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.
California has approved an unprecedented plan to protect the
iconic Joshua tree from climate change and development.
… It recommends limiting development, taking steps to
reduce wildfire risk like culling invasive grasses and
introducing Joshua trees with genetic variations that make them
more resilient to warming temperatures. … The
conservation plan has drawn criticism from a coalition of local
water agencies, a residents’ organization and
trade groups representing realtors and farmers, who last month
sent a letter to the state. The letter demanded changes in
the implementation of the plan, including exemptions or
expedited permitting for projects like water
distribution system repairs and maintenance.
The California Senate Appropriations Committee released a
report Friday outlining the potential fiscal impact of AB
1018, a high-risk artificial intelligence bill moving through
the state legislature which could cost state and local agencies
millions of dollars. Known as the Automated Decisions
Safety Act, or AB 1018, the legislation would set new rules for
how artificial intelligence and other automated-decision
systems are used in situations that significantly affect
people’s lives, such as in the domains of housing, jobs, health
care, credit, education and law. … The California
State Water Resources Control Board, which
offered information on the potential fiscal impact of the
legislation, said in the report that the bill is “vague,
ambiguous, and could encompass many current tools used, like
excel workbooks.” “These tools are used broadly across
Water Boards programs, and many are used to inform actions that
could be considered consequential actions under the bill,” the
report read. “To meet the bill’s AB 1018 provision, the State
Water Board estimates significant cost pressures, likely in the
millions of dollars per year.”
… As research assistants in a nationwide study — created in
collaboration with experts from the UC Davis School of
Education and Center for Watershed Sciences — high schoolers
worked with scholars from 2020 to 2025 to collect the data
needed to determine the cause of rising TDC [Thiamine
Deficiency Complex] rates. Together, they monitored hundreds of
spawning salmon for early signs of thiamine deficiency, most
notably, swimming in spinning patterns. Researchers published
the final study in July 2025, identifying anchovy-dominated
diets as the cause of TDC. With a recent and ongoing
decline in oceanic biodiversity, salmon are primarily consuming
anchovies.
As demand for artificial intelligence technology boosts
construction and proposed construction of data centers around
the world, those computers require not just electricity and
land, but also a significant amount of water. … A 2024
report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated
that in 2023, U.S. data centers consumed 17 billion gallons (64
billion liters) of water directly through cooling, and projects
that by 2028, those figures could double – or even
quadruple. The same report estimated that in 2023, U.S.
data centers consumed an additional 211 billion gallons (800
billion liters) of water indirectly through the electricity
that powers them.
… NASA, of course, is best known for launching expeditions
into space and capturing images of distant galaxies. But NASA
also has a mission to Earth. Its satellites surveil what the
agency calls “vital signs of the planet” and supply information
to scientists whose work is decidedly Earthbound. A good deal
focuses on tracking the effects of climate change
ongroundwater levels, wildfires,
global temperature trends, and more. … The future of
some of that public health work is now unclear. The Trump
administration’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year
would, if enacted, bring NASA’s spending back to 1961 levels.
… The overall budget would be cut by nearly 25 percent,
and Earth science more than halved.
… Decades of unreliable surface water left San Joaquin Valley
farmers no choice but to pump groundwater — with severe
consequences. Sinking land, cracked infrastructure and reduced
capacity to the California Aqueduct that delivers water to
millions in Southern California. The good news: Subsidence can
be slowed — and potentially reversed. Since 2023, Westlands’
farmers recharged over 470,000 acre-feet of groundwater,
restoring water levels by 200 feet in some areas. Injection
wells have lifted land by half a foot. In one important
location, subsidence stopped completely. –Written by Allison Febbo, general manager of the
Westlands Water District.
A “devil” comet’s water is strikingly similar to the water on
Earth, researchers have discovered. The finding supports the
idea that water was brought to our planet
through comet impacts, helping set the stage for life
to evolve, the team reported Aug. 8 in the journal Nature
Astronomy. … This is especially significant because
previous measurements of the water on Halley-type comets
revealed different D/H ratios, casting doubt on the theory that
comets could have brought water to Earth. This new discovery,
by contrast, strengthens the theory.
California pistachio growers are preparing for what could be
the largest harvest on record. According to Richard Kreps,
Ultra Gro representative and Chairman of the American Pistachio
Growers Board, the 2025 crop is showing the most uniform nut
fill seen in more than 15 years. … Despite strong market
conditions, growers continue to face challenges. Labor
shortages, freight disruptions, and California’s ongoing
water constraints remain pressing issues.
Rodent and bird damage to irrigation systems is another
concern. … Kreps emphasized the need for new
dams and recharge projects to support
sustainable farming across the Central Valley and the
Southwest.
Dozens of water-harvesting pods are set to be deployed along
the sea floor off the coast of California as the United States
ramps up its first subsea desalination project. The effort is
expected to produce 60 million gallons (227 million liters) of
fresh water per day. … Water technology company
OceanWell has just announced the launch of the Water Farm 1
(WF1) project in cooperation with Las Virgenes Municipal Water
District (LVMWD), which manages fresh water for about 70,000
residents located in western Los Angeles County. Six additional
California water agencies are also part of the effort.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has issued a
warning to the public to exercise heightened safety measures as
water flows will be elevated through the weekend of August
23-24 on a section of the North Fork Feather River, designated
for whitewater recreation. … These recreational flows
are organized in collaboration with the American Whitewater
organization and the Rock Creek–Cresta Ecological Resource
Committee, typically occurring four weekends annually in June,
July, August, and September.
The City Council of Sweet Home, Oregon, a city of roughly
10,000 people, voted this summer to remove fluoride from its
drinking water. In passing the ordinance, which went into
effect Aug. 7, Sweet Home joined a growing number of U.S.
municipalities that are removing or exploring the removal of
fluoride from public drinking water this year. Utah became
the first state to prohibit local communities from adding
fluoride to their public water systems, a ban that took effect
in May. … As of 2022, 63% of the U.S. population
received fluoridated water from public water systems, according
to the ADA.
A drought in Turkey’s northwestern province of Tekirdag has
left the area’s main dams without potable water, straining
infrastructure and leaving some homes without water for weeks,
due to a sharp drop in precipitation in the country this year.
Authorities say drought is a critical issue, with several
provinces warning of limited fresh water supply this
summer. Various areas in Izmir, Turkey’s third-most
populous province, have experienced frequent water cuts this
month, while the municipality in the western province of Usak
was told over the weekend it would have access to water just
six hours a day, with the main water reservoir depleted.
After one of the Colorado River’s driest years in decades, Lake
Mead and Lake Powell — the largest reservoirs in the country —
could see alarming declines in the coming years, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation announced today. Federal officials
again called for Arizona and Nevada to cut back their supplies
from the overtapped river — though California, with its senior
claims to the river’s water, will be spared. While
expected, today’s two-year projection ratchets up tension among
seven states in the Colorado River basin, which have struggled
to agree on the river’s management after 2026, when current
guidelines expire.
Years of collapsing areas of land in the San Joaquin Valley —
caused primarily by the over-pumping of groundwater for farming
— has taken a toll on California’s largest water delivery
system that relies on stable land to work well. A state report
released this year determined its 2023 annual water delivery
capability had fallen 3% compared to original-design
deliveries. If no action is taken, it could fall up to 87% by
2043. If that happens, 21 million Californians would feel the
impacts, according to the California Department of Water
Resources (DWR).
The Walker Basin Conservancy has acquired 1,200 acre feet of
decreed storage water from Poore Lake, Calif., in the
headwaters of the Walker River watershed. This transaction
marks the first water acquisition for environmental benefit of
the Walker River and Walker Lake historically diverted in
California. … Adaptive management will keep land in Antelope
Valley in agricultural production and increase the flows of the
West Walker River in California and on to Walker Lake. This
water right is stored in Poore Lake, a reservoir in Mono County
that feeds Poore Creek and the Pickel Meadow Wildlife Area
before joining the West Walker River. Poore Creek and the
downstream habitats it supports have substantial conservation
value and will benefit from enhanced creek flows and riparian
health.
Utah remains on pace to have one of its driest summers in at
least the past 130 years, and long-range outlooks aren’t
looking all too promising either. That has Great Salt Lake
advocates concerned as the lake, fueled by the snowpack runoff
it does receive, drops back down to troubling levels.
… The ski and snow sports forecasting site OpenSnow
lists most of Utah as having stronger odds for below-normal
precipitation in its preliminary winter preview released this
week. … That would be bad news because
snowpack accounts for about 95% of the state’s
water supply, and the Great Salt Lake only refills when water
within its basin isn’t consumed and the state is already
dealing with increasing drought.
… A plan by the Marin Municipal Water District to expand the
[Nicasio] reservoir, which accounts for more than a quarter of
the district’s storage capacity, would inundate more land.
Water in the town’s two creeks could back up during winter at
the enlarged reservoir and cause more flooding in at least five
people’s properties. … The proposal involves installing
a 280-foot-long, 4.4-foot-high inflatable rubber gate across
the spillway crest of Seeger Dam, which created the Nicasio
Reservoir in 1960. That would increase the reservoir’s capacity
by about 3,700 acre-feet, or 16.5%. The gate could then be
raised to capture more rainfall.
The Tucson City Council is primed to rush through an ordinance
that would impose conservation rules on large water users to
protect the city’s water supply from being guzzled by data
centers and the like. … The council is expected to vote
during Tuesday’s regular night session on a proposal to require
all new businesses using at least 7.48 million gallons a month
to submit a water conservation plan to the city. The plan would
show how the business would reduce its water use, water losses
and waste, and improve the efficiency of its water use. The
ordinance would also require new, large water users to use
specified percentages of reclaimed water, often at least 30%
depending on how close they are to reclaimed water delivery
lines.
… Suisun City, a working-class community on the edge of San
Francisco Bay, faces a slow-moving crisis: rising seas could
swallow parts of the town within decades. It also faces an
imminent budget crisis threatening insolvency. Among other
solutions, city leaders are eyeing a controversial fix —
annexing thousands of inland acres from California Forever, a
tech billionaire-backed company — a move that could raise tax
revenue and secure higher ground, but risks fierce fights over
growth, climate adaptation and the city’s future.
… [M]ore than a century ago, states recognized that Native
Americans had rights to Colorado River water and, even earlier
in 1908, the U.S. Supreme Court said in Winters v. U.S., that
when we dedicated land to reservations it included enough water
to make them habitable. … All that history is becoming
more important because we face a deadline. Political
procrastination over decades has pushed nearly every aspect of
Colorado River allocation into a series of 2026 federal
deadlines. … If the states and other stakeholders, like the
Indian Tribes, cannot agree, then the Trump Administration will
likely decide for them. … And, remember, the Indian
Tribes are still getting only about a third of their water. –Written by Ken Ransford, member of the Colorado Basin
Roundtable.
