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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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  • 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.
Aquafornia news NASA Science

Blog: NASA data powers new tool to protect water supply after fires

When wildfires scorch a landscape, the flames are just the beginning. NASA is helping communities across the nation foresee and prepare for what can follow: mudslides, flash flooding, and contaminated surface water supplies. A new online tool called HydroFlame, built with support from NASA’s Earth Science Division, relies on satellite data, hydrologic modeling, and artificial intelligence to predict how wildfires could affect water resources, from tap water to the rivers and streams where people fish. 

Aquafornia news ABC News

Some US streams and rivers facing severe declines in fish populations, new study suggests

The composition of fish populations in streams and rivers across the U.S. has been severely altered as a result of changing water temperatures and human-driven introductions of fish, according to new research. Cold-water streams have experienced disproportionate impacts, experiencing more than a 50% decrease in fish abundance over the last three decades, according to a study published Wednesday in Nature. Some of the largest threats include climate change and fish introductions — both by invasive species or game fish stocking, scientists say.

Related article:

Aquafornia news Colorado Politics (Denver)

Ted Cooke reflects on turmoil over his nomination to Bureau of Reclamation

Ted Cooke, the former nominee for commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, called the decision to scuttle his nomination “feckless.” President Donald Trump had nominated Cooke, the former director of the Central Arizona Project, in June to head the bureau. … Cooke was an integral part of the negotiations in the Colorado River’s 2019 Drought Contingency Plan, an agreement among all seven Colorado River basin states that aimed to protect water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell. … Cooke’s nomination was greeted with applause from the Lower Basin states, and a certain amount of skepticism from the Upper Basin states.

Other Colorado River Basin news:

Aquafornia news KCRA (Sacramento, Calif.)

Stockton City Council opposes Delta tunnel project

The Stockton City Council voted to formally oppose the state of California’s Delta Conveyance Project, known as the Delta Tunnel, due to concerns about water quality and environmental impacts. The city resolution states that the project would degrade water quality for the Stockton region, threaten fish and wildlife, increase harmful algae blooms, and increase salinity intrusion in the Delta. … However, the state says the project is needed to ensure the safety of drinking water for millions of people.

Other Delta tunnel news:

Aquafornia news The Independent (Livermore, Calif.)

Fish passage project in the Sunol Valley moves toward finish line by end of year

Major construction on the Sunol Valley Fish Passage Project, an effort intended to restore fish passage and ecological function in the upper Alameda Creek, is expected to be completed this year. The project involves the removal of an existing Sunol Valley concrete erosion-control mat, which is protecting a 36-inch pipeline, L303, owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). … Removal of this final major barrier in the mainstem Alameda Creek was driven by decades of work by the Alameda Creek Alliance and the Alameda Creek Fisheries Restoration Workgroup to complete 16 other fish-passage projects.

Other fish conservation news:

Aquafornia news E&E News by Politico

Interior grant recipients report an abrupt loss of funding

The Interior Department has stopped dozens of environment-related grants to at least two nonprofit groups, recipients said Wednesday. Interior agencies including the Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management stunned two organizations — California Trout and the Institute for Applied Ecology — on Tuesday with the declaration that their grants were canceled. California Trout has received 28 FWS grants since fiscal 2014, according to a federal spending database. … All seven of California Trout’s active grants were axed.

Other Interior Department news:

Aquafornia news Courthouse News Service

California to consider protections for western spadefoot

A conservation group on Wednesday formally petitioned for the western spadefoot frog to receive protection under California’s Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for federal protection for two frog populations separated by Southern California’s Transverse Ranges. … The frogs depend on vernal pool complexes, which are temporary wetlands connected to upland grasslands or shrublands. Vernal pools are depressions in a forest that hold water for part of each year, supporting species like the western spadefoot. According to the center, more than 90% of these pools have been lost to urban development, intensive agriculture and roads. 

Related article:

Aquafornia news The Circle: Native American News and Arts (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Commentary: Sometimes we win some

I recently spoke with seventeen-year-old Keeya Wiki about the first descent of the Klamath River, a 263-mile river in Oregon and California. Keeya, who is Yurok and Māori, was one of thirty youth who kayaked the river for the first time in one hundred years. She reminded me of what it feels like when you protect something sacred. In 2024, four dams came down on the Klamath River, the largest dam removal in U.S. history, and the river was free. The youth trained for the descent on white waters throughout the region, and even in Chile, to make sure they were safe. Then this summer they joined the river and traveled for a month of freedom, joy, and renewal.

Other Klamath River news:

Aquafornia news Voice of San Diego

City staff deflect blame away from Pure Water before San Diego’s big water rate vote

As the San Diego City Council prepares to make major water rate hikes, city staff clearly want weary councilmembers to blame the San Diego County Water Authority and not the wastewater recycling project the city is building. … On Friday, city Public Utilities staff released a new cost analysis that showed how Pure Water, a multi-billion-dollar wastewater recycling project, could produce cheaper water than what the San Diego County Water Authority provides. The city’s new Pure Water numbers are the latest jab at the Water Authority over growing water prices.

Other water management news:

Aquafornia news NPR

California is seeing a spike in cases of Valley Fever

California is seeing a spike in cases valley fever — an illness spread by fungal spores. Researchers speculate the rise is tied to patterns of drought and precipitation. … [Gail Sondermeyer Cooksey, epidemiologist at the California Department of Public Health:] When we see prolonged drought followed by heavy winter rains, we see these surges in Valley Fever in the years that follow. … There is a lot of concern that changes in climate and environment are going to lead to these diseases occurring more in the state of California, but also elsewhere in the United States.

Aquafornia news Summit Daily (Colo.)

Persistent rain washes away the most extreme drought on Colorado’s Western Slope, but concerns remain

Following an extremely warm, dry summer on the Western Slope, recent rainfall is beginning to chip away at the worst of Colorado’s drought conditions. In mid-August, “exceptional” drought conditions — the most severe among the national drought monitor rankings — developed across nearly 7% of the state in northwest Colorado for the first time since May 2023. … “Fortunately, the exceptional drought that we had in early to mid-August is over in western Colorado with the persistent rains of the last few weeks,” said Russ Schumacher, Colorado’s state climatologist, at September’s Colorado Water Conditions Monitoring Committee meeting on Tuesday. 

Other Western Slope drought news:

Aquafornia news inewsource (San Diego)

Kristi Noem waives environmental laws to build more border wall

The Department of Homeland Security issued a waiver Tuesday allowing the federal government to bypass environmental laws in order to fast-track construction of more barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border in the San Diego area. … The waiver will allow the federal government to bypass more than two dozen laws including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. … Environmentalists and advocacy groups say the waiver is inhumane and will further harm migratory species and damage sensitive habitat.

Aquafornia news Press Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.)

Volunteers clean up Santa Ana River in Riverside

Volunteers took to the Santa Ana River to clean up trash as part of the 41st Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day. More than 25 people joined to collect more than 145 pounds of trash during the Saturday, Sept. 20, effort at Martha McLean-Anza Narrows Park in Riverside. The Santa Ana River runs through the park. The event was organized by Caltrans and the Inland Empire Waterkeeper and was one of hundreds across the state that day at beaches, rivers, creeks, bays and wetlands, a news release states.

Aquafornia news Action News Now (Chico, Calif.)

Increased flows on the Yuba River below the New Bullards Bar Dam due to taking powerhouse offline for maintenance

Yuba Water Agency is set to increase the water flows on the Yuba River below the New Bullards Bar Dam starting September 29. Officials say the change is part of the Colgate Tunnel and Penstock Improvement Project. … Parker explained that due to taking the powerhouse offline, the water flow will be higher than normal. Yuba Water Agency urged local recreators to avoid the area or exercise extreme caution. … Starting Monday, the flow will increase to about 900 cubic feet per second. 

Aquafornia news Politico

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: Metropolitan navigates choppy waters

California’s largest drinking water supplier is trying to turn the page. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which imports and sells water to 19 million people in Los Angeles and the surroundings, earlier this month zeroed in on Shivaji Deshmukh, the current general manager of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, to replace retiring General Manager Deven Upadhyay. … The impending changeover comes as the agency faces a series of pivotal decisions on how to handle shrinking supplies and growing costs — and after years of instability at the top of LA’s water world.

Other water agency news:

Aquafornia news CBS Colorado (Denver)

Colorado says record year in sports betting tax revenue helping water conservation efforts

Colorado saw a record fiscal year in sports betting last year, resulting in over $36 million in tax revenue after over $6.3 billion in bets were made, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue. Of that, over $33 million will go to Colorado’s Water Conservation Board, the department said. … About 93% of revenue from the tax on casinos helps fund the implementation of Colorado’s water plan, according to Water for Colorado, a coalition of nonprofits that work on water conservation throughout the state. Water for Colorado calls the agreement “a win for Colorado’s water.”

Related article:

Aquafornia news EurekAlert!

Climate change could erase 80% of whitebark pine’s current habitat across the Rockies and Northwest 

A new study, led by federal agencies in collaboration with the University of Colorado Denver, shows that the whitebark pine tree—an iconic, high-elevation tree that stretches from California’s Sierra Nevada through the Cascades and Rockies and into Canada—could lose as much as 80 percent of its habitat to climate change in the next 25 years.  … The threatened whitebark pine tree is a crucial food source for squirrels and grizzly bears. It also acts as a natural snow fence, holding snowpack in place and releasing meltwater slowly throughout the summer. That runoff supports entire watersheds, which farmers and ranchers depend on.

Other watershed protection news:

Aquafornia news KPBS (San Diego)

The race to understand the Salton Sea’s dust storms

… Once considered a relic of the 1930s Great Depression era, dust storms are once again a growing challenge across the western United States. … One contributor to these dust events is the slow-motion drying of the massive inland lakes across the western U.S. caused mainly by climate change and intensive water use. Among them is Imperial Valley’s Salton Sea. … Under pressure from intense water use and climate change-fueled drought, the vast lake is steadily receding. … [T]he Salton Sea is also laced with decades of agricultural chemicals, pesticides and the remnants of military bomb testing — which researchers have warned may be making it into the air as well.

Aquafornia news AP News

OpenAI looks across US for sites to build its Trump-backed Stargate AI data centers

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump. … The company’s request for proposals calls for sites with “proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water.” …  Data centers also typically draw in large amounts of water for cooling. … The other states where OpenAI is actively looking include Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. 

Other data center water news:

Aquafornia news CNN

Where ‘day-zero droughts’ could happen as soon as this decade

Many parts of the world are predicted to endure “day-zero droughts,” periods of extreme and unprecedented water scarcity, which could happen as soon as this decade in certain hotspots including parts of North America, the Mediterranean and southern Africa, according to a new study [in Nature Communications]. … Day-zero droughts arise from the confluence of various factors, including a prolonged dearth of rain, low river levels and shrunken reservoirs, as well as rocketing water demand to supply people, farms and industries. … More than a third of these regions, including the western United States, could face this situation as early as the 2020s or 2030s. 

Other drought science news: