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.
Subscribe to our weekday emails to have news delivered to your inbox at about 9 a.m. Monday through Friday except for holidays.
Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing.
We occasionally bold words in the text to ensure the water connection is clear.
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.
… Amid the silver-lined shores, one fish washed up that no
one had known to be a resident: a dead seven-foot-long white
sturgeon. It was Clear Lake’s first on record. … They
became a candidate for listing as a threatened species under
the California Endangered Species Act after a 2022 harmful
algal bloom that killed hundreds of them. … This fall’s fish
die-off is the lake’s largest since at least 2017, according to
records from the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians. … Now,
scientists are uncovering the exact cause of the die-off—and
analyzing the sturgeon for more answers.
A new California law will allow hunters to kill nonnative
swans. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill, Assembly Bill 764,
into law on Tuesday. The bill adds mute swans — the iconic
white swan brought to the United States to decorate parks and
estates — to the list of invasive birds that can be hunted with
few restrictions. … They’ve spread to lakes and
reservoirs across Northern California; however, [UC Davis
Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology curator Andrew] Engilis
said they especially enjoy the open water in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where
researchers have observed flocks as large as 400 birds.
The Delta Protection Commission has appointed Amanda Bohl as
its next Executive Director. She is expected to join the
Commission on Oct. 20. Bohl currently serves on the
executive management team of the Delta Stewardship Council,
where she is the Special Assistant for Planning and Science.
There, she leads the Delta Plan Interagency Implementation
Committee (DPIIC) and guides cooperation among the 18 state and
federal agencies – including the Delta Protection Commission –
involved in the Delta Plan. … She is a 2014
Water Education Foundation Water Leader, and serves on
the board of the Sacramento Valley Conservancy.
…[A] potentially giant data center is coming to the
Casper area, announced by Prometheus Hyperscale, in
partnership with Spiritus and Casper Carbon Capture.
… Thornock’s data centers will all use a water frugal
model, though it’s a different approach from the one Related
Digital outlines this week in its groundbreaking ceremony for
its $1.2 billion project in Cheyenne. … [Prometheus CEO
Trenton] Thornock’s system takes a geothermal approach to
cooling. It will pull up non-potable water
from far below the drinking water table for cooling its
systems, then send that water back where it came from.
On Oct. 7, the United States Senate confirmed William “Billy”
Kirkland as the assistant secretary of the Interior for Indian
Affairs with a 51-47 vote. Kirkland’s confirmation makes him
the highest-level Navajo currently serving in the U.S.
government. … Kirkland told the committee that he first
learned first-hand infrastructure struggles of reservation life
while hauling water to his grandmother Susie’s sheep camp in
LeChee. “Like on many reservations even today, water is scarce,
and electricity was just a dream,” he said.
The Trump administration is months behind schedule in
distributing an estimated $3 billion to remove and replace lead
water pipes, delaying infrastructure projects critical to
protecting people from the toxic heavy metal. The 2021
infrastructure law included $15 billion to help fund the
replacement of millions of lead-based drinking water pipes
nationwide. The money has been divvied up and distributed in
tranches to states each year, typically in the spring. But
nearly five months after EPA announced other funding this year
for water projects through the State Revolving Funds, money for
lead pipes remains held up.
A key facility at Southern California’s largest reservoir,
Diamond Valley Lake, was dedicated today in honor of a man who
was instrumental in getting the reservoir built – former
Metropolitan General Counsel N. Gregory Taylor. Current and
former water leaders from across Southern California gathered
to recognize Taylor’s legacy during a ceremony to name the
Inlet/Outlet Tower, which controls the flow of water into and
out of the reservoir, in his honor. Taylor, who passed away in
2023, used his visionary leadership and guidance to secure the
necessary approvals for the reservoir’s construction, ensuring
Southern California has reliable water supplies through
drought, emergencies and other challenges.
Santa Barbara County Public Works has wrapped up the Toro
Canyon Oil Water Separator Project, a multimillion-dollar
effort designed to stop crude oil from seeping into Toro Canyon
Creek and protect the surrounding environment. On October 7,
the Board of Supervisors approved the final accounting for the
$2.5 million project, completed by Innovative Construction
Services, Inc. Records of the Toro Canyon oil seep date back to
1882, when Occidental Mining and Petroleum Corporation (OMPC)
dug into the hillside hoping to strike oil. Instead, they hit a
water source.
As best practice, public water agencies prudently plan for
regional water supply needs and carefully piece together
resilient portfolios of various water supply sources. Zone 7 is
no different. … For these reasons, Zone 7 continues to
support investment in and modernization of the State Water
Project. We are supporters of the Delta Conveyance Project, the
Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program and other efforts to
invest in and modernize the State Water Project. –Written by Valerie Pryor, general manager of the Zone 7
Water Agency.
Lately, the Imperial Valley has been graced by rain. Flooding
streets, darkening the desert floor, and releasing the scent of
desert soil. It has made me reflect on the impact of rain on
the psyche of the Imperial Valley. For us here in the Imperial
Valley, water is scarce and carefully managed; it also shapes
agriculture, daily life, and the way people relate to the land.
In a region defined by extremes, heat, and aridity, rain feels
like a special event.
Nimbus Fish Hatchery releases around 4 to 4.5 million young
salmon and 430,000 yearling steelhead into California waterways
annually. But due to rising costs and limited federal funding,
the hatchery is planning to release half of both numbers, which
is unprecedented. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation funds the
hatchery, which was originally created to mitigate the impacts
of Nimbus Dam [on the American River in the Sacramento region]
on steelhead and salmon runs. Fish raised in hatcheries
like this one are key to keeping their populations alive in
California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 697 into law Wednesday,
allowing expedited construction on a projected $500 million
project to widen part of Highway 37 as it continues to subside
into Bay Area marshland. The bill, authored by
Assemblymember Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, carves out
exceptions to endangered species law so that construction on
the roadway can have a larger window. … Documents
previously reported on by The Sacramento Bee show that it is
sinking into the marsh and that it’s surrounded by
sinking levees and berms as sea level rises and
threatens to inundate the highway.
The Trump administration canceled $11 billion in disaster
payments to states in an unprecedented move that could signal a
slowdown in the flow of federal funding after extreme
weather events. The unannounced move was revealed
in a Sept. 15 government report showing that the Federal
Emergency Management Agency withheld $10.9 billion it had
planned to give 45 states in the final two months of the fiscal
year that ended Sept. 30. … One-third of the $11 billion
was slated for New York and California,
according to an analysis of FEMA records by POLITICO’s E&E
News.
Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for
their development of new molecular structures that can trap
vast quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork to
potentially suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or
harvest moisture from desert environments.
… The committee said Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and
Omar M. Yaghi were honored for “groundbreaking discoveries”
that “may contribute to solving some of humankind’s greatest
challenges,” from pollution to water scarcity.
… Today, Reno, “the Biggest Little City in the World,” is
poised to become a new player in the nation’s data center
construction boom. At least three data center projects have
been approved since 2024, with more in a nearby industrial
park. … But opponents argue that data centers can also
bring consequences, if they raise electricity costs or cause
water shortages down the road. … A Bloomberg investigation
found that two-thirds of all new data centers are being built
in water-stressed regions, like Nevada, where severe drought is
a major concern.
Western Slope elected officials, water managers, engineers, and
conservationists met in Grand Junction on Friday, Oct. 3, all
focused on one thing: the uncertain future of the Colorado
River. … While the seminar broached many of the
challenges and opportunities facing those who rely on the
Colorado River, most discussions came back to two looming
decisions that will dictate how the future looks for the 40
million people, seven states, two counties, and 30 tribal
nations that rely on the waterway.
… According to a September 2025 report issued by Comité
Cívico del Valle and Earthworks, Controlled Thermal Resources’
proposed lithium mining operation, the Hell’s Kitchen Lithium
and Power Project, will have significant environmental impacts
on the surrounding area. The operation, which is still in the
beginning stages, will divert at least 6,500 acre-feet
of fresh water each year, straining natural resources
in an arid region that’s already struggling to combat drought.
According to CCV, mining will speed up the recession of the
Salton Sea’s toxic shoreline, exacerbate dust
pollution, and produce hazardous waste containing arsenic and
lead.
… In Arizona, 76 percent of water use goes toward
agriculture. Mature alfalfa (hay) is largely used to feed
cattle, and in Arizona, alfalfa is a commonly planted thirsty
crop. A 2020 study found 79 percent of Colorado river water
goes to alfalfa. … Outside of certain areas, like
Phoenix, if you own the land, you can drill a well and take as
much water as you want. And many farms are doing just that. In
2015, the Center for Investigative Reporting did a deep-dive
into the Saudi-owned farm drilling deep wells to water alfalfa
that they then harvest and ship to Saudi Arabia. The story
brought light to a situation that, as time has gone on, is
slowly rendering the desert almost unlivable.
Wastewater plants emit about twice as much greenhouse gas as
previously believed, according to Princeton engineers who used
a mobile lab to check plants across the country. In an
article published Oct. 8 in the journal Nature Water, a
research team led by professors Mark Zondlo and Z. Jason Ren,
in collaboration with Prof. Francesca Hopkins of UC-Riverside,
reported that collectively sewer plants produced 1.9 times the
nitrous oxide gas estimated by the Environmental Protection
Agency and 2.4 times the methane. Based on the new
measurements, wastewater plants contribute 2.5 percent of U.S.
methane emissions and 8.1 percent of nitrous oxide.
The United States Senate has confirmed the nomination of former
NOAA Acting Administrator Neil Jacobs to lead the agency once
again as the undersecretary of commerce for oceans and
atmosphere. … Jacobs also said he would prioritize
getting stock assessments for commercial fisheries “back on
track” and expressed interest in “beefing up” the country’s
Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP). An atmospheric
scientist by trade, Jacobs was previously selected by Trump to
lead the administration during Trump’s first administration,
naming him acting administrator in 2018.
