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.
… [T]here’s only about 3,000 sea otters in California. The
playful predators’ voracious appetite for destructive species
like green crabs and purple urchins has transformed
Elkhorn Slough, the state’s second-largest
estuary, into an aquatic Serengeti and makes the
central coast’s carbon-sequestering kelp forests more resistant
to climate change. … The US government determined in
2022 that reintroducing sea otters on California’s North Coast
and Oregon would be a boon to biodiversity and climate
resilience. … But as the Trump administration moves to slash
funding for wildlife programs, a nonprofit co-founded by a
Silicon Valley entrepreneur is stepping in.
… The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake—and, many
say, its greatest environmental blunder. Born of periodic
floods from the Colorado River, it is not a lake that is meant
to last. For millions of years, the river would breach its
banks, fill the Salton Sink, then change its mind and meander
back into the Gulf of California. Left without inflows and
outflows, the water that remained would evaporate. That was the
rhythm of this place: flood, shrink, repeat. Eventually, humans
broke the pattern. Farmers arrived in the early 1900s, when the
lake basin was dry. They claimed the fertile floodplain and
tried to tame the river. They put bottles in the banks to mark
their water claims. They dug canals and levees. Then came the
biblical flood.
… The County of Mendocino is updating the 2020 Hazard
Mitigation Plan, in collaboration with local municipalities,
districts, and other community organizations. … In
March, the county was awarded funding to improve flood
emergency response capabilities throughout Mendocino County by
the Department of Water Resources (DWR), Safe Drinking Water,
Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Bond
Act of 2006. The county is in the process of locating a vendor,
with the goal of creating a Flood Response Plan, identifying
communications needs, purchasing communications equipment and
placing flood response supplies in strategic areas countywide.
… Valley fever is endemic to southern Washington, Oregon,
California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of
Central and South America, but nowhere are cases of the disease
more common than in Arizona. … [R]esearchers across the West
who study the fungus think another factor may be driving the
trend: supersoaker winter monsoons followed by
scorching summer heat and drought, a cycle
made more intense by climate change.
… “The main driver for us is certainly this very clear
association for coccidioides between heavy precipitation cycles
followed by drought,” said George Thompson, a professor of
medicine at the University of California, Davis, School of
Medicine who specializes in fungal diseases.
San Diego County will consider options to co-manage El Capitan
Reservoir with the city of San Diego after getting the green
light from the Board of Supervisors this week. On Wednesday,
supervisors unanimously voted to spend up to $600,000 annually
– as part of a four-year pilot program, beginning in the
2026-27 fiscal year – for the county Department of Parks and
Recreation to operate and maintain recreation at the reservoir.
The total amount of $2.4 million will also cover expanding
hours and staffing costs, along with possible facility
upgrades, according to information on the county agenda.
… The California Department of Housing and Community
Development sent a Sept. 22 letter to [Patterson] city leaders
after the council voted in April to reject the Keystone Ranch
project, a 95-acre development within the Zacharias Master Plan
area. … The letter said Patterson failed to make the
required findings under the state Housing Accountability Act
before denying the project. The city, however, argues its
decision stemmed from new restrictions imposed by state water
regulators. The Department of Water Resources ordered Patterson
to cut groundwater pumping by 10% after
rejecting the city’s sustainability plan, triggering new
environmental review requirements under the California
Environmental Quality Act.
A new study from the University of Arizona reveals how
historical tree-ring data can help predict extreme summer
weather events. Researchers, led by Ellie Broadman, analyzed
tree rings to understand locked jet stream wave patterns, often
preceded by La Niña winters, which can result in severe weather
impacting agriculture and public health. … The study,
published in AGU Advances, presents the first-ever
reconstruction of historical jet stream patterns over the last
1,000 years. … The findings suggest that La Niña winters
often lead to locked wave patterns in summer, offering a
valuable tool for forecasting extreme weather.
Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila has announced
her full support for a new national water bill introduced by
President Claudia Sheinbaum, endorsing an initiative aimed at
overhauling water management and reaffirming public ownership
of this vital resource. The endorsement came during Governor
Ávila’s morning press conference on Wednesday, following
President Sheinbaum’s presentation of the proposed General
Water Law earlier in the day. The governor emphasized that the
state will back the legislation because it is essential to
uphold the principle that water belongs to the nation and its
citizens, not to private interests.
… [T]he data center boom – driven by the proliferation of
artificial intelligence and cloud computing – comes at a high
cost. In our latest report, Data Center Impacts In the West:
Policy Solutions for Energy and Water Use, we found that annual
energy demands of Arizona’s three largest utilities – Arizona
Public Service (APS), Salt River Project (SRP), and Tucson
Electric Power (TEP) – will increase at a pace never before
seen in the state’s history. … [W]e give policy
recommendations designed to inform decision makers, advance the
transition to clean energy, conserve scarce water resources,
and protect electricity customers as we adapt to the sweeping
change of AI.
Iran is a warning to every society that treats water as
infinite. Over the summer, Iran’s water crisis turned into an
emergency. Wells collapsed and some reservoirs ran dry. Taps
went dry for half a day in Tehran, and state media warned that
the city of about 10 million people could hit “Day Zero,” the
point at which water resources can no longer meet demand,
within weeks. Temperatures rose above 100 degrees Fahrenheit,
air conditioners droned, and power cuts followed. Millions of
Iranians baked in the punishing heat. In a rare admission of
failure, Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president offered 100
billion tomans (about a million dollars) to anyone who could
solve the crisis.
For as long as there have been people in what is now
California, the granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada have held
masses of ice, according to new research that shows the
glaciers have probably existed since the last Ice Age more than
11,000 years ago. The remnants of these glaciers, which have
already shrunk dramatically since the late 1800s, are
retreating year after year, and are projected to melt
completely this century as global temperatures continue to
rise. … This water from glaciers serves as a
“stabilizing force” that can sustain mountain streams through
droughts. … [T]his water
eventually will go away as the glaciers continue to retreat.
Tulare County will hold two sets of meetings – one set
for landowners and one for community members – to share their
input about the future of agricultural land in the region as
groundwater restrictions tighten under the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). … Tulare
County landed a $500,000 Sustainable Agricultural Lands
Conservation (SALC) grant from the Department of Conservation
and needs input specifically from the agricultural community on
crafting a land use plan that will directly impact where
productive land is preserved. The goal is to protect land
at risk of being converted to non-ag uses while maximizing
limited water resources.
Other SGMA and agricultural water management news:
A La Niña pattern for the first few months of this water year
(Oct. 1 to Sept. 30) means there is potential for extreme
weather events, both flooding and drought, depending on where
you are located in California. Despite Sacramento receiving 76%
of its normal rainfall for this past water year, Lake Oroville,
the State Water Project’s largest reservoir,
is currently sitting at 109% of average. … California is
also starting out this new water year with more groundwater
data than ever before, helping communities monitor conditions
and protect drinking water supplies.
A new report from a coalition of environmental nonprofits is
calling for changes to Colorado River management and urging
policymakers to act more quickly in their response to shrinking
water supplies. The report’s authors stress a need for urgent
action to manage a river system that they say is “on the cusp
of failure.” … A crash, they said, could mean water
levels so low in the nation’s largest reservoirs that major
dams are rendered inoperable, leaving some cities and farms
with less water than they are legally owed. To stave off that
crash, the report includes nine recommendations, including
calls for major cutbacks to water demand.
An Arizona water expert was tapped to lead the federal Bureau
of Reclamation, but his nomination was withdrawn earlier this
year. He says it was a political decision and leaves a
leadership vacuum. Ted Cooke is the former director of Central
Arizona Project and now serves on the board of Arizona’s Water
Infrastructure Finance Authority. He was nominated to serve as
commissioner of the bureau but heard that lawmakers from other
Colorado River states worried Cooke would be biased in favor of
Arizona. … Cooke said not having a commissioner makes it
far less likely the states will be able to come to an agreement
in time.
Representatives of the Yurok Tribe announced Tuesday that
restoration efforts on Jenny Creek, a tributary of the Klamath
River, have been completed, marking a significant milestone for
the local ecosystem. … According to Yurok Tribal
leaders, for over 60 years, the creek was inaccessible to
salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey due to its location
behind the former Iron Gate Dam, as well as its own concrete
dam. Shortly after the smaller dam removal was conducted
by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, more than
300 Chinook salmon entered Jenny Creek for the first time in
decades, Tribal leaders said.
A new abatement project is underway in Madera County to help
reduce flood and wildfire risks while improving local water
supplies. The project targets Arundo donax, an invasive weed
that can grow up to four inches per day and reach 30 feet in
height. Highly flammable, the plant clogs waterways and can
cause floodwaters to overtop levees and other infrastructure,
posing a threat to public and private property. Last month,
crews completed a detailed, non-invasive drone mapping process
to identify key areas for removal.
Baja California has launched a landmark water regeneration
project designed to treat and reuse up to 720L/s of wastewater,
aiming to boost water security, reduce reliance on the Colorado
River, and strengthen binational cooperation with the United
States. … The initiative is part of the agreements under
the Minute 328 for the Sanitation of the Tijuana River.
… The plan includes the rehabilitation of the Ing.
Arturo Herrera and La Morita Wastewater Treatment Plants
(WWTPs), as well as the construction of a conveyance system to
channel treated water into a tributary leading to the Abelardo
L. Rodríguez Dam.
… The U.S. DOE’s announcement of up to $95 million in funding
to transform domestic mining has generated excitement,
particularly in California’s “Lithium Valley,” which sees the
investment as a direct accelerant for its unique extraction
industry. Bari Bean, Imperial County Deputy CEO for Natural
Resources, took to LinkedIn to highlight the direct relevance
of the DOE’s focus areas to the region’s potential.
… “These investments could help accelerate testing,
validation, and scaling of DLE approaches right here in the
Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area,”
Bean stated.
The San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD) announced this
week that it is taking action to create and conserve defensible
space – a buffer zone that aims to protect structures from
wildfire – around dozens of water supply sites. The
project, scheduled to begin later this month, is funded by a
Cal Fire prevention grant, which was approved at the Sept. 4
meeting of the SLVWD board of directors. The project’s goal is
to create defensible space around 37 district water supply
infrastructure sites, including water tanks, pump stations,
wells and water intakes, further bolstering efforts against
catastrophic wildfire.
