, have shown a lower risk of golden
mussel establishment than was originally anticipated.
Salmon are becoming river ‘ghosts’ as brutal droughts and
violent floods cause unprecedented losses on their treacherous
journey to the Pacific Ocean, scientists say. A major study led
by the University of Essex, NOAA Fisheries, University
of California, Davis, and Cramer Fish Sciences found
that young Californian Chinook salmon face a
deadly double threat from extreme weather and the destruction
of historical wetland habitats they rely on. The study
emphasised how deadly droughts are for young fish and how they
thrive in wetter conditions. However, the results also
indicated that in modern, simplified rivers, extreme flows
during winter storms can be devastating too.
Arizona judges won’t force state officials to determine if
there should be greater state oversight of water use along the
upper San Pedro River. In a new ruling Wednesday, the state
Court of Appeals acknowledged that state law requires the
Arizona Department of Water Resources to “periodically review”
whether to create what are known as “active management areas”
in parts of the state which now have minimal to no limits on
groundwater pumping. Such a designation would
give the state the power to impose new restrictions on pumping.
The court did not dispute arguments by two environmental groups
that it has been more than 20 years since the state agency
conducted such a review of the area.
Colorado forecasters expect the recent pattern of wetter,
cooler weather to continue into the start of May, offering
relief — but not real healing — from drought conditions after a
historically hot, dry winter. … Widespread drought conditions
persist across Colorado, with the U.S. Drought Monitor showing
nearly the entire Western Slope under extreme — Level 3 of 4 —
or exceptional — Level 4 of 4 — drought conditions. The
northwest corner of Colorado is facing some of the worst
drought conditions in the entire country. … [T]he drought
conditions are so severe that the precipitation, which is about
average for April, will hardly make a dent.
… Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural
Resources Committee, has opened an investigation into the Trump
administration’s role in brokering a potential deal that would
send Eel River water to a water district in Southern
California, roughly 600 miles away. The controversy centers on
the Potter Valley Project, a pair of aging dams on the Eel
River that PG&E no longer wants to operate. Under a deal
reached in early 2025 and supported by tribal nations,
conservation groups and five counties, the Scott and Cape Horn
dams were set to be removed, which would have made the Eel the
longest free-flowing river in California and reopened hundreds
of miles of salmon habitat.
California’s state parks system is getting larger, following a
trio of new additions announced on Earth Day. State
officials said the three parks will be located in an area where
these public spaces have long been few and
far-between. They are the Feather River
Park near Olivehurst in Yuba County — the county’s
first state park — the San Joaquin River
Parkway in Fresno and Madera counties, and the Dust
Bowl Camp near Bakersfield in Kern County. … State Parks
Director Armando Quintero spoke with Insight Host Vicki
Gonzalez about these latest efforts to expand recreational and
conservation efforts in the Central Valley.
When you think about how California’s water travels, you might
imagine the water cycle diagram many of us were shown in
elementary school: evaporation, transpiration, condensation,
precipitation. However, the reality is a bit more complicated,
especially in California’s spring-fed systems, which
are of critical importance for water security for both
fish and people. … In 2023, CalTrout and our
partners embarked on a three-year study to provide a
scientifically based toolset to better understand, manage, and
advance the protection of the cold, clean spring waters in the
Upper Sacramento River Basin. New research
from CalTrout and our partners at UC Davis, Lawrence Livermore
Lab, and Cal State East Bay is revealing how these spring
systems actually work, and how resilient they may be as
California’s climate changes.
With watering restrictions in place in many communities
across the Denver metro area, more people are considering
different ways to conserve water and use it in their lawns.
Installing a rain barrel can be a great option, but there are
some rules in place for how you can use that water.
… Under Colorado state law, homeowners can install up to
two rain barrels with a combined storage of 110 gallons of
water or less. … Rainwater that’s collected can be used
only for outdoor use, like watering your lawns, plants, or
gardens. … The rainwater collected must also be used
outdoors on the same property it was collected on.
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.
