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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U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla rolled out two new water bills aimed at
easing the state’s growing climate-driven water shortages and
making water supplies more dependable across the state. The
Making Our Communities Resilient through Enhancing Water for
Agriculture, Technology, the Environment, and Residences Act —
the MORE WATER Act — and the Growing Resilient Operations from
Water Savings and Municipal-Agricultural
Reciprocally-beneficial Transactions, — the GROW SMART Act —
have drawn strong backing from regional water agencies, which
praised the measures as important steps toward improving water
reliability and affordability throughout the Golden State.
San Luis Obispo County has designed a new program to support
farmers who wish to stop irrigating their land. The goal: To
reduce overpumping in the Paso Robles Area Groundwater
Basin. It’s one of 21 basins in the state considered
“critically overdrafted” by the California Department of Water
Resources, which means more water is pumped from the basin than
is returned. On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo County Board of
Supervisors voted 4-0 to create a registry for farmers who
voluntarily decide to fallow their land. … Farmers who enroll
in the program will maintain county property tax benefits
related to their status as agricultural producers. Meanwhile,
contrary to county law, they also will be allowed to resume
irrigating their land when they want to, even if it is fallowed
for more than five years.
Water agencies of all sizes are crafting plans and forming task
forces across local, state and federal entities to protect
infrastructure from the spread of golden mussels, a tiny,
invasive species that has already spread the length of the
state’s network of waterways. In the San Joaquin Valley,
Friant Water Authority is in the midst of another round of
environmental DNA testing, this time on the entire length of
the 152-mile canal, after golden mussel eDNA was detected near
the White River intake in Tulare County. Initially, the
authority hoped the mussel was contained to the southern
reaches of its canal, in the Arvin-Edison Water Storage
District, where State Water Project supplies enter the Friant
system via the Cross Valley Canal.
Developers are descending on a rural desert
community along California’s Mexican border, trying to
build over $15 billion worth of data centers to power Silicon
Valley’s artificial intelligence boom. But concerns over
pollution and Colorado River water use have
turned one of the projects into a charged legal fight. …
Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing LLC, started
purchasing land for the project in 2024, spending $12 million
on 95 acres in the city of Imperial, as well as $15 million
more for land in the county and nearby city of El Centro,
according to a lawsuit filed last month. … [The] company has
also said that the data center will send its used water
to the Salton Sea, helping reduce air pollution from
the drying body of water.
Go beyond the headlines and gain a deeper understanding of how
water is managed and moved across California during our annual
Water
101 Workshop on March 26. One of our most popular
events, the daylong workshop at Cal State Sacramento’s Harper
Alumni Center offers anyone new to California water issues or
newly elected to a water district board — and anyone who wants
a refresher — a chance to gain a solid statewide grounding on
water resources. Leading experts are on the agenda for the workshop that details the
historical, legal and political facets of water management in
the state. Don’t miss a once-a-year
opportunity from the only organization in California
providing comprehensive, unbiased information about water
resources across the West.
Environmental groups and tribal communities submitted written
comments to state water regulators this week reiterating that
the proposed Bay-Delta water management plan weakens water
protections and could open the door to ecosystem
disaster. During a three-day hearing last week, the tribal
members warned that the plan would result in “privatizing
water, prioritizing corporate profit over people.” In a news
release on Tuesday, Gary Mulcahy of the Winnemem Wintu called
the California State Water Board “clueless,” and Regina
Chichizola, executive director of Save California Salmon,
blasted state officials’ move to “advocate for an eight-year
experiment that fails to meet water, environmental and aquatic
species needs on so many levels as the VAs currently stand.”
The Montezuma Wetlands drape across 1,800 acres of Solano
County, California, where the Sacramento River empties into San
Francisco Bay. Once drained and diked for farming and grazing,
the marsh has been rehabilitated over the past two decades, and
in 2020, tidal waters returned for the first time in a century.
… But just as the ecosystem is on the mend, another makeover
may be coming. A company called Montezuma Carbon wants to send
millions of tons of carbon dioxide from Bay Area polluters
through a 40-mile pipeline and store it in saline aquifers 2
miles beneath the wetland. … If the project proceeds, it
could be the Golden State’s first large-scale, climate-driven
carbon capture and storage site.
Gov. Katie Hobbs said Monday that unless Upper Basin states
actually offer up some firm commitments to conserve water she
won’t agree to any deal for Arizona to cut its own withdrawals
from the Colorado River. And that would lead to either Interior
Secretary Doug Burgum imposing his own solution on the seven
states that draw water from the river — or the situation having
to be hashed out in court. Only thing is, Burgum has so far
refused to do more than bring the governors of the affect
states together, as he did on Friday. … Still, the
governor said she thinks it doesn’t necessarily have to wind up
in court, even though Arizona already has set aside $3 million
for litigation.
Colorado’s snowpack situation continues to worsen despite
recent snowfall, with statewide levels dropping from 57% of
average last week to 55% of average today. … A
persistent ridge of high pressure over the western United
States has dominated weather patterns this winter, keeping
storm systems away while maintaining unusually warm
temperatures across the region. La Niña conditions in the
Pacific Ocean are partly responsible, but the upper ridge has
been further east than usual as well. That’s partly been driven
by a persistently “positive” PNA – the Pacific North American
Oscillation. The combination of the northerly jet stream
changes from La Niña plus the positive PNA – and a couple of
other patterns – are why it has been so dry.
One year after taking office, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin will
return to San Diego County Thursday to continue addressing the
decades-old Tijuana sewage crisis that has plagued the South
Bay community. Since being sworn in as the 17th administrator
of the Environmental Protection Agency on January 29, 2025,
Zeldin has made the cross-border sewage issue a priority,
promising to deliver a “100% solution” to the problem that has
impacted Imperial Beach and surrounding areas for years.
… During his Thursday visit to San Diego County, Zeldin
will meet with small business owners and elected officials
impacted by the crisis as he continues efforts to address the
long-standing environmental issue.
In 2022, Governor Newsom released California’s Water Supply
Strategy, outlining how the state must adapt to a hotter, drier
future. As temperatures rise, more precipitation will be
absorbed by dry soils, consumed by plants, or evaporate —
meaning less water reaches streams, rivers, and reservoirs,
placing new strain on the state’s water supply. In October
2025, the Governor and Legislature gave the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) an important opportunity to address this
challenge: Senate Bill 72 (SB 72). SB 72 directs DWR to
modernize the California Water Plan by building a data-driven
playbook for the state’s water future.
More than 10,000 Chinook salmon made the long journey home this
year, returning from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in the
Mokelumne River—a strong sign of resilience for one of Northern
California’s most important salmon rivers. The East Bay
Municipal Utility District reports that approximately 10,500
Chinook salmon returned during the 2025 fall run. That number
is right in line with the river’s long-term average and
marks a successful season for both natural spawning and
hatchery operations. Those returns allowed EBMUD,
working alongside the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife, to meet its goal of collecting and fertilizing 7.5
million salmon eggs at the Mokelumne River Hatchery below
Camanche Dam.
The world is looking for more clean water. Intense storms and
warmer weather have worsened droughts and reduced the
amount of clean water underground and in rivers and lakes
on the surface. Under pressure to provide water for
drinking and irrigation, people around the globe are trying to
figure out how to save, conserve and reuse water in a variety
of ways, including reusing treated sewage wastewater and
removing valuable salts from seawater. But for all the clean
water they may produce, those processes, as well as
water-intensive industries like mining, manufacturing and
energy production, inevitably leave behind a type of liquid
called brine: water that contains high concentrations of salt,
metals and other contaminants. I’m working on getting the water
out of that potential source, too.
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.
