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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Budget cuts, staff reductions and other sweeping changes from
the federal government are posing real threats to California’s
environment and progress against climate change, state
officials said Thursday. … Karla Nemeth, director
of the California Department of Water Resources, said the
agency is reeling from several changes to key components of its
water supply system. Among them are staff
reductions at the federal U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which
oversees the Central Valley Project — a vast network of dams,
reservoirs and canals that delivers water supplies across the
state. The Central Valley Project is the federal companion to
the State Water Project, which performs a similar function.
… The state also works closely with the Bureau of
Reclamation to manage flood protection in
California, where several levee and dam safety projects are now
in jeopardy, Nemeth said. They include projects to enhance the
system along the American River in Sacramento — one of the most
flood-prone urban areas in the U.S. — and to address the
devastating 2023 levee breach that flooded the community of
Pajaro.
Millions of dollars in federal funding have been released to
continue restoring lands and streams in the fire-scarred Upper
Colorado River Basin watershed in and around Grand Lake and
Rocky Mountain National Park. The roughly $4 million was frozen
in February and was released in April, according to Northern
Water, a major Colorado water provider and one of the agencies
that coordinate with the federal government and agencies such
as the U.S. Forest Service to conduct the work. Esther
Vincent, Northern Water’s director of environmental services,
said the federal government gave no reason for the freeze
and release of funds. The amounts and timing of the freeze
and release are being reported here for the first time.
A federal appeals court on Thursday found California could
still review whether a pair of hydroelectric projects in the
state comply with its water quality standards during license
renewal proceedings. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia Circuit determined the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission was right when it found the California State Water
Resources Control Board had not waived its authority under the
Clean Water Act to review re-authorizations for the Yuba-Bear
and Drum-Spaulding hydroelectric projects. The Nevada
Irrigation District, which had applied with FERC to renew its
licenses for the two projects, said in its lawsuit that the
board had waived certification authority by engaging in a
“coordinated” effort to go beyond the one-year statutory
deadline to review the projects. But the three-judge panel
agreed with FERC that state officials had not coordinated with
the project developer to delay the review process for the
projects.
Recent results from white sturgeon monitoring surveys by the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) suggest the
white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) population has
continued to decline. CDFW fisheries biologists now estimate
there are approximately 6,500 white sturgeon between 40-60
inches long in California — down sharply from the previous
estimate of approximately 30,000 fish in that size range, based
on the 2016-2021 survey average. There may be many reasons for
the downward trend, including mortality from harmful algal
blooms, poaching, past sport fishing harvest and poor river and
Delta conditions. … Based on historical surveys
conducted by CDFW between 1954–2022, the number of white
sturgeon in California has been in decline for many years. The
species is currently a candidate for listing as threatened
under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) and receives
full CESA protection while its status is reviewed.
Other California Department of Fish and
Wildlife news:
More than half of Utah is now in severe drought, but it is far
from the only Western state experiencing dry conditions, as
drought conditions worsen across the region. About 52% of the
Beehive State is now in severe drought, while the rest remains
in moderate drought, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported on
Thursday. … Meanwhile, 86% of the West is at
least “abnormally dry,” including nearly two-thirds of
the region that is also in some form of drought. The figure is
based on conditions across Utah, Arizona, California, Colorado,
Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and
Wyoming. Only eastern pockets of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico
and Wyoming remain out of any category, along with a section of
Northern California. While Utah remains the only state entirely
consumed by drought, more serious categories have formed in
other parts of the West. About 12% of the region is in extreme
or exceptional drought.
Cloud seeding can increase the water supply in places that
don’t have enough. The technology behind it goes back to the
1950s, and scientists are studying how effective it can be in
the 21st century. Jonathan Jennings is a meteorologist who
directs the cloud seeding program for the state of Utah. Before
that, he worked on cloud seeding in Texas for more than a
decade. He recently finished a term as president of the Weather
Modification Association. Jennings spoke with KUNC about
the facts surrounding cloud seeding in the Western U.S. This
conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
… Jonathan Jennings: Right now, the operational programs
in the Mountain West, specifically in the Colorado River Basin,
are all winter projects. The goal is to enhance precipitation
on the snowpack, which leads to better runoff into the Colorado
River. We have active programs in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
As we mark six months since the devastating January wildfires,
there are troubling new allegations by thousands of Palisades
Fire victims in their lawsuit against the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power (LADWP). They claim the utility
tampered with records for a reservoir that was empty at the
time of the fire, as well as power lines in the area. The new
allegations accuse LADWP of failing to comply with its own
policy, then changing the policy and altering a computer log to
erase an over four-hour delayed arrival to shut off power to
the Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7. … Regarding the 117
million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir that was empty when the
fire broke out, Public Records Act requests retrieved LADWP
emails that show the reservoir’s cover should have been
inspected monthly and by divers underneath on an annual basis,
but it was last inspected back in 2021.
Work on a Los Angeles County sanitation tunnel has been halted
as investigators look into what caused it to collapse Wednesday
evening, leaving 31 workers scrambling to make their way to
safety. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who is also
on a county sanitation district board, said in a statement that
the district will be looking into what caused the tunnel
collapse. … The purpose of the Clearwater Project is to
build a more robust tunnel so that treated wastewater can be
safely pumped out to the ocean from the county’s biggest
treatment plant. The existing tunnels can’t be taken out of
service, were not built to today’s seismic standards, and are
not large enough to handle high volume during heavy storms. A
2017 storm nearly flooded the system, and the damage from such
an event could be catastrophic. If the existing tunnels were to
fail, the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant would either
discharge raw sewage into nearby Machado Lake or into the Los
Angeles Harbor, with environmental impacts that could last
months or years, county officials said.
California lawmakers on Thursday re-introduced the Border Water
Quality Restoration and Protection Act to combat ongoing
pollution from the Tijuana River. … This is not the
first time the bill has surfaced as a piece of bicameral
legislation. It was introduced in 2021 and again in 2024.
However, the reintroduction comes just after officials released
results from the Centers for Disease Control’s survey of how
people near the border felt about the Tijuana River pollution
crisis and its effects on them. … The Border Water
Quality Restoration and Protection Act would establish the EPA
as the lead agency coordinating efforts between federal, state,
tribal and local agencies to deal with pollution. The bill also
would establish an EPA Geographic Program that would implement
a water quality management program within 180 days of the
bill’s passing. The EPA already has 12 Geographic Programs
that protect local ecosystems through water quality
improvement, habitat restoration and environmental
education.
Neutral conditions dominating large parts of the eastern and
central Pacific are likely to persist throughout the rest of
the year and into the upcoming winter, according to a recent
NOAA outlook. In the agency’s most recent update, researchers
noted that much of the Pacific has anomalies between 0.5 °C to
-0.5 °C, meaning neither El Niño nor La Niña is in
control. Once surface temperature anomalies reach at
least -0.5 °C or colder, a La Niña is considered underway,
which has global implications for weather patterns. The agency
said that if the status of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or
what is commonly referred to as the ENSO, were to reach the
cool phase later in the year, the changeover would likely not
mean a whole lot of change, because the La Niña would be weak.
… Last winter officially qualified as a La Niña event,
although the signal was weak. Despite the cool signal, the
season ended as the third-warmest winter on record, with an
average temperature of 1.9 °F above the long-term
average.
Tucson is taking significant steps to secure its water supply
amidst ongoing PFAS contamination challenges. The City of
Tucson has received an initial $4.8 million payment from a
national legal settlement aimed at addressing the impacts of
PFAS products used as Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF). In
an effort that began in 2018, Tucson joined a nationwide
lawsuit alongside hundreds of other water departments,
including those from Southern Arizona. This settlement is
expected to bring nearly $30 million to the city over the
coming years. PFAS contamination has forced Tucson to shut down
nearly 40 drinking water production wells and incurred
substantial costs. To combat this, Tucson Water is constructing
advanced water treatment facilities to restore some of the
affected wells. … While challenges remain, the
settlement offers vital funding to manage the contaminated
groundwater supplies effectively.
The Klamath River Dam Removal First Descent youth kayaking trip
will come to an end on Friday in Klamath for the First Descent
Reception. The group will participate in some reflection on
their adventure as well as speak about the importance of global
river justice and its effect. Friday will be the 30th day of
the group’s source-to-sea journey, becoming the first group to
navigate through the recently undammed Klamath River. Friday’s
event is also the beginning of the Free Rivers Symposium, a
four-day event in Klamath with tribal leaders, scientists and
environmental organizations highlighting the ecological and
cultural significance of the restored Klamath River. In the
Free Rivers Symposium, experts will highlight the impacts of
wildlife and river ecosystems, the impact on the water and
habitat restoration. The group of more than 30 youths traveled
over 300 miles exploring the Klamath River after four of the
river’s six dams were removed in the largest dam removal
project in U.S. history.
… Understanding why some waterways form single channels,
while others divide into many threads, has perplexed
researchers for over a century. Geographers at UC Santa Barbara
mapped the thread dynamics along 84 rivers with 36 years of
global satellite imagery to determine what dictates this aspect
of river behavior. “We found that rivers will develop multiple
channels if they erode their banks faster than they deposit
sediment on their opposing banks. This causes a channel to
widen and divide over time,” said lead author Austin Chadwick,
who conducted this study as a postdoctoral researcher at UCSB.
The results, published in the journal Science, solve a
longstanding quandary in the science of rivers. They also
provide insight into natural hazards and river restoration
efforts. … The formula developed by the authors enables
engineers and scientists to estimate the width a restoration
project will need, a deciding factor in a project’s feasibility
and cost. The analysis can also help policymakers prioritize
candidates for recovery.
As Great Salt Lake’s levels continue to sag, yet another
strange phenomenon has surfaced, offering Utah scientists more
opportunities to plumb the vast saline lake’s
secrets. Phragmites-covered mounds in recent years have
appeared on the drying playa off the lake’s southeast shore.
After several years of scratching their heads, University of
Utah geoscientists, deploying a network of piezometers and
aerial electromagnetic surveys, are now finding out what’s
going on under the lakebed that is creating these reed-choked
oases. Bill Johnson, a professor in the Department of Geology &
Geophysics, suspects the circular mounds have formed at spots
where a subsurface plumbing system delivers fresh
groundwater under pressure into the lake and its
surrounding wetlands. … One goal of Johnson’s research
is to determine whether the groundwater can be tapped to
restore broken lakebed crusts, thereby reducing dust
pollution.
… The mild spring appeared to bolster almond
yields statewide. The USDA’s 2025 California almond production
forecast has risen to 3 billion meat pounds, up 7% from May’s
subjective forecast and 10% higher than last year’s crop of
2.73 billion meat pounds. The forecast is based on 1.39 million
bearing acres, explains the National Agricultural Statistics
Service office in Sacramento. … A 3-billion-pound crop
would be California’s second largest in history. … The
heavy load is despite storms that began in early February and
peaked in the middle of the month. Rain, wind and hail hindered
bee hours and blossom growth, but conditions improved in early
March with warm temperatures accelerating the crop’s progress
through the end of bloom. Mild temperatures and timely rain in
spring supported nut growth and continued through early summer,
lessening heat stress in orchards, NASS reports.
On Wednesday, July 9, 2025, Paso Robles Area Groundwater
Authority (PRAGA) held an open house to discuss the possibility
of implementing a new fee for commercial groundwater users.
This added charge will be used to fund the county’s Groundwater
Sustainability Plan in the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin area.
The meeting was held to inform the public of the upcoming
changes while also encouraging questions from them ahead of the
formal hearing scheduled on August 1. … The agency says
the fee will help fund the implementation of the Groundwater
Sustainability Plan, a requirement under California’s
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The collected
revenue will contribute to the management of the basin to
achieve long-term water balance in the region. As per a press
release, this fee will not be applicable to domestic well
owners who use less than two acre-feet of water per year.
They were once a common and iconic part of the Central Valley
landscape, but they’re growing increasingly rare. Today on
KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of the tankhouse – a key
technology that made the valley bloom, over 100 years ago.
Drive through the rural areas on the east side of the Valley
and chances are at some point you’ll come across an old
farmhouse from the 19th century. In many cases, you’ll see an
odd shaped outbuilding, shaped kind of like a giant wooden milk
carton, two or three stories tall. Some have sloping walls at
the base, while others are boxy rectangles. They’re known as
tankhouses, and while they can be found in places ranging from
Texas to the Northwest, they’re especially identified with
California, and the Central Valley. The earliest
tankhouses were likely built in the 1860s and combined a water
well, water pumping and water storage in one system.
… The windmill would power a pump, which lifted water
from the aquifer to the tank, 20 to 30 feet in the air, which
was enough to supply gravity produced water pressure.
President Donald Trump’s nominee to head NOAA pledged Wednesday
to fully staff the National Weather Service, after catastrophic
Texas floods triggered a new wave of criticism over the
president’s deep cuts across government. Administration critics
have wondered whether efforts to reduce the federal workforce
and eliminate programs affected the government’s ability to
warn residents. … Jacobs, whose background is in weather
modeling, has advocated for retooling NOAA’s weather data
collection processes, including through greater engagement with
private-sector companies that operate their own satellites and
would benefit from multibillion-dollar government contracts.
… Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told Jacobs that the
nation cannot afford to retrench on climate change given its
direct impacts on communities facing rising frequency
and intensity of storms, floods, droughts, wildfire and other
natural disasters.
The Colorado River is now officially “positive” for invasive
zebra mussels in the latest failure of containment for the
voracious species, after three new samples came up with larvae
July 3, from between Glenwood Springs and Silt. The main stem
Colorado River discoveries piled on top of a confirmed “large
number” of adult zebra mussels in a private body of water in
western Eagle County, and two more positive larvae tests, at
Highline Lake and Mack Mesa Lake, both near the Utah border,
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said Wednesday. Sampling
was redoubled throughout June after tests found a single zebra
mussel larvae, or veliger, in the Colorado River from a June 9
collection. It’s the second year in a row veligers are
being discovered in the West’s key river channel through
Colorado, and now CPW officials are also dealing with a
full-blown adult zebra mussel invasion in the privately owned
Eagle County water.
Two major climate disasters of 2025 — the Texas flooding that
killed more than 100 people and the L.A. wildfires in January
that resulted in 30 deaths and wiped out more than 15,000 homes
and businesses — highlight the struggles officials face in
fully preparing for extreme weather
conditions. In both cases, the National Weather
Service offered clear warnings of potentially life-threatening
weather events; in Los Angeles, warnings were given days before
extraordinary winds — of up to 100 mph — slammed a region
already suffering from a record-dry fall. … Since then,
there have been calls for sweeping reforms of how Los Angeles
County prepares for disasters, and investigations into what
went wrong. … With climate change bringing more extreme
deadly weather, local emergency management officials around the
nation are trying to keep up.
Other flood risk and emergency management news around the West:
