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.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced the completion of California’s
first solar-covered canal in the Central Valley [Turlock],
launching a first-of-its-kind pilot project aimed at
saving water, generating renewable energy and
reducing maintenance costs. Known as Project Nexus, the $20
million initiative places solar panels directly over irrigation
canals to test whether the approach can help California better
manage water resources while expanding clean energy
production. State officials say the project is designed to
evaluate whether covering canals with solar infrastructure can
reduce water lost to evaporation before it reaches farms, homes
and businesses.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved a plan to refill
Truckee reservoirs early. The approved plan would temporarily
modify operations at Prosser Creek, Stampede and Boca dams. The
change is considered a major deviation from the 1985 Truckee
Basin Water Control Manual, and allows reservoirs to begin
refilling in mid-March, around a month earlier than usual. The
Bureau of Reclamation says the earlier refills enable
the capture of additional spring runoff without increasing
flood risk under current conditions. They say that as
a result, reservoirs are more likely to fill completely, or to
reach higher levels than under standard operations.
Across the country, data centers are drawing backlash from
across the political spectrum as Americans raise
concerns over drained water supplies and spiking energy
costs. The recently unveiled Stratos data center in
Box Elder County, backed by celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary,
shows many Utahns share the same sentiment. Days after a
crowd packed the historic courthouse in Brigham City to decry a
potential vote that would allow the project to proceed, the
Utah Division of Water Rights received a deluge of protests
over a water rights application submitted by the developer for
the project, totaling nearly 400 as of Thursday evening.
For the first time in four years, commercial salmon boats are
heading back out on the California coast. The California
Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that both commercial
and recreational ocean salmon fishing have officially reopened
for 2026 after three consecutive years of closures. The
shutdown, which began in 2023, was driven by historically low
Chinook salmon populations linked to drought, poor river
conditions and habitat degradation. The reopening was
made possible by significant improvements in Sacramento River
fall-run and Klamath River fall-run Chinook stocks.
The Klamath River runs in particular have benefited from the
removal of four dams, the largest dam removal project in
American history.
Before the Pacific Coast Highway,
before Malibu and before
multimillion-dollar beachfront homes, Topanga Creek flowed
freely down through the Santa Monica Mountains. The water,
swelling and subsiding with the seasons, eventually dumped out
into a large lagoon, which in turn drained out to the Pacific
Ocean. Historically, the lagoon covered 30 acres of
coastal wetlands. But over time, the brackish water slowly gave
way to homes, beach parking lots and the Pacific Coast Highway.
Today, less than 1 acre of the lagoon remains.
… In Malibu, a last-ditch effort is underway to
save and expand the Topanga Lagoon, which contains
some of the last remaining coastal wetlands in the state.
Despite demands from San Diegan officials that Gov. Gavin
Newsom declare a state of emergency for the
Tijuana Rivercrisis, the governor’s position stands —
the crisis remains a federal issue. … On April 9,
Aguirre took to Instagram to plead with the governor to declare
a state of emergency over the worsening sewage crisis in the
Tijuana River. The long-brewing problem is part of a broader
crossborder watershed in which untreated wastewater, sediment
and trash regularly flow into California from Mexico, impacting
public health and the environment, the California State Lands
Commission has said. But Newsom’s office has long argued
that the federal government is responsible.
In a study recently published in the Journal of
Geophysical Research: Planets, researchers from the University
of Arizona used drones equipped with ground-penetrating radar
to learn more about two debris-covered glaciers in the US.
These so-called ‘buried glaciers’ bear striking resemblance to
buried ice deposits observed on Mars and could therefore guide
the search for water on the Red Planet. … These kinds of
glaciers only make up 5% of glaciers globally, but
they’re found in mountainous regions across the world,
including in warmer areas such as Colorado and
California, where debris insulates the ice underneath
and stops it from melting. On Mars, similar-looking,
debris-covered glaciers are found in mid-latitude
regions.
Dozens of Mountain View homes have gone nearly a week without
safe drinking water after a construction mishap
contaminated a city water main, forcing families to
cook, clean and care for children using bottled water. …
[T]he contamination incident … began last Friday when a
slurry mix came into contact with a water main that was
undergoing repair and upgrade work, causing tests to come back
positive for coliform bacteria. City officials have not said
whether the contamination was caused by contractor error or
whether proper safety protocols were followed. While limited in
scope, the outage has highlighted how a single infrastructure
failure can leave residents without one of the most basic
necessities: safe drinking water.
The January 2025 fires in Los Angeles County exposed a critical
gap: water systems were never designed to fight large-scale
wildfires. As fire risks intensify, communities are asking what
the role of water systems should be in extreme events moving
forward and how these systems can remain reliable, affordable,
and resilient. On January 23, 2026, the UCLA and UC ANR Urban
Water Supply + Fire working group — organized by the
Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, Luskin Center for Innovation,
and the California Institute for Water Resources — convened 54
experts to examine a critical and underexplored issue: how to
finance water systems as fire risks change and intensify. The
workshop organizers have just released a report, Water Supply
Systems, Fire, and Finance, synthesizing key insights from the
convening.
The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors declared a local
emergency Tuesday, April 28, as the invasive golden
mussel continues to damage infrastructure and threaten water
systems across the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The
board of supervisors approved the proclamation after hearing an
update from county staff and members of an ad hoc committee
formed to respond to the infestation, which was first detected
at the Port of Stockton in October 2024. … [District 2
Supervisor Paul] Canepa said officials first thought the
invasive golden mussel was a boating issue, but it became “way
more than a boating issue.” He referred to the Delta as “ground
zero” for the infestation in California, which now affects
agriculture, municipal water systems and flood protection
infrastructure.
… A winter of record-low snowfall in much of the U.S. West
means less snowmelt to feed the rivers and lakes that supply
the region’s water. It has sent a clear message to communities,
agricultural producers and businesses — everyone must live with
less. Cities are implementing outdoor watering restrictions.
Denver Water announced drought restrictions on March 25 — the
earliest in their history. Salt Lake City has urged residents
to voluntarily cut back and mandates that government offices
do. Cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Albuquerque
already have year-round seasonal watering rules. … Even
where restrictions don’t apply, growing your own produce can be
done in a water-wise way, even in a thirsty desert.
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.
