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.
On a bright afternoon in August, the shore on the North Arm of
the Great Salt Lake looks like something out of a science
fiction film set in a scorching alien world. … This
otherworldly scene is the test site for a company called Lilac
Solutions, which is developing a technology it says will shake
up the United States’ efforts to pry control over the global
supply of lithium, the so-called “white gold” needed for
electric vehicles and batteries, away from China.
… Lilac is not the only company in the US pushing for
DLE. In California’s Salton Sea, developers such as
EnergySource Minerals are looking to build a geothermal power
plant to power a DLE facility pulling lithium from the inland
desert lake.
… Earlier this year, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of
Land Management approved a plan to round up and
remove hundreds of wild horses roaming beyond the roughly
200,000 acres designated for them along the California and
Nevada border. … Environmentalists say the horses are
degrading the otherworldly landscape at Mono Lake, including
bird habitat and its famed tufa. … Local tribes and
nonprofits have partnered to fight the roundup plan, arguing
that the Indigenous community should be tapped to manage the
animals that roam their ancestral lands. A separate group of
plaintiffs has sued the government, claiming it’s reneging on
its duty to protect the horses.
Each fall, one of Lake Tahoe’s most unique wildlife spectacles
comes alive at Taylor Creek. The Kokanee salmon are preparing
to begin their upstream journey, turning the waters of this
South Lake Tahoe stream into a vibrant scene of red and silver.
While the native Lahontan cutthroat trout spawn in the spring,
the Kokanee—a landlocked cousin of the Sockeye salmon—take
center stage in October and November. Their timing depends on
environmental factors like colder water and higher stream
flows, which are managed in part by the Fallen Leaf Lake Dam.
Without these carefully balanced flows, Taylor Creek could run
too low or even dry up in the fall.
Three years after the federal government listed a tiny Nevada
toad on the endangered species list, a geothermal company
seeking to develop a project near the toad’s only known habitat
in Northern Nevada is suing the government over the listing.
Ormat Technologies, headquartered in Reno, is suing the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and U.S. Department of the
Interior, saying that the Dixie Valley toad was placed on the
endangered species list “without any evidence” that its
population is declining. … One of the concerns is that
geothermal pumping in the area could affect the quality,
temperature, or quantity of water in the wetlands where the
toad lives.
… [A]s sea levels continue to rise and extreme weather events
become more frequent, the need for more effective response
strategies is greater than ever. The San Francisco Bay is one
such region experiencing this exact trajectory, making it a
focal point for scientists like Patrick Barnard, research
director for the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience at the
University of California, Santa Cruz. Barnard co-authored a
paper recently published in the Journal of Waterway, Port,
Coastal, and Ocean Engineering that explores coastal flooding
patterns and mitigation strategies throughout the bay region.
The El Dorado Water Agency (EDWA) has announced that its
General Manager, Rebecca Guo, has been elected to the
Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Board to
represent Region 3 for the 2026-27 term. Officials from EDWA
are celebrating this development, as Guo will be in a position
to advocate for El Dorado County’s water resource needs,
including investments in watershed management, water
reliability and drought preparedness.
For more than two decades, small-scale farmers and community
gardeners have grown fresh fruits and vegetables, native
plants, flowers and other produce at the Tijuana
River Valley Community Garden, a 20-acre complex of
publicly owned farmland adjacent to the Tijuana River.
… All of that came to a halt last week when
representatives from the Resource Conservation District of
Greater San Diego County, which manages the garden, issued mass
eviction notices to all 217 community gardeners and
farmers. One reason for the sudden eviction, the
district’s executive director said, was a series of pollution
warning signs erected six weeks ago at several locations
throughout the river valley, including at the garden itself.
Voluntary cleanup agreements have been a staple of cleanups
under both state and federal cleanup programs for
decades. … California Health & Safety (“H&S”)
Code § 101480 et seq. (“Section 101480”) allows local agencies
to enter into voluntary cleanup agreements and recover their
oversight costs. Section 101480 provides no framework or
authorization for local agencies to adopt their own corrective
action requirements but requires that they oversee the
investigation and cleanup consistent with the Water
Code. Several local agencies in California – including
some of the most populous cities and counties – have used
Section 101480 as enabling legislation to establish site
cleanup programs (“SCP”), including San Francisco City and
County, Alameda County, and Orange County.
Scott Cameron will take over as acting head of the Bureau of
Reclamation, shifting titles at the Interior Department while
he maintains his role as the Trump administration’s lead
official in negotiations over the future of the Colorado River
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum tapped Cameron for the role on
Oct. 1, announcing the decision in a secretarial order that
also updated other leadership roles recently confirmed by the
Senate. The decision comes in the wake of President Donald
Trump’s decision on Sept. 30 to withdraw his nomination of Ted
Cooke, a former top official at the Central Arizona Project, to
be Reclamation commissioner.
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed SB 72 into law after the bill
passed unanimously through the California Legislature. The
legislation establishes clear statewide water supply targets
and sets in motion long-term strategies to secure reliable
water for residents, businesses, agriculture, and the
environment. … The bill requires state agencies, water
providers, and stakeholders to work together on durable supply
solutions that extend beyond any single administration.
The most cost-effective and quickest way to conserve the
Colorado River’s shrinking water supply amid persistent drought
and rapid population growth is changing how states handle the
largest use of water on the river: agriculture. … That’s
according to a comprehensive study examining 462 federally
funded Colorado River conservation and supply projects using
available spending data from the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation. … The water projects examined – ranging
from large-scale infrastructure such as reservoirs and
wastewater treatment plants to agricultural water use – totaled
about $1 billion in federal funding between 2004 and 2024.
The California Department of Water Resources is implementing
new safety measures after the discovery of invasive golden
mussels in Merced County. The California Department of Water
Resources (DWR), in collaboration with the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and California State
Parks, is implementing new measures to protect the state’s
water infrastructure and curb the spread of invasive golden
mussels. This follows the recent discovery of the species at
San Luis Reservoir in Merced County, with confirmed findings in
Fresno and Kings Counties.
… Long before humans began altering the climate with
greenhouse gases and other air pollutants, the Southwest was
subject to feast-or-famine weather featuring extreme dry
spells, raising the possibility that this current drought is
just part of that natural variability. What scientists are
exploring now is how the human touch is imprinted on the
drought due to our ongoing transformation of the climate,
atmosphere and oceans. Three recent scientific studies identify
human emissions as a key driver in the precipitation declines
that have helped cause the Southwest’s current drought, which
has been made much worse by rising temperatures due to climate
change.
The ongoing case against a Tulare County groundwater agency for
allegedly not paying its fair share to fix the sinking
Friant-Kern Canal will continue, according to a recent ruling.
A trial date is set for Dec. 22 in Tulare County Superior
Court. A judge recently shut down an attempt by the Eastern
Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) to dismiss the
lawsuit by the Friant Water Authority, which alleges Eastern
Tule breached a 2021 agreement to pay up to $200 million toward
fixing the canal. But Tulare County Superior Court Judge Brett
Hillman’s Sept. 23 ruling also indicated that, should Friant
win the case, it could be a hollow victory.
Last week, the California State Senate’s Joint Committee on
Fisheries and Aquaculture hosted its 50th annual Zeke Grader
Fisheries Forum. … Committee Chair Senator Mike
McGuire opened proceedings by noting the challenges the state’s
fisheries are facing as well as some of the state’s redoubled
efforts and funding, via Proposition 4 funding and other
legislative commitments, to improve resiliency along the
California coast and waterways. … California Natural
Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot echoed those
sentiments, praising Yurok and Karuk Tribe-led efforts to
restore the Klamath River in the wake of historical dam removal
and saying that he is increasingly inspired by tribally led
land and water restoration projects.
Datacenters’ electricity demands have been accused of delaying
the US’s transition to clean energy and requiring fossil fuel
plants to stay online, while their high level of water
consumption has also raised alarm. Now public health advocates
fear another environmental problem could be linked to them –
Pfas “forever chemical” pollution. … Advocates are
particularly concerned over the facilities’ use of Pfas gas.
… No testing for Pfas air or water pollution has yet
been done, and companies are not required to report the volume
of chemicals they use or discharge. But some environmental
groups are starting to push for state legislation that would
require more reporting.
The Trump administration said this week it will lower American
electric bills by delaying an EPA rule requiring coal-burning
power plants to reduce discharges of toxic wastewater. But the
EPA analysis justifying that decision paints a more complicated
picture. It shows the long-term costs of allowing coal plants
to continue with outdated water pollution controls could exceed
potential cost savings. Coal plants draw large volumes of
water to create steam to drive turbines that produce
electricity. But when plants discharge that water, it carries
mercury, lead, cadmium, bromide and nitrogen into rivers, lakes
and streams that are also used as sources of drinking water.
October first marks the official start of California’s water
year and local prediction centers, including the Department of
Water Resources and National Weather Service in Hanford say
long range forecasts could have a mixture of multiple
patterns. ”So, as far as El Nino, it’s about a 20% chance
we might see that for April, May, and into June. So it’s still
a 20% chance, so it still could go back up to El Nino, but, the
highest chances right now, near 70%, is for a neutral pattern,”
explains Emily Wilson, a meteorologist with the National
Weather Service in Hanford.
A bill aiming to relieve environmental constraints to speed up
a project on Highway 37 is awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s
signature. … The law would enable project planners to secure
“incidental take” permits from the California Department of
Fish and Wildlife. … The protected species in question
include the salt marsh harvest mouse, the California Ridgway’s
rail, the California black rail and the white-tailed kite.
… The project will replace the Tolay Creek Bridge, east
of the Highway 37 and Highway 121 interchange, and extend an
eastbound merge lane for a mile. The project also will restore
a 3.5-mile section of degraded tidal salt
marsh called Strip Marsh East to help protect against
sea-level rise and flooding while creating habitat.
San Diego County’s largest community garden, the Tijuana River
Valley Community Garden, is set to close after more than two
decades, displacing hundreds of local gardeners and small
farmers. The Resource Conservation District of Greater San
Diego County has decided to end its lease to operate the
garden, citing ongoing concerns with sewage
issues and potential flooding. This decision
will return the site to the county, leaving the future of the
garden uncertain.
