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Water news you need to know

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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Aquafornia news Politico

‘Set up for failure’: Trump’s cuts bring climate and energy agencies to a standstill, workers say

Cuts and freezes are jamming up some of the basic functions of government at agencies targeted in President Donald Trump’s rollbacks of his predecessors’ energy and environmental policies, more than a dozen federal employees told POLITICO. Lockdowns of spending and an absence of guidance from political appointees are leaving Environmental Protection Agency scientists unable to publish their research, preventing some Energy Department officials from visiting their department’s laboratories and forcing the cancellation of disaster planning exercises at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the 13 employees, who were granted anonymity to avoid reprisals. They said the chaos has also left recipients of Biden-era energy grants in limbo as they wait for approval to continue the projects they’ve started. … Other affected agencies include the Interior Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which conducts crucial climate research and oversees the National Weather Service.

Other climate science news:

Aquafornia news SFGate

Map shows which 16M acres of Calif. public lands eligible for sale in GOP bill

As the Senate continues to comb through the Big Beautiful Bill, 258 million acres of public land across the western U.S., including large swaths of California, could soon be eligible for sale. A map published by the Wilderness Society, a nonprofit land conservation organization, reveals which parcels of land across 11 states would be up for grabs, in accordance with the land sale proposal detailed by Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. If the budget is passed by the July 4 deadline, an estimated 16 million acres in California are at risk of being sold over the next five years. Those vulnerable parcels of land include areas adjacent to Yosemite National Park, Mount Shasta, Big Sur and Lake Tahoe. … In all, up to 3 million acres across all states would be authorized to be sold out of 258 million eligible acres across the West.

Other public land sale news:

Aquafornia news KJZZ (Phoenix, Ariz.)

AZ has 19 national monuments. Why a recent Justice Dept. opinion may eliminate their designations

A recently released opinion from the Justice Department suggests that the Trump administration may seek to unilaterally eliminate national monument designations. The administration has previously expressed interest in shrinking or removing protections on protected lands to clear the way for resource extraction or development, and the DOJ opinion would seem to mark an escalation of those priorities. The stakes are particularly high here in Arizona, where we have the second-highest number of national monuments in the country. Roger Naylor, author of “Arizona National Parks and Monuments: Scenic Wonders and Cultural Treasures of the Grand Canyon State,” joined The Show to discuss the implications of this. … “These are essential places to us, not only for our recreation, not only for tourism, but just protecting wildlife corridors and very often protecting watersheds, keeping our water supply safe as well,” (says Naylor.)

Other national monument and Antiquities Act news:

Aquafornia news UC Davis Law Review

Saving Mono Lake: the prologue, peak, and implementation of the landmark Audubon Society public trust litigation

One of the all-time great stories of American environmental law, the Mono Lake saga recounts the protracted conflict over scarce water resources between the City of Los Angeles and advocates for the Mono Basin, Yosemite’s eastern watershed, some four hundred miles to the north. In 1983, in National Audubon Society v. Superior Court, the California Supreme Court famously addressed the conflict by centering the state’s obligations under the common law public trust doctrine, which sets forth public rights and obligations in certain natural resource commons, especially navigable waterways. … While the decision itself is well-represented in the legal literature, the full story of the case has not received the attention it deserves. This Article offers fresh perspective on the least recounted but critical parts of the story—not only the significance of the legal innovations in the decision, but also what happened beforehand to lay the foundations for the landmark ruling, and then what happened afterward to bridge the court’s holding to the ultimate outcome for Mono Lake. 

Aquafornia news California Trout

News release: CalTrout and PG&E kick off construction on Alameda Creek fish passage project

California Trout (CalTrout) and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) kicked off construction today on a project that will remove the last unnatural barrier to fish passage on mainstem Alameda Creek, the largest local tributary to the San Francisco Bay. … This project will open more than 20 miles of stream including quality spawning habitat in the upper watershed to Chinook salmon and steelhead with completion anticipated in winter 2025. … In 2022 and 2023, former barriers at the BART weir and inflatable bladder dams in Fremont, eight to ten miles upstream of where Alameda Creek enters the Bay, were made passable for fish due to newly constructed fish ladders by the Alameda County Water District and after years of advocacy by the Alameda Creek Alliance. The newly constructed fish ladders enabled Chinook salmon and steelhead to migrate through the lower creek into Niles Canyon and access parts of the upper Alameda Creek watershed for the first time in over fifty years. Soon, these fish will be able to consistently swim even further upstream. 

Aquafornia news KSBW (Salinas, Calif.)

Plan approved to bring clean, affordable water to California town after 14 years

San Lucas residents, who have been without clean drinking water for nearly 14 years, may soon see a resolution as local leaders approve a plan to bring affordable water to the community. In the small, rural town of San Lucas, with a population of a little over 400 people, residents struggle with a basic essential: water. They have lived without proper drinking water for over a decade, with the cost of clean drinking water being their biggest obstacle. Now, county leaders, along with the San Lucas Water District, have a solution. ”We were able to bring in a partner, CalWater, to be able to be that water provider, and in doing so the average monthly bill in the community is expected to be around 90 dollars. But the benefit beyond that is anybody who is low-income, which we know 90% of that community is, will only pay about 60% of that bill, so they are going to average around 50 to 60 dollars a month. As a water bill, that is doable,” said Monterey County Supervisor Chris Lopez.

Other local water management news:

Aquafornia news Fresnoland (Calif.)

Richard Sloan makes San Joaquin River conservation a mission

… Originally born in Colorado, (Richard) Sloan moved to Fresno with his parents when he was around 4 years old. He moved to Khartoum, Sudan for two years and returned in 1964 to Fresno. It was then, when he was 13 years old, when he first became acquainted with the San Joaquin River. … During his final years in (Army) service and after, Sloan began volunteering for the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust. That was when he experienced his first canoe ride down the river, where he noted that he was “never out of sight of a tire” while on the water. … “I thought, ‘Oh my God, why doesn’t anybody do anything about that?’ and that’s what spurred me onto that first cleanup, then after that, I started organizing tire cleanups and they turned out to be pretty popular,” Sloan said. In 2000, he got a full-time position with the trust as the River Steward Coordinator and also became chair of the Sierra Club Tehipite Chapter. Through his positions he was able to coordinate the river’s first clean up at Camp Pashayan, where they pulled out 60 tires and an old-timey soda vending machine. 

Aquafornia news KJZZ (Phoenix, Ariz.)

Monday Top of the Scroll: Arizona could get a better deal in Colorado River water negotiations under Trump, experts say

… Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke said at a recent roundtable that under the Trump administration, the state could be better positioned than it was under the Biden administration. … Under the Biden administration, the Lower Basin states sent a proposal to the federal government offering to take 1.5 million acre-feet of water cuts per year. Arizona would cut the most, at 750,000 acre-feet. The Biden government rejected the Lower Basin’s proposal and issued an “alternative report” on Jan. 17, almost the last day of the administration. … Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen went on to say he also wants the federal government to tie in expensive infrastructure projects to the negotiations, and not just river-related infrastructure, but maybe even a desalination plant in California. Petersen said if Arizona were to help pay for that, then Arizona could take some of California’s Colorado River allocation.

Other Colorado River Basin news:

Aquafornia news E&E News by Politico

House Republicans try again on water permitting bills

Republicans on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced 15 water-related bills Thursday, targeting everything from the length of federal permitting to the types of water resources protected by the Clean Water Act. The bills would benefit oil and gas companies, farming interests, homebuilders, water utilities and others who say that environmental reviews and long permitting timelines are stifling development. They were introduced by Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chair Mike Collins, (R-GA) … Doug LaMalfa, (R-Calif.) and others. “The Clean Water Act was intended to protect water quality, support healthy communities, and balance the demands of economic growth across the United States,” (Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam) Graves said in a statement.

Related articles:

Aquafornia news The New York Times

California’s big question: How brutal will the summer wildfire season be?

… Every summer across the state, the atmosphere dries up and the temperatures turn warm, sucking moisture from the landscape and turning the parched vegetation into kindling, ready to burn under the right conditions. This year, forecasters are already seeing signs that the pattern could be more intense than usual. The snow in the Sierra Nevada, the frozen reservoir that moistens the landscape through the spring, is nearly gone; it melted off earlier than normal. This year’s grass crop is plentiful, especially in Northern California, which received more rain than the southern part of the state, and it’s already fueling fires as it dries out. And forecasters predict the summer will be exceptionally hot. All of this adds up to a higher probability of more large wildfires than usual this summer, with the possibility that even the smallest spark could explode into a significant wildfire if not stopped quickly.

Other fire season news:

Aquafornia news SJV Water

Attempt to boot judge off of Kern River case by water agency denied

A move to boot Kern County Superior Court Gregory Pulskamp off the long-running Kern River lawsuit was denied, according to a ruling issued Tuesday by the assistant presiding judge of the court. The Kern County Water Agency filed a motion May 30 to remove Pulskamp citing its belief the judge would be biased against the agency because a preliminary injunction he had issued requiring enough water be kept in the river for fish was overturned by the 5th District Court of Appeal. … Typically, disqualification motions come after a trial outcome is reversed, not in the middle of an ongoing lawsuit, according to attorney Adam Keats, who represents Bring Back the Kern and several other public interest groups fighting to get water back in the riverbed through Bakersfield. The agency, however, argued in its motion that the injunction and reversal should be considered similar to a trial. No, they are not similar, states a motion by the City of Bakersfield urging Kern’s presiding judge to deny the agency’s motion.

Aquafornia news The Fresno Bee

Opinion: San Joaquin River salmon restoration hits Fresno milestone

Earlier this month, Fresno welcomed 448 members of the Salmonidae family to town. … The 448 adult salmon represent a milestone for the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, marking the highest number of captured returns since spring-run juveniles were reintroduced to the river system in 2014 following the 2008 legal settlement that modified the operations of Friant Dam to provide minimum flows for native fish. … Most of this year’s bumper crop were trapped in fyke nets placed downstream of the Eastside Bypass Control Structure in Merced County. (Some made their way upstream to Sack Dam until being captured.) After being placed into tanks with oxygenated, temperature-controlled water, the salmon were trucked 120 miles then examined and measured before being released back into the river in northwest Fresno. … What measures are taken to ensure nearly 450 adult salmon residing on the outskirts of a city of 547,000 people remain undisturbed until they can reproduce? The short answer is enforcement and education.
–Written by Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski.

Other salmon news:

Aquafornia news California WaterBlog

Remembering Professor Harrison (“Hap”) Dunning

UC Davis Professor of Law Emeritus Harrison (“Hap”) Dunning passed away at the end of March 2025 at the age of 86. You can read the details of his life in the Davis Enterprise Obituary, including the story of his extensive work in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, but he is best known in the UC Davis community for his work on water law and the public trust doctrine. From serving on the Governor’s Commission to Review California Water Rights Law in the 1970s to his work on the California Water Commission and the Bay Delta Advisor Council, he lived a life of service to the California water community. California’s public trust doctrine is built in part on Prof. Dunning’s legacy of scholarship, which includes a foundation public trust conference at UC Davis that resulted in several papers cited in the California Supreme Court’s Mono Lake decision. [Harrison was a longtime board member of the Water Education Foundation]. 

Aquafornia news Environmental Protection Online

EPA awards $26M to cut lead in school, child care drinking water

The EPA announced that it will provide $26 million in grant funding to U.S. states and territories to reduce lead in drinking water at schools and childcare centers. The funding is part of the EPA’s ongoing efforts to support testing and remediation of lead-contaminated water at locations where children learn and play. Since 2018, the agency has distributed more than $200 million toward reducing exposure to lead in drinking water. … Grants will be issued through the Voluntary School and Child Care Lead Testing and Reduction Grant Program. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories are eligible for funding. A separate allocation for tribal entities is expected to be released soon. The EPA’s broader efforts include the “3Ts” program — Training, Testing, and Taking Action — which provides guidance for local and state officials to implement voluntary lead reduction initiatives. 

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

Forest lands along Klamath River returned to California’s Yurok Tribe

Along the Klamath River in Northern California, where logging companies once cut ancient redwood trees, vast tracts of land have been returned to the Yurok Tribe in a years-long effort that tribal leaders say will enable the restoration of forests and the protection of a watershed that is vital for salmon. The effort, which unfolded gradually over the last 23 years, culminated in May as Western Rivers Conservancy turned over 14,968 acres to the Yurok Tribe. It was the last portion of 47,097 acres that the nonprofit group acquired and transferred to the tribe in what is thought to be the largest “land back” deal in California history. Members of the tribe say they are celebrating the return of their ancestral lands along Blue Creek, a major tributary that meets the Klamath about 40 miles south of the Oregon border. Blue Creek holds cultural and spiritual significance for the Yurok, and its cold, clear waters provide a refuge for salmon.

Other Klamath River news:

Aquafornia news Buckrail (Jackson, Wyo.)

U.S. Senate provision would sell off public lands for housing, energy

On Wednesday, June 11, the U.S. Senate released a provision in President Trump’s H.R.1 – One Big Beautiful Bill Act that calls for the sale of approximately 2.2 million to 3.3 million acres of federal land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service. … According to the tax and spending bill, lands in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming could be sold off for energy and/or housing development over the next five years. … The Greater Yellowstone Coalition wrote via press release that the privatization of federal lands could lead to the loss of public access, negatively impact local economies and result in development that harms wildlife habitat and water resources. “Our national public lands are not a luxury, they’re our legacy,” Greater Yellowstone Coalition Executive Director Scott Christensen wrote. “These are outdoor spaces that connect us to each other, fuel the economies of western states and provide clean drinking water to millions of Americans downstream.”

Other public land news:

Aquafornia news Smart Water Magazine

NADBank to allocate $400 million to finance water projects in the US-Mexico border region

During the first semiannual meeting of the North American Development Bank (NADBank) in 2025, the Governments of the United States and Mexico, through the Board of Directors, agreed to invest up to US$400 million in priority water conservation and diversification infrastructure in response to prolonged drought conditions throughout the U.S.-Mexico border region. NADBank will welcome input from the public on the Water Resilience Fund (WRF) during a 30-day public comment period, after which the Board will consider its final approval. Through the WRF, NADBank will allocate up to US$100 million in retained earnings over the next five years for concessional financing, as well as make up to US$300 million available for low-interest loans from its established lending resources. NADBank may also supplement these instruments with market-rate financing to further expand the reach and impact of available resources.

Aquafornia news E&E News by Politico

How Trump’s assault on science is blinding America to climate change

… Since Trump returned to the White House in January, his administration has fired or let go hundreds of climate and weather scientists — and cut ties to hundreds more who work in academia or the private sector. His team has eliminated major climate programs, frozen or cut grants for climate research and moved to shutter EPA’s greenhouse gas reporting program. The Trump administration has slow-walked climate-related contracts — including one for the upkeep of two polar weather satellites. And it’s begun to wall off the United States from international climate cooperation. … (H)is budget strategy calls for even deeper cuts in the months and years ahead. That includes billions of dollars in cuts to climate and weather research at NOAA and NASA, widely considered two of the world’s top science agencies. All told, it’s an unprecedented assault on humanity’s understanding of how global warming is transforming the planet, scientists say. 

Other climate and weather research news:

Aquafornia news CNET

The hidden cost of the internet: Why the web’s environmental impact matters now more than ever

… Data centers are central to the internet’s environmental impact. While they consume a lot of electrical energy, massive amounts of water and have harmful pollutants, those levels have been relatively stable in the past decade. … Since AI servers run much hotter than a typical server, they require much more water for cooling. In 2023, Google’s data centers consumed over 23 billion liters of freshwater for cooling its servers; for context, that’s just one billion liters shy of PepsiCo.’s reported overall freshwater consumption for the same year. … AI’s environmental impact has been a topic of increasing concern for researchers like Ren and Mohammad Islam, a computer science and engineering professor at the University of Texas, Arlington, who co-authored a paper on “making AI less thirsty.” “GPT-3 needs to ‘drink’ (i.e., consume) a 500ml bottle of water for roughly 10 to 50 medium-length responses, depending on when and where it is deployed,” Ren and Islam’s paper reports.

Other data center water and energy use news:

Aquafornia news Manteca Bulletin (Calif.)

Opinion: If it wasn’t for water plus South San Joaquin Irrigation District securing & developing it, Manteca would be wide spot in the road like Milton

… Eastern San Joaquin County, like the rest of the Central Valley, is facing an uncertain future due to the looming state groundwater mandate that requires basins not to pump more water from an aquifer than is replenished in a given year. It is safe to say Milton will feel the pain when it comes big time. To prevent a similar fate, the SSJID has developed a long range water plan critical in its fight to keep the state from ignoring historical front-of-the-line legally adjudicated water rights to commandeer water from the Stanislaus River basin to use as they see fit. That, coupled with the groundwater mandate, would have a major negative impact on Manteca, Ripon, Escalon and the surrounding countryside as well as Lathrop and Tracy. While it wouldn’t send the South County back to the 1880s, it would still be devastating. And if you think this is only a problem for farmers, guess again. Choke off the water supply based on average or above average precipitation years, and you will devalue existing homes.
–Written by Manteca Bulletin editor Dennis Wyatt.

Other groundwater news: