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.
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.
For decades pesticide-intensive farming of Easter lily bulbs on
the Smith River Plain has contaminated groundwater and surface
waters of the Smith River estuary, threatening the health of
wildlife and humans along one of California’s healthiest, most
ecologically pristine rivers. Now the North Coast Regional
Water Quality Control Board is considering new regulations to
address this persistent pollution. Greg King, Executive
Director of the Siskiyou Land Conservancy, joins the program to
discuss an important upcoming townhall meeting … and what it
would take to effectively regulation pesticide pollution.
Disputes over water have been a constant in California history,
and San Diego is going through a particularly rough patch on
that front these days. … Last week, the San Diego City
Council delayed action until the end of this month on another
round of proposed increases in water and sewer rates — 63
percent and 31 percent, respectively, over four years. A city
budget analysis said there is no wiggle room and warns of dire
consequences if the rates are not raised, but council members
insisted it was too much. –Written by San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Michael
Smolens.
A year into an effort to prioritize protection of water
resources as part of its mission, the Colorado West Land Trust
is putting out some hard numbers on how it is doing on that so
far. Since the plan’s introduction, the land trust has
permanently conserved eight properties directly supporting
livelihoods tied to water security, it said in
a news release. … It also cites its completion of 13
weeks of on-the-ground restoration work, partnering with the
Western Colorado Conservation Corps, to improve
watershed function and resilience.
… Once rodents have settled in on one farm, they can spread
to neighboring properties, creating a pervasive — and expensive
— problem. The creatures chew through irrigation lines and
equipment wires, pull bark from trees and feast on ripening
fruit and nuts. Last month, the California Almond Board
said rodents had racked up more than $300 million in damages to
the state’s almond orchards between fall 2023 and fall 2024.
The main culprit was roof rats, a species that has also plagued
homes and restaurants in the South Bay. … [H]igher
rainfall could also be a factor, since it fosters the
low vegetation that gives the creatures shelter. A broader
theory posits that shorter, warmer winters associated with a
changing climate extend the rodents’ foraging and breeding
season.
… The corkscrew-shaped bacteria, leptospirosis, causes severe
abdominal pain in sea lions by damaging their kidneys and
inflaming their gastrointestinal tracts. … Since the end of
June, officials say nearly 400 animals have been reported
stranded or sickened along the Central Coast beaches. …
Hundreds more probably were washed away before anyone spotted
them, or died at sea. The historically large and long bacterial
outbreak is adding to an already devastating death toll for the
seals, sea lions, dolphins, otters and whales who live in and
migrate through the state’s coastal waters.
After a dismal snowpack, sustained drought conditions, and a
relatively weak monsoon season, southern Utah is preparing for
the possibility of a water shortage. A newly proposed
conservation plan outlines what the county will require
municipalities to do should reservoirs run low. … The
water shortage contingency plan, released
Wednesday, would require each city to decrease its water use by
a set percentage. … If municipalities fail to reach that
reduction rate, they could face punitive pricing, ranging from
a 300% to 500% increase from the standard.
… The shutdown may result in regulatory delays that included
new or pending permits, guidance documents and approvals.
State-submitted programs like NPDES permits and TMDLS won’t be
acted on during shutdowns. … Routine EPA inspections for
drinking water systems, wastewater facilities or stormwater
compliance are paused until a funding bill is passed.
Enforcement only continues if it is tied to imminent threats to
human health or property. No new EPA grants for water
infrastructure upgrades, stormwater resilience or research
partnerships will be awarded during the shutdown.
The Colorado River, which provides water across the Southwest,
has lost about 20% of its flow in the last quarter-century, and
its depleted reservoirs continue to decline. But negotiations
aimed at addressing the water shortage are at an impasse. …
[Great Basin Water Network Executive Director Kyle] Roerink and
leaders of five other environmental groups criticized the lack
of information about the stalled negotiations, as well as the
Trump administration’s handling of the situation during a news
conference Wednesday as they released a report with
recommendations for solving the river’s problems.
California salmon are as central to our historic identity as
the symbol on our state flag, the California grizzly. It is a
sad and ironic tragedy that the grizzly has been extinct for
generations. What does it say about us if salmon may soon
follow? … Losing salmon would be an ecological disaster
for our freshwater ecosystems, forests, riverbanks and other
native species if their links to the salmon were severed.
Healthy salmon runs mean jobs for Californians, but the
industry generating $1 billion is at risk, and is a historic
piece of California’s culture. –Written by Sacramento Bee columnist Tom Philp.
Bigger, hotter, and more severe wildfires are changing
Colorado’s fire seasons. They change the way watersheds work,
and can hurt drinking water resources across the state. Denver
Water, the state’s largest utility, provides water to more than
1.5 million people in the metro area. It attempts to address
some of these concerns in its From Forests to Faucets program.
… Madelene McDonald, a watershed scientist for the utility
oversees the program, and spoke with Rocky Mountain Community
Radio’s Caroline Llanes to share more.
Gavin Newsom, the California governor, is facing intense
pressure from industry, and even some celebrity chefs, as he
weighs whether or not to sign a bill that bans the sale of
cookware made with Pfas or “forever chemicals”. … The
industry pressure is part of a broader attack that aims to
derail similar bans on Pfas in cookware in other states, public
health advocates say. … [Clean Water Action Legislative
Director Andria] Ventura noted the California water and sewer
utility trade group endorses the ban because utilities are left
with the cost of trying to remove PFAS pollution from
drinking water.
… The city [Palo Alto] broke ground in September on Bay
Area’s first horizontal levee, a gently sloped expanse next to
the Regional Water Quality Control Plant that officials hope to
finish by next spring. Once completed, landscaped levee will
incline from the tide toward Embarcadero Road. The area will be
filled with marsh plants that will be treated with treated
wastewater from the wastewater plant through an underground
pipe. The levee will serve as yet another filtering system for
the effluent as it goes from the treatment plant to the Bay.
Snow levels could drop to 7,500-8,000 feet by Friday morning,
which might bring some snow to the higher peaks of the Sierra
Nevada. “Two-day … totals have a majority of the Sierra between
a Trace to 1-inch, with localized amounts of up to 2-4 inches
in Mono County (Tioga Pass, Sonora Pass), and 1-2 inches for
Mount Rose,” said National Weather Service Reno Meteorologist
Colin McKellar. “It’s not a big snow event by any means, but
the first decent snowfall this fall.”
