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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President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled the U.S. out of an
agreement with Washington, Oregon and four American Indian
tribes to work together to restore salmon populations and boost
tribal clean energy development in the Pacific Northwest,
deriding the plan as “radical environmentalism” that could have
resulted in the breaching of four controversial dams on the
Snake River. The deal, known as the Resilient Columbia Basin
Agreement, was reached in late 2023 and heralded by the Biden
administration, tribes and conservationists as historic. It
allowed for a pause in decades of litigation over the harm the
federal government’s operation of dams in the Northwest has
done to the fish. Under it, the federal government said it
planned to spend more than $1 billion over a decade to help
recover depleted salmon runs. The government also said
that it would build enough new clean energy projects in the
Pacific Northwest to replace the hydropower generated by the
Lower Snake River dams … should Congress ever agree to remove
them.
It’s been a wet several weeks in Colorado, but as Coloradans
know, moisture tends to come in the form of rain at this point
in the year. And as snowpack continues to dwindle around the
state, several regions are far behind their snowpack norm for
the date. According to data provided by the USDA, the state of
Colorado is at just 36 percent of the snowpack norm for June
12. … Meanwhile, western Colorado is hurting for
snowpack, too, with the Colorado Headwaters river basin
at just 28 percent of what’s typical. … It’s also
worth noting that places where the snow has disappeared the
fastest are also where some of the state’s most serious drought
conditions are found. Currently, it’s estimated that about 60
percent of the state is ‘abnormally dry’ or in a phase of
drought, compared to 38 percent at the same point last
year.
California Democrats tried on Thursday to dissuade Secretary of
the Interior Doug Burgum from cuts to water
infrastructure funding. Instead, they got a clear view
of the Trump administration’s priorities. The water security
programs may be working, but budget cuts are more important,
Burgum told lawmakers during a House hearing on President
Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the Department of the
Interior. … Congress is supposed to have the final say
in federal funding, but the administration’s budget proposal,
which would eliminate WaterSMART, is raising
red flags for some House Democrats, especially given the
approach DOGE has taken to federal funding. Burgum was
responding to Rep. Luz Rivas, who represents the San Fernando
Valley. Rivas said WaterSMART, which funds water management
improvements, drought planning and more throughout the American
West, was successful in mitigating water shortages in her
district. It’s received billions in federal funding since 2010,
with billions more matched by state and local partners.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee is bringing back a proposal that would allow
the federal government to sell off several million acres of
public land in Utah and other Western states.
… Introduced Wednesday evening, Lee’s amendment to
congressional Republicans’ budget bill, nicknamed the “big,
beautiful bill,” renews an effort initially spearheaded by Rep.
Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, and Mark Amodei, R-Nevada, that sought
to dispose of 11,500 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in
southwestern Utah and some 450,000 acres of federal land in
Nevada. … Though the scope is much bigger, Lee’s
reasoning behind the proposal is the same as Maloy and Amodei’s
— identify parcels of federal land near high-growth areas, and
sell them at market value to local governments to use for
housing, water infrastructure, roads and other
development.
In the desert of landlocked Arizona, where the Colorado
River crisis has put water use under a microscope,
Mainstream Aquaculture has a fish farm where it’s growing the
tropical species barramundi, also known as Asian sea bass, for
American restaurants. … But some experts question whether
growing fish on a large scale in an arid region can work
without high environmental costs. That question comes down to
what people collectively decide is a good use of water.
… The farm uses groundwater, not
Colorado River water. … Arizona has seven areas around the
state where groundwater is rigorously managed. Dateland doesn’t
fall into one of those, so the only rule that really governs it
is a law saying if you land own there, you can pump a
“reasonable” amount of groundwater. … What might be
considered “reasonable” depends from crop to crop, and there’s
really no precedent for aquaculture, an industry that hasn’t
yet spread commercially statewide.
A newly published U.S. Justice Department memo could open a
path for President Donald Trump to roll back protections for
millions of acres of federal lands and oceans. … The 50-page
legal opinion provides guidance on the Antiquities Act,
concluding the president has grounds to abolish two national
monuments in California established in January by his
predecessor Joe Biden. The Justice Department determined an
opinion from the U.S. Attorney General nearly a century ago was
incorrect. The DOJ found Trump has the power to abolish or
reduce the size of national monuments established by other
presidents. … Opponents (of the Antiquities Act) say it
gives the federal government too much control over the
resources within hundreds of thousands of acres of land and
ocean and is sometimes inconsistent with other federal laws
that require more public involvement. … Proponents say
it allows presidents to move swiftly to protect vulnerable
lands and waters, and it has broad public support due to the
benefits of designating a site a monument.
Since January, the Trump administration has made sweeping cuts
to science and research at federal agencies, slashing funding,
laying off workers and terminating grants. A minority staff
report from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee released in May called the administration’s actions a
“war on science.” But amid these cuts, the administration plans
to prioritize an environmental program that cleans up toxic
waste dumps, also known as Superfund sites. … Some U.S.
lawmakers, however, have expressed concerns that mass layoffs
within the EPA and a dramatically reduced budget will hinder
the agency’s ability to accelerate Superfund cleanups. …
The Trump administration has justified Superfund budget cuts by
highlighting taxes on the chemical industry that help finance
the program. The Superfund program also received $3.5 billion
in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law under the
Biden administration.
A sensor on the International Space Station that helps map
minerals was able to help track water contaminants off the San
Diego coast. According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
researchers involved in a study of the instrument’s
capabilities found that it could potentially help track some
water contaminants faster than traditional means. The
instrument is called the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source
Investigation (EMIT) and it observes sunlight reflecting off
the Earth. Recently, EMIT was used to examine the
wastewater from the Tijuana
River as it emptied into the Pacific Ocean off the
coast of Imperial Beach. … Researchers examined EMIT’s images
pixel by pixel and were able to identify signs that indicated
certain molecules present in specific areas of the image. When
they cross-referenced their findings with water testing done on
those same areas of the Pacific Ocean, the findings lined up,
helping detect phycocyanin, a pigment in cyanobacteria, which
can make humans and animals sick.
Golden mussels are an invasive aquatic species that disrupt
ecosystems, filter away nutrients and damage shorelines
– and they were recently spotted on a boat trying to enter
Lake Tahoe. … This season, boating in California’s
Folsom Lake State Recreation Area requires a mandatory 30-day
quarantine or decontamination, while other water bodies like
Shasta Lake do not require any pre-launch inspection. No matter
the protocol, the spread of the golden mussel has raised alarm
among scientists and advocates, and its spotting in the Tahoe
basin is no small scare. … In the past, some
marinas shut down completely after the discovery of a new
invasive species – this happened in Lake Mead after the 2007
introduction of zebra mussels. Because Tahoe is so intertwined
with outdoor recreation, though, enhanced enforcements need to
be thoughtfully crafted.
A major new restoration initiative is launching across Northern
California to protect imperiled aquatic species and improve the
health of sediment-impaired watersheds historically impacted by
cannabis cultivation and rural development. The project,
Sediment Reduction on Cannabis Farms in Priority Northern
Watersheds, is funded through the California Dept. of Fish and
Wildlife’s Cannabis Restoration Grant Program, and was awarded
to Cannabis for Conservation (CFC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose
programs conserve wildlife and restore habitats in
cannabis-impacted landscapes. The project will reduce harmful
sediment production and restore degraded watercourses across
the Mattole, Eel, Mad, and Trinity River watersheds. These
vital river systems are home to some of California’s most
threatened and endangered species, including Coho and Chinook
Salmon, Northern California steelhead, and newly proposed
northwestern pond turtle.
Atmospheric rivers are responsible for most flooding on the
West Coast of the U.S., but they also bring much-needed
moisture to the region. The size of these storms doesn’t always
translate to flood risk, however, as other factors on the
ground play important roles. Now, a new study helps untangle
the other drivers of flooding to help communities and water
managers better prepare. The research, published June 4 in
the Journal of Hydrometeorology, analyzed more than 43,000
atmospheric river storms across 122 watersheds on the West
Coast between 1980 and 2023. The researchers found that one of
the primary driving forces of flooding is wet soils that can’t
absorb more water when a storm hits. They showed that flood
peaks were 2–4.5 times higher, on average, when soils were
already wet. These findings can help explain why some
atmospheric river storms cause catastrophic flooding while
others of comparable intensity do not.
It can be difficult determining the best lakes in a country as
large as America. But the people have spoken, and it turns out,
California is home to two. Big Bear Lake in San Bernardino
County was voted the best lake in the United States by USA
TODAY 10Best, in which an expert panel nominates their picks
for readers to vote on. It’s a popular destination for visitors
eager to get out on the water; Fishing, boating, waterskiing,
paddleboarding and summertime swimming are just some of the
ways people can enjoy the stunning lake located in the San
Bernardino National Forest of Southern California. … But
Big Bear Lake isn’t the only body of water in California to
make the list of 10 best lakes in the nation. Coming in at No.
10 is the popular Lake Havasu, which straddles both California
and Arizona.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s attempt to fast track the construction of
the Delta Conveyance Project had a setback Tuesday. The
governor’s strategy of inserting a bundle of policy changes
into the state budget was rejected by a budget subcommittee,
essentially sending a message to Newsom that the Legislature
would rather discuss his suggestions using the normal
legislative process. The Delta Conveyance Project is a proposal
for a 45-mile gravity-fed canal that would carry excess water
from the Sacramento River to join the preexisting aqueduct
system that provides water to millions of users in Central and
Southern California. Three members of the Senate Budget
Subcommittee 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and
Energy voted to reject the fast-tracking proposal.
… Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said the governor
received letters of support from 28 bipartisan legislators, as
well as from water agency and community leaders, including the
State Building and Construction Trades Council and the Soboba
Band of Luiseno Indians in San Jacinto in Riverside County.
Senate lawmakers blasted the Trump administration’s fiscal 2026
budget proposal for agencies charged with major water
infrastructure projects, and they vowed to secure more money
for both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of
Reclamation. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy
and Water Development on Wednesday reviewed proposed budgets
for both agencies, with senators from both parties criticizing
the president’s desired cuts. “We’re probably going to have to
start over with this budget, gentlemen. I’m not telling you
anything that you don’t know,” Louisiana Republican Sen. John
Kenendy, who chairs the subcommittee, said as he ended
Tuesday’s hearing. “It’s just not realistic,” he added,
noting he otherwise supports cuts put forth by the Office of
Management and Budget. “I just know that the appetite for the
work that you all do and the necessity of it. I’m just being
realistic.”
Just weeks before completion of construction, Northern Water
has confirmed uranium has been discovered at the site of the
Chimney Hollow Reservoir and Dam. … Now
near-complete, the Chimney Hollow Dam is the fourth largest dam
in Colorado and the largest built in the United States since
the year 2000. Northern Water is now working with the
Environmental Protection Agency to monitor the levels of
uranium being detected. … Northern Water currently
plans to begin filling the reservoir in August. (Northern Water
spokesperson Jeff) Stahla said the discovery of the uranium is
not enough to derail the project. Citing the reservoir’s
eventual capacity of hundreds of billions of gallons of water,
Stahla said there is a possibility the initial fill of the
reservoir will wash the uranium off the dam and dilute it.
Eventually, as water cycles in and out of the reservoir, the
concern of the uranium may not longer be an issue.
Nevada, the driest state in the nation, faces a water crisis in
the years to come. To help save the precious resources for
future generations, the governor just signed two bills A.B. 104
and S.B. 36 with bipartisan support including a new, statewide
program to pay people to voluntarily give up their water
rights. One would only need to look to Lake
Mead to understand that Nevada’s water supply is
dwindling while its population is booming. Now those with
entitlements to water, like multigenerational ranchers and
farmers, can exchange those rights for money. … The
statewide initiative enables groundwater rights holders like
agricultural producers to voluntarily retire or give up their
claim to water in exchange for cash in areas where use exceeds
long-term water availability. Once retired, the rights are
permanently removed from use. … While the law has been
passed, it is unclear where the money will come to pay those
willing to voluntarily give up water rights.
Join us Sept. 8-12 as we examine water issues along the
263-mile Klamath River, from its spring-fed headwaters in
south-central Oregon to its redwood-lined estuary on the
Pacific Ocean in California. In anticipation of high
demand, the Foundation will begin allocating tickets for the
Klamath River
Tour via a lottery method on June 12. To enter
before limited bus seating is gone, review the tour details
here and submit the entry form linked at the
top of the tour page at your earliest convenience. Attend the
Water
Summit, Water Education Foundation’s premier
annual event, Oct. 1 in Sacramento with leading policymakers
and experts addressing critical water issues in California and
across the West. Registration opens June
18.
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to
abolish California’s two newest national monuments, Sáttítla
Highlands National Monument in the state’s far north and
Chuckwalla National Monument near Joshua Tree. The push to
eliminate the designations, issued earlier this year by former
President Joe Biden, was revealed in a U.S. Justice Department
memo this week, responding to legal questions from the
administration about rolling back the California
monuments. Sáttítla Highlands monument was established in
January to protect a remote 224,000-acre volcanic landscape
northeast of Mount Shasta, known for lava beds and caves. The
designation was sought by Northern California’s Pit River Tribe
to prevent geothermal power production at
tribally sacred sites. … In a statement, White House
spokesperson Harrison Fields cited the president’s pledge to
“liberate our federal lands and waters to oil, gas, coal,
geothermal and mineral leasing.”
The Port of Los Angeles will need to clean up widespread water
contamination in the city’s harbor by shoring up sewage
treatment operations, according to a settlement approved by a
federal judge. The settlement was the result of
a lawsuit filed by the organization Environment
California last summer accusing the port of violating the
Clean Water Act by unleashing toxic pollutants
into the San Pedro Bay. The group maintained that the port
had conducted more than 2,000 illegal wastewater discharges in
the previous five years alone — releases that
routinely surpassed limits on fecal bacteria, copper and
other contaminants. The settlement approved on Tuesday
tasks the port with improving its management and treatment of
stormwater and groundwater,
through provisions requiring the elimination of fecal bacteria
from the groundwater.
The drama between two Kings County water entities continued
earlier this month as the manager of one threw shade on the
recharge policies of the other. Kings County Water District’s
boundaries are intertwined with the Mid-Kings River Groundwater
Sustainability Agency (GSA) but isn’t a member of the GSA after
an ugly break up last year when the water district pulled out
of a joint operating agreement, leaving Kings County and the
City of Hanford to pick up the pieces for a large chunk of the
subbasin. At the water district’s June 5 meeting, its General
Manager Dennis Mills questioned and criticized recharge
policies recently enacted by the re-formed Mid-Kings GSA board.
Adding to the complexity of the situation, two Kings County
Water District’s board members also sit on the Mid-Kings GSA
advisory group that vetted the very policies Mills was
concerned with.
