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 Chris Bowman.
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A northern Arizona county is getting $15.5 million in federal
funding to mitigate post-wildfire flood damage, the Biden
administration announced Thursday. Coconino County received the
funding to make improvements to the drainage system along U.S.
Highway 89. Wildfires have made the area more susceptible to
flooding that threatens homes and businesses and forces highway
closures. The Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation are
disproportionately impacted by the flood threat, according to
the U.S. Department of Transportation.
… the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [on
Wednesday] announced the final National Primary Drinking Water
Regulation establishing the first national legally enforceable
drinking water standards … for six per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly referred to as
“forever chemicals” …. actions required for public water
systems under the final rule are likely going to require
significant investment of money, time, and human effort.
President Biden plans to expand the perimeters of two national
monuments in California, protecting mountains and meadows in a
remote area between Napa and Mendocino as well as a rugged
stretch east of Los Angeles, two people familiar with the
administration’s plans said Thursday. The San Gabriel Mountains
National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National
Monument will each get new boundaries designed to protect land
of cultural significance to Native American tribes, as well as
biodiversity and wildlife corridors, said the people, who asked
not to be named because they were not authorized to discuss the
plans publicly.
In a devastating blow to California’s fishing industry, federal
fishery managers unanimously voted today to cancel all
commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of
California for the second year in a row. The decision is
designed to protect California’s dwindling salmon populations
after drought and water diversions left river flows too warm
and sluggish for the state’s iconic Chinook salmon to
thrive. … Many in the fishing industry say they
support the closure, but urged state and federal officials to
do more to improve conditions in the rivers salmon rely on.
Fishing advocates and environmentalists have lambasted Gov.
Gavin Newsom’s administration for failing to prioritize
water quality and flows to protect salmon in the
vital Bay-Delta watershed.
Key backup tubes inside the Glen Canyon Dam might be damaged,
potentially threatening the delivery of water to Lake Mead in
the future if water levels ever dip too low in Lake Powell,
according to a Bureau of Reclamation memo. Below 3,490 feet,
water releases from Lake Powell are wholly dependent on “river
outlet works,” which water managers now feel are not functional
and could threaten the water supply downstream. Currently, the
reservoir sits at 3,558 feet, and the latest two-year
projection places water levels above 3,560 feet until at least
February 2026. Looming threats of climate change and
evaporative losses also are complicating state negotiations for
how to allocate the shrinking Colorado River.
Earth’s worrisome warming trajectory continued unabated last
month, with March marking the 10th month in a row that the
planet has broken global heat records, international climate
officials announced this week. With an average surface
temperature of 57.45 degrees Fahrenheit, last month was warmer
globally than any previous March on record, according to the
European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
… There is a 62% chance that its cooler, drier
counterpart, La Niña, will develop between June and August.
That could be good news for temperatures but bad news for water
supplies — at least in Southern California.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced
the first federal limits on PFAS — manmade “forever
chemicals” linked to cancer, organ damage and other health
issues — in the nation’s drinking water. The regulation,
which was initially proposed in 2023, requires water systems to
reduce levels of six of the most studied types of PFAS to
the lowest levels that can be reliably measured with
testing. … The Bay Area’s drinking water generally
has low levels of PFAS because large water systems in the
region get most of their drinking water from pristine sources
in the Sierra or local reservoirs in regional parks, according
to researchers who study toxic chemicals in drinking water. The
city of San Francisco, for instance, gets most of its water
from Hetch Hetchy, a reservoir north of Yosemite Valley.
After being sanctioned by federal regulators for plowing up
protected wetlands on his California farm, a U.S. lawmaker is
now spearheading an effort to roll back federal water
protections — including the very same provisions that he once
paid penalties for violating. If the scheme is successful,
environmental groups say industrial polluters could more freely
contaminate wetlands, rivers, and other waters, harming both
the nation’s water resources and the communities depending on
them. It could also benefit the lawmaker spearheading the
attack, since he still owns the farm where he was found to be
destroying wetlands.
The majority of California’s reservoirs are above their
historic average levels following the end of two wet winters.
The state’s largest reservoirs, Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville,
were measured at a respective 118% and 122% of their averages
for early April, according to data from the California
Department of Water Resources. Folsom Lake in the Sierra Nevada
foothills exits early April at 116%. Only two reservoirs, San
Luis in western San Joaquin Valley and Castaic in Southern
California, were below average. San Luis Reservoir was at just
87% and much smaller Castaic Lake in Los Angeles County was at
92%.
We gathered at Sierra Nevada Brewery on March 8 for our Annual
Meeting, and we continue to cherish the discussions and
insights shared during that event. Among the many highlights of
the gathering was a compelling address by Senator Alex Padilla,
whose remarks resonated deeply with our shared commitment to
safeguarding California’s water resources. Read the excerpt
from Chairman Bryce Lundberg’s introduction and watch Senator
Padilla’s address below.
The water in California’s San Francisco Bay could rise more
than two meters by the year 2100. For the region’s tidal
marshes and their inhabitants, such as the endangered Ridgway’s
rail and the salt marsh harvest mouse, it’s a potential death
sentence. Given enough time, space, and sediment, tidal marshes
can build layers of mud and decaying vegetation to keep up with
rising seas. Unfortunately, upstream dams and a long history of
dredging bays and dumping the sediment offshore are starving
many tidal marshes around the world of the sediment they need
to grow. To keep its marshes above water, San Francisco Bay
needs more than 545 million tonnes of dirt by 2100.
Klamath, Modoc and Siskiyou County leaders are asking for an
“adequate water supply” on behalf of local irrigation. A news
release from Klamath Water Users Association this week said a
letter has been sent to the Bureau of Reclamation requesting
the full water allocations on behalf of Klamath Project
irrigators. The letter, sent to Reclamation Commissioner
Camille Calimlim Touton, bases the request for increase water
flows in congruence with “favorably hydrology” this year in the
Klamath Basin.
Chiquita Canyon Landfill has drawn more than 10,000 complaints,
a number of lawsuits and calls for it to close from residents
and elected officials and is allegedly dumping untreated
stormwater into local waterways, according to a complaint
issued this week by state water officials. The L.A.
Regional Water Quality Control Board issued another violation
Tuesday against Chiquita Canyon Landfill, after Castaic and Val
Verde residents sent the agency numerous photos of the landfill
allegedly pumping from its stormwater basin into the local
waterway at night. Multiple photos were posted to local social
media groups as well.
An interdisciplinary team of scientists and researchers from
University of California, Davis, are studying agave plants in
the Golden State as farmers are turning to the crop as a
potential drought-tolerant option of the future. The research
is centered on studying agave genetics, virus susceptibility,
pest control, soil management and crop productivity, said Ron
Runnebaum, a viticulture and enology professor who is leading
the team of researchers at the newly formed UC Davis Agave
Center. … Agave plants don’t require much water and
their hardy leaves are fire resistant. The crop can be used as
a fiber, distilled into spirits or converted into a sweetener.
That combination of traits could offer an alternative to
fallowing fields by switching from thirsty crops to one
requiring less water.
The Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California is
now running freer. In late 2023 and early 2024, four of the six
dams along the river were breached and reservoirs drained.
These actions were part of an effort to restore hundreds of
miles of riparian habitat. It is thought to be the largest dam
removal project in history. The four dams—Iron Gate, Copco No.
1, Copco No. 2, and J.C. Boyle—were built between 1918 and 1962
to generate electricity. Facing steep costs to modernize them
in the early 2000s, the utility that owned the dams opted for
deconstruction instead. In addition to removing aging
infrastructure, the project is expected to eliminate the
ecosystem and human health risks posed by toxic algae, which
has regularly reached harmful levels in the reservoirs since
2005.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced
a proposed settlement with Shasta-Siskiyou Transport of
Redding, Calif. to resolve claims of Clean Water Act (CWA)
violations after one of the company’s trucks overturned and a
fuel product spilled into storm drains in downtown Redding. The
fuel reached the Sacramento River. The proposed settlement
requires Shasta-Siskiyou Transport to pay a civil penalty of
$208,840. … On Jan. 21, 2022, one of Shasta-Siskiyou
Transport’s trucks was transporting transmix, a mixture of
gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum distillates, when
the truck overturned in downtown Redding, releasing transmix
into nearby storm drains, which led directly to Calaboose Creek
and subsequently into the Sacramento River.
California ranks as the “greenest” state in America thanks to
rooftop solar, water conservation and electric vehicles,
according to a report released Wednesday by the WalletHub
personal finance website. … The Golden State also ranked
first in water conservation and sixth lowest in gasoline use
per capita, in part because of support to electric vehicles and
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today unveiled the
first nationwide limits on dangerous “forever chemicals” in
drinking water, setting standards that will have sweeping,
costly effects throughout California. Several thousand water
systems around the country are expected to exceed the new
limits for the chemicals, which have been linked to an array of
diseases — including cancer and heart disease — and have
contaminated people and animals worldwide, including
newborns. In California alone, traces of the compounds
have been detected in water systems serving more than 25
million people, nearly a third in disadvantaged communities,
according to an analysis by the Natural Resources Defense
Council.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has
announced that it will increase rates and property taxes
throughout the region over the next two years as the state
grapples with fundamental changes to its water supply and
usage. District leaders said the increases are necessary to
cover the costs of importing and treating water, as well as
finance climate change adaptations to infrastructure and make
up for declines in revenue due to widespread conservation
efforts. … The district’s 38-member board voted Tuesday
to raise water rates 8.5% in 2025 and an additional 8.5% in
2026.
California is expected to experience what some meteorologists
are calling “weather whiplash” this week with a brief spell of
warm weather during the work week followed by a wet weekend
from yet another unusually cold storm. … A significant
weather shift is expected to impact the Golden State starting
Friday, with temperatures dropping as a cold storm system
approaches the area, potentially bringing rains as early as
Friday to some locations. Widespread rain is expected Saturday.
