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 seven Western states that rely on water from the Colorado
River have run out of time for compromise to share its
dwindling supplies, just as new projections show reservoir
levels could sink to a critical low by the end of this year.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Saturday that the states
had missed a Valentine’s Day deadline to reach consensus on a
plan to guide use of the river over the coming decades. He said
the federal Bureau of Reclamation would instead soon impose its
own plan. … He acknowledged it may be difficult for states to
cooperate without taking disagreements to court. That could
eventually lead to the U.S. Supreme Court.
… Data provided by the US Department of Agriculture show
that as of February 12, snowpack was at less than half
its normal level in areas across nine Western
states—some of the lowest levels seen in decades. It’s
common for a particular basin or small area of the West to have
low snowpack at this time of year. What’s worrisome, [UC ANR
scientist Daniel] Swain says, is how widespread the snow
drought is, stretching in a swath from the bottom of Washington
to much of Arizona and New Mexico, and touching as far east as
Colorado. … Much of the water supply for the West, including
the crucial Colorado River Basin, is set during the winter.
Snowpack that accumulates in the cold months melts in the
spring; in years with healthy snowpack levels, that water makes
its way into streams and reservoirs. Current conditions pose a
threat to this dynamic.
… The [Delta] conveyance system is one of California’s
largest proposed public infrastructure projects in a
generation, a 45-mile underground tunnel that would siphon
water from an inland network of rivers and farming islands
between Sacramento County in the north and Contra Costa County
in the south. … Southern and Central California water
districts want the tunnel to move more fresh water to their
agriculture and Los Angeles-area customers. … DTEC [Delta
Tribal Environmental Coalition] — already concerned about large
water exports shipped through existing pumps from the Delta —
worries the $20-billion project will wreak havoc on the plants
and wildlife of the estuary and its connected rivers.
Federal water managers say the level of Lake Powell could fall
to historic lows by the end of the year amid worsening drought
conditions across the Colorado River Basin. The U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation’s newest 24-month study predicts that by December
the lake could, for the first time, fall to 3,490 feet, or
“minimum power pool,” the lowest level at which Glen Canyon Dam
can produce electricity. In addition, if dry conditions persist
officials say by March 2027, Powell could drop to 3,476
feet—the lowest level on record since the lake was filled
decades ago, possibly limiting the dam’s ability to release
water.
The Water Education Foundation Board of Directors elected two
new members, expanding its Colorado River Basin representation
and adding an environmental representative. The new
members joining the board in 2026 are: Andy Mueller,
an attorney who serves as the general manager of the Colorado River
Water Conservation District based in Glenwood
Springs, Colo., and Camila
Bautista, the Salton Sea and desert program
manager with Audubon California who represents the 2025 Water
Leaders cohort on the Board for a three-year term. In addition,
Andrea
Abergel, manager of water policy for the
California Municipal Utilities Association who joined the board
in 2023 for a three-year term as a member of the 2022 Water
Leaders cohort, was voted in as a full board member.
Authorities continue to work to contain a spill of oil and
debris in the Yuba River after a penstock burst on Friday at
the New Colgate Powerhouse, the Yuba Water Agency’s main
hydroelectric facility south of Dobbins. An oil sheen was
discovered in the river Sunday where it meets with Englebright
Lake, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced.
… A crew composed of CDFW personnel and members of the
Office of Spill Prevention and Response assessed the Yuba River
along the Nevada-Yuba county line. As of Sunday, the crew had
not observed any visibly oiled wildlife. Crews continued
assessing the area Monday.
… The Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, a joint
effort of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Pajaro
Regional Flood Management Agency, was created in 2021 and seeks
to both better protect homes and cede some of the historic
floodplain back to the river. One solution has been to knock
down old levees and construct new ones further from the
riverbed — in some areas, more than a football field’s length
away. Besides flood protection, the expanded riverbanks
are designed to provide new habitat for riparian plants and
animals, and let water seep into the soil to replenish
groundwater aquifers. Groundwater basins in the county,
including the Mid-County and Pajaro Valley basins are
critically overdrafted and at risk of saltwater intrusion if
not refilled.
The cold, crystalline waters of Blue Creek — a refuge for
salmon and a place of cultural importance to the Yurok Tribe —
cut through bedrock and over tumbled-smooth gray stones until
they empty into the Klamath River in Northern California. Last
summer, 14,000 acres encompassing the Blue Creek watershed were
returned to the tribe. This transfer concluded the last phase
of the largest tribal land return in California history,
amounting to 47,100 acres of land previously used by timber
companies. Twenty-three years in the making, it was achieved in
partnership with Western Rivers Conservancy, which bought the
land in phases and turned it over to the Yurok Tribe. The
return more than doubles current landholdings for the tribe,
which was dispossessed of more than 90% of its ancestral lands
by colonizers.
Just east of the Harbor Freeway, in the middle of an industrial
area of Carson, lies a 17-acre haven for birds, ducks, plants
and other wildlife. The Bixby Marsh is a wetland that’s home to
110 different plant species, 69 bird species and other animals,
including more than 40% of them federally listed endangered and
threatened species, according to a fact sheet about the marsh.
The marsh was once threatened by development and other
challenges. But now, thanks to ongoing efforts by the Los
Angeles County Sanitation Districts, the wetland is thriving.
… The marshland is not just a refuge for the local community
and wildlife — but also a water filtration system for the area.
When water flows into the marshland, the environment naturally
cleans the water of sediments before it flows out to the local
Wilmington Drain.
The Sierra Valley Groundwater Management District is making
progress on improvements to its monitoring networks, irrigation
efficiencies and projects aimed at refilling and reducing
demand on aquifers. The district’s Technical Advisory Committee
shared details on corrective actions recommended by the
Department of Water Resources at a Feb. 9 community meeting.
… When the district submitted its evaluation in 2022, DWR
recommended creating a more extensive monitoring network. One
of those recommendations was for SVGMD to measure changes in
land elevation with instruments, as opposed to estimating
change with groundwater levels.
People in the South Bay are raising concerns about air quality
in the Tijuana River Valley following a recent pipeline rupture
during construction work near Stewarts Drain, just south of San
Ysidro next to the border. Officials say the spill did not
reach the Tijuana River, but recent data show
concerning spikes in hydrogen sulfide levels at monitoring
stations throughout the area. However, there’s no confirmed
link between the rupture and the recent air quality spikes.
… The recent spikes happened along the San Ysidro Fire
Station, Berry Elementary School, and City Hall in Imperial
Beach. Prather said her research aims to be reflective of what
people are feeling and smelling in the community.
The prospect of a costly and prolonged interstate lawsuit over
rights to the Colorado River looms now that the states using
the water are blowing past a Valentine’s Day deadline with no
water-sharing deal in hand. The dispute has largely hinged on
whether states in the headwaters region would agree to
mandatory cuts to their overall supply in especially dry years
— a commitment they have so far rejected in part because they
do not use their full allocation as the more developed
Southwest does. … Nevada’s lead negotiator issued a
statement on Feb. 13, a day before the target that most
everyone involved knew they would miss, and decried the
entrenched positions of states unwilling to bend.
The seven Western states that use the Colorado River are on the
hook to come up with a new agreement for sharing water by
Saturday, and it does not appear that they will have a deal by
the deadline. Negotiators from those states have been
deadlocked for the better part of two years. The Colorado River
supplies water to the Phoenix and Tucson areas through the
Central Arizona Project. It also feeds nearly 40 million people
and a massive agricultural industry. The river is in the grips
of a megadrought stretching back more than two decades, and
policymakers have struggled to agree on ways to rein in demand.
After months of talks, they can’t agree on who should feel the
pain of necessary cutbacks.
The California Supreme Court denied a petition by the Kings
County Farm Bureau to review whether the Fifth District Court
of Appeal properly reversed a preliminary injunction against
the state last year. Despite the set back, the Farm Bureau
vowed to continue with its underlying lawsuit. … The
Farm Bureau sued the State Water Resources Control Board in May
2024 after the Water Board placed the Tulare Lake subbasin,
which covers most of Kings County, on probation for
lacking an adequate groundwater plan as required per the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). … A
Kings County Superior Judge issued preliminary injunction
holding off those sanctions in Sept. 2024. … The Water Board
appealed and, in October 2025, the 5th District reversed the
injunction.
It’s going to get wet over the next week across the Bay Area
and the Sierra Nevada. That’s good news for local water
supplies and the state’s subpar snowpack, but the coming cold
system could complicate travel to the slopes for winter sports
enthusiasts. National Weather Service forecasters said they
expect multiple bands of precipitation to move over Northern
California starting Saturday and lasting through late next
week. … Forecasters expect the system to impact the
Sierra Nevada starting late Sunday, with heavy snow starting
Monday. More than 4 feet of snow could fall in the
Sierra Nevada next week — a huge boost for the state’s
snowpack, which is currently at about 54% of normal
for this time of year.
President Trump on Thursday announced he was erasing the
scientific finding that climate change endangers human health
and the environment, ending the federal government’s legal
authority to control the pollution that is dangerously heating
the planet. The action is a key step in removing limits on
carbon dioxide, methane and four other greenhouse gases that
scientists say are supercharging heat waves, droughts,
wildfires and other extreme weather. … Gov.
Gavin Newsom of California promised a court challenge. “If this
reckless decision survives legal challenges, it will lead to
more deadly wildfires, more extreme heat deaths, more
climate-driven floods and droughts, and greater threats to
communities nationwide,” he said.
The Wyoming House of Representatives is poised to hear a bill
that would give half a million dollars to a state-funded study
on how data centers and hydrogen projects might sap or impact
the state’s water supply. That’s after the House
Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources Committee
advanced House Bill 90 by an 8-1 vote Thursday morning in
Cheyenne, sending it to the House floor for full
debate. If it becomes law, it would give $500,000 to the
Wyoming State Engineer to conduct a study on large-scale
industrial water use by data centers, carbon capture, or other
large-scale industrial projects. It would include projects that
remove water from the water cycle, and electrolysis, plasma
dissociation, thermochemical splitting, chemical dissociation
of water into its elemental components, and using water as
feedstock for hydrogen fuel production or other chemical
compounds.
A House panel advanced bipartisan legislation Wednesday to
continue funding an EPA grant program that helps reduce
pollution from farms, construction sites and roads. The House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted to
send H.R. 7376, the “Local Water Protection Act,” to the
House for consideration, overruling objections from one member,
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). Sponsored by Reps. Hillary Scholten
(D-Mich.) and Brian Mast (R-Fla.), the bill would reauthorize
EPA’s nonpoint source pollution grant program at $200 million
annually through fiscal 2031. Nonpoint pollution includes farm
runoff, road salt and construction debris, and can carry
fertilizer, chemicals and sediment into rivers, streams and
lakes.
Negotiations over how to manage the Delta’s water and fish
species hit a boiling point in late January, when hundreds of
members of the public, environmental groups, and Tribes pleaded
for days on end with California water officials. They demanded
that the State Water Resources Control Board go against
the wishes of powerful farming districts and mandate that more
water flows through the ailing estuary, lest its once prolific
chinook salmon, sturgeon, and smelt cross thresholds of
extinction. … The grueling faceoff came during a
three-day public hearing hosted by the State Water Board. The
sessions focused on the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan,
the keystone ruleset overseeing management of Delta water and
its various beneficial uses.
