The White House has made its pick to lead the federal agency that manages water and dams in the American West, a Trump administration official confirmed Monday. If confirmed by Congress, Aubrey Bettencourt, a third-generation California farmer in the Central Valley, will lead the Bureau of Reclamation during a historic time of interstate conflict and record drought along the Colorado River. … During the first Trump administration from 2017 to 2021, she was deputy assistant secretary of water and science at the Interior Department, the parent agency of the Bureau of Reclamation. … Most recently, Bettencourt served as chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the private lands conservation agency leg of the Agriculture Department, until she stepped down in May. 

Other Colorado River management news:

• E&E News by Politico: Key Utah, Wyoming Republicans plot their next Colorado River move
• The Week: A water fight in the West
• The Orange County Register (Irvine, Calif.): Opinion: Learning the right lesson from San Diego’s desal water surplus
• California WaterBlog (UC Davis): Rethinking Western cities and water