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 plan to build California’s largest reservoir in nearly 50
years has cleared one of its last and most fundamental hurdles:
tentative approval of the project’s water
right. The State Water Resources Control Board on
Friday released a draft permit that would allow Sites
Reservoir, a proposed 13-mile-long storage facility 70 miles
northwest of Sacramento, to draw water from the
Sacramento River. While not final, the
much-awaited draft permit indicates that state water regulators
support the project. … This could pave the way for
construction of the $6 billion reservoir to begin as soon as
late this year or early next. … Sites Reservoir
… has been widely supported by cities and farms as well
as by state leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom. However, some
environmental groups and tribal communities have opposed the
venture, saying it will take water from an already-stressed
watershed, thus harming plants and wildlife — including the
state’s biggest salmon runs.
Critical negotiations about the future of the Colorado River
took a two week hiatus last month after the seven states in the
basin missed a key Valentine’s Day deadline for striking a
deal, New Mexico’s water negotiator said Thursday. Estevan
López said talks resumed March 2, and the upper and lower basin
states are using a short-term pitch from Nevada as a starting
point. “Right now, we’re in discussions with the lower basin
about a potential short-term agreement,” Lopez told New
Mexico’s Interstate Stream Commission. Nevada is proposing to
increase water releases from upper basin reservoirs like
Flaming Gorge by at least 500,000 acre feet to help prevent
Lake Powell from dropping too low.
… Southern California urban areas are typically on the hunt
for more and more water from agricultural regions. In this
case, though, four Kern County, and one Kings County, ag water
districts have entered into a 59-year agreement to
buy water from an over-the-Grapevine agency in southern
California. The water will come from Santa Clarita Valley Water
Agency. … Over the years, it [SCVWA] has parked its
excess water in a variety of Kern County banks, sometimes in
one-off, or longer term deals. This new agreement sets up a
framework so both sides can have longer term certainty.
… Iconic mountain towns like Aspen, Colorado, and Park City,
Utah, were seen with shockingly bare slopes, as the region
endured a historic snow drought that experts warn could bring
water shortages and wildfires in the months ahead.
… Colorado hasn’t experienced such a severe snow drought
in more than 40 years. Neither has Utah … and newly released
federal drought data show similar conditions in New Mexico and
Arizona. All four states are contending with record-low
snowpack. … A snow drought of this magnitude has the
power to disrupt fundamental aspects of life in the West.
… In addition to increasing the risk of water shortages
for states already strapped for those resources, low snowpack
can make wildfire-prone land even more vulnerable.
More than three decades after a landmark decision called for
Los Angeles to limit its taking of water to raise the level of
Mono Lake, California regulators are reexamining why the lake
still hasn’t rebounded and what should be done about it. At the
request of state water officials, UCLA climate scientists
developed a new model to analyze why the lake remains far below
its state-mandated target level. In a new report, they said
that without L.A.’s use of water from creeks that feed the
lake, its waters would be about 4 feet higher — closer to that
required threshold. … DWP managers said they have
questions and want to vet the UCLA analysis.
A California lawmaker wants to ban the use of long-lasting
chemical pesticides in the state within a decade. Assembly Bill
1603 would ban the use, sale and manufacture of PFAS pesticides
in California beginning in 2035. More than 20 of the chemicals
already banned in the European Union would be prohibited
earlier, starting in 2030. The bill would also halt state
approvals of PFAS pesticides and require public disclosure.
… The group said PFAS in drinking water has drawn
increased attention from regulators and lawmakers. Affected
crops include almonds, pistachios, wine grapes and tomatoes.
… After decades of viewing beavers as pests, California is
finally beginning to welcome them home. And not a moment too
soon. With perhaps the world’s most intensely modified
hydrology, the state leads the country in acres burned by
wildfires and number of homes at risk from them, and according
to one study, it is second only to Nevada for drought risk.
California’s vaunted biodiversity is also imperiled. But these
legendarily industrious architects are primed to help us out.
… Critical for California, beaver dams create spongy
land that is resilient in the face of wildfires, resists
erosion, and retains precious groundwater.
San Diego County’s water agency is selling some of its water to
another Southern California agency to help limit increasingly
high water costs for 3.3 million people. The water is going to
Western Municipal Water District, which serves a growing area
of nearly 1 million people in Riverside County, including
Corona, Riverside and Temecula. … The San Diego County agency
has invested heavily to get more water in recent decades. In
2003, it struck an agriculture-to-urban transfer deal and it
also buys water from the Carlsbad desalination plant under a
30-year agreement. These actions have brought San Diego County
plentiful water — also some of the most expensive in the state.
For the first time in four years, California’s salmon fishery
is set to reopen this spring– offering a long-awaited
opportunity for commercial fishermen who have weathered
consecutive closures tied to historically low stock levels. The
commercial season, shuttered since 2023, is expected to open in
mid-May, with final dates and regulations to be determined in
April by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC). …
According to the Calif. Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW),
salmon populations have more than doubled compared to last
year, enough to support both recreational and commercial
fisheries in 2026. … But for working fishermen, a limited and
highly managed season raised concerns about economic viability.
… In Boulder City, a short drive southeast from Henderson,
voters will get to decide whether data centers are an
acceptable use for a specific portion of city-owned land known
as the Eldorado Valley Transfer Area. … A data center
could be an answer to water waste in Boulder City.
… Currently, only some of the wastewater from the city plant
is used for dust control at a quarry and in solar farms, while
the rest is left to evaporate. This isn’t the norm in the Las
Vegas Valley or Laughlin, where nearly every drop of water used
indoors is captured, treated and sent back to Lake Mead to help
stretch the state’s meager share of the Colorado
River. … [T]he city could make a profit off of
selling that treated wastewater to a data center.
As temperatures soared to record levels and officials issued
warnings about the heat wave sweeping San Diego, hydrogen
sulfide levels in and around the Tijuana River have also
spiked. At the same time, bacterial levels are also high. The
Tijuana River Coalition issued a press release on Friday
calling for a “timely and reliable” alert system to warn
residents of contamination spikes and for better coordination
among public agencies to connect residents and schools with
information that could help people protect their health.
… Water contaminated with sewage and chemicals flowing
into the Tijuana River has remained high for the dry season,
flowing at 30 to 40 million gallons a day.
… Under DWA’s Ordinance 80 and state Assembly Bill 1572, the
city must self-certify which of its roughly 75 city-owned
properties contain “non-functional turf” — decorative grass
with no regular recreational use — by June 30, ahead of a Jan.
1, 2027 deadline to stop using potable water on that turf
entirely. … The broader mandate stems from a state
regulation requiring DWA to reduce total water demand 40
percent by 2040 compared to today’s levels — one of the
steepest targets in California, a consequence of the region’s
high per-capita water use. … Turf removal is projected
to account for roughly one-third of required savings; the rest
will come from rate structures, device rebates, upgraded
metering infrastructure and commercial outreach.
… A recent survey showed those living in small communities
would be willing to pay higher utility bills for a wastewater
recycling program if it meant avoiding limits on their water
use. … Public opposition has at times kept wastewater reuse
programs from taking off. In the 1990s, San Diego attempted to
institute a reuse program, but the city had to scuttle it due
to fierce political opposition. Residents recoiled at the
thought of water that went from “toilet-to-tap,” as it was
described in newspapers at the time. But attitudes have
changed, as water scarcity issues have become more acute.
Today, the city is building a new water reuse facility to
provide 30 million gallons a day, or one-third of its water
supply, by 2035. Similar programs have emerged across
drought-stricken states.
To replenish California’s chronically depleted aquifers, the
state’s Department of Water Resources is taking a hard look at
a new line of attack: Pairing more sophisticated reservoir
operations with groundwater recharge. Water managers are aiming
to make greater use of the increased floodwater that’s expected
to come with flashier, more intense storms and earlier
snowmelt. The new approach is known as
FIRO-MAR, which stands for Forecast-Informed
Reservoir Operations-Managed Aquifer Recharge. In December, DWR
released a study focused on the five main tributary watersheds
of California’s second-largest river, the San Joaquin, that
provides the most comprehensive assessment of the concept’s
potential yet.
With a Lake Powell conservation pool nearly guaranteed for the
future of Colorado River management, the four Upper Basin
states are exploring and refining the ways they could fill it.
Conservation by those states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and
Wyoming) could be one of the keys to reaching a deal among the
seven states that share the Colorado River and an important
part of the framework for managing the drought-stricken river
after this year. The water saved by the Upper Basin states
could be stored in Lake Powell as a means of maintaining higher
water levels and as an insurance policy against drastic cuts.
Governor Spencer Cox said he would not rule out seeking a
drought declaration if Utah’s already-bleak water situation
intensified. While the good news is that water supplies are
good because reservoirs are full, FOX 13 News first reported on
Wednesday that new government reports showed snowpack levels
are among the worst ever; Utah’s snow water equivalent (the
water we get out of snow) is at a record low; and this winter
was the warmest on record. The Great Salt Lake could hit a new
record low this year and Lake Powell, which helps prop up the
Colorado River system, could drop to such a low it ceases to
generate electricity for millions of people across the West.
Other drought and water restriction news around the West:
The San Diego County Water Authority has inked its first deal
to sell excess water to other communities in Southern
California, a landmark overhaul of the water authority’s
business model that’s long been promised by top officials. The
water authority’s new agreement to sell water to the Western
Municipal Water District in Riverside County will bring in $100
million in new revenue for the San Diego region’s financially
strapped water system over the next five years. That influx of
cash could temper future rate hikes for many county residents.
But it’s too early to say what impact the deal might
have. The water authority’s Board of Directors unanimously
backed the agreement with Western on Thursday.
Groundwater depletion is a growing concern for regions that
need to provide water for growing cities and thirsty
agriculture in a drying climate, but Las Vegas offers a case
study for how intervention can help stabilize a major source of
potable water. New research published in Science
Magazine Thursday documents dozens of cases of
“groundwater recovery” across the globe — where groundwater
levels rose after a prolonged period of depletion. Las
Vegas stood out as a rare case of groundwater levels recovering
significantly after intervention through artificial recharge,
which involves direct injection of treated unused Colorado
River water into the local groundwater aquifer.
A new bipartisan bill before the U.S. House of Representatives
seeks to fund advanced wastewater treatment upgrades across the
country, with a particular focus on PFAS contamination and
infrastructure affordability. A new bipartisan bill introduced
in the U.S. House of Representatives aims to modernise
wastewater treatment systems nationwide by establishing a
five-year federal grant programme worth $1 billion. The
Advanced Wastewater Treatment Assistance Act of 2026, sponsored
by Representatives Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Brian Fitzpatrick
(R-PA), would cover up to 50% of project costs for eligible
water utilities deploying technologies such as granular
activated carbon and reverse osmosis.
State lawmakers should tighten their oversight of water
regulators who are set to adopt a controversial plan pushed by
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for water flows in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the Legislative Analyst’s
Office said Wednesday. A new report from the Legislative
Analyst’s Office comes as the State Water Resources Control
Board weighs a revised version of its long-delayed Bay-Delta
water quality plan, which sets the minimum amount of water that
must flow down rivers to keep fish healthy. The new
proposal would allow water agencies to divert more water from
the Delta than originally planned if they pay for habitat
restoration and other environmental improvements.
