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.
A Department of Defense weather satellite program that collects
vital information for hurricane forecasts will stop
distributing data products to users Monday. The
termination of data products from the Defense Meteorological
Satellite Program could lead to dangerous declines in the
quality of hurricane forecasts, meteorologists say. …
NOAA, which provides operational support for the program,
issued a termination notice Wednesday. The agency did not
provide reasons for the decision. An official for the U.S.
Space Force, which manages the program, confirmed that the
satellites and their instruments are still fully functional.
And the Defense Department will still have access to DMSP data.
But for the program’s large network of users, the data products
are going dark — and it’s still unclear why. … It’s a
constellation of weather satellites collecting a variety of
measurements used to track everything from thunderstorms to fog
to snow and ice cover. Its data products are
used by researchers around the world, including forecasters at
the National Weather Service.
You’ve probably come across more stories about water woes in
California than you can recall, so you may feel you’ve had
enough for a while. I understand. … But there is one
indisputable fact that keeps surfacing in the conversations I
have about California water that feels like something of a
beacon. The first time I heard it, it came as quite a surprise.
Over the last half century or so, millions more people have
moved to greater Los Angeles. … And during this same
time, Angelenos have been consuming less water. … So,
how did this happen? The answer speaks to a general truth about
progress, which, in big, messy democracies, tends to occur not
all at once but in incremental, often unsexy ways, mostly out
of the news cycle. In this case the shift has involved some
simple, practical, boring fixes, like better plumbing,
alongside larger transformations in social norms, policies and
politics.
Dams and barriers placed on Alameda Creek have prevented
migratory fish from entering their native spawning grounds for
more than 50 years, but an $80 million effort to raze the last
significant obstacles and restore trout, salmon and other fish
to their historical habitat are now underway. A PG&E gas
pipeline is the last major barrier to restoring 20 miles of
upstream spawning habitat for Chinook salmon and steelhead
trout and will be relocated and buried by a coalition that
includes the Alameda County Water District, PG&E and the
San Francisco-based nonprofit California Trout. … The
plan is to remove the concrete barrier and move the gas
pipeline 100 feet downstream and bury it 20 feet underground to
reopen the creek for migratory fish, according to California
Trout senior project manager Claire Buchanan. Construction
will need to move quickly in order to return the creek to its
natural flow by Oct. 31, ahead of the fish migration season,
Buchanan said.
The role of water in the high-growth data center market is fast
becoming a critical factor in site selection, design, and
operations. By 2030, annual water-related capital and
operational expenditures are forecasted to reach US$797.1M,
representing a 31.4% increase from today. According to a new
report from Bluefield Research, U.S. Water for Data Centers:
Market Trends, Opportunities, and Forecasts, 2025–2030, this
surge in activity is accelerating—driven by artificial
intelligence (AI)-fueled growth, mounting local concerns over
water availability, and the tech sector’s urgent push to
safeguard operational resilience amid growing environmental
scrutiny. Hyperscale data centers, which currently represent
51.4% of total market demand, are forecasted to withdraw 150.4
billion gallons of water between 2025 and 2030. This volume is
equivalent to the annual water withdrawals of 4.6 million U.S.
households.
Oil and gas companies are running out of options for disposing
of polluted water they generate every day, a problem for the
Trump administration’s “energy dominance” agenda. EPA is
offering the industry a hand by promoting reuse of that
wastewater. The effort worries environmentalists, but it could
draw crucial political allies in oil-producing states. The
agency plans to update rules for what can be done with water
that emerges from the ground during oil and gas extraction. The
goal is to allow the chemical-laden, super-salty brine to be
substantially cleaned and reused for power generation,
water-guzzling data centers and irrigating
rangeland. Reusing the water could
address a major industry challenge and help ease crippling
drought in parts of Texas and New Mexico, two of the nation’s
most prolific oil-producing states. A growing body of research
suggests that the water — which is three or more times saltier
than seawater — can now be safely treated for certain
applications, from industrial cooling to growing alfalfa and
other non-food crops, proponents say.
As wildfires grow in size and intensity, older communities are
recognizing the need to update their municipal water systems.
In Lake Tahoe, a robust water infrastructure is now considered
one of the three cornerstones of wildfire readiness, alongside
forest and fuels management and community and home
hardening. Each summer, utility companies on both sides of
the lake race to complete water system upgrades within the
limited six-month construction window. Today, the Lake Tahoe
community is leading the way in ensuring that firefighters
always have access to water. … The Tahoe Water for Fire
Suppression Partnership estimates that the Tahoe Basin will
need an additional $125 million in funding over the next five
years to upgrade its water systems.
Much of the prized public land in the Sierras above Fresno that
was at risk of getting sold off to real estate developers as
part of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” such as
Huntington Lake and Edison Lake, was taken off the bargaining
table Monday afternoon after senate officials ruled that
selling these key parcels owned by the National Forest Service
could not be voted on in its current state due to procedural
issues. But one of Fresno’s top hiking spots, with
cultural significance to local tribes – the San Joaquin River
Gorge – could still be at risk of getting auctioned
off. It is expected that the final decision will be made
before the 4th of July. … The new proposal from Sen.
Mike Lee, R-Utah, would still allow public land to be sold to
developers to create more housing, but only land held by the
Bureau of Land Management within five miles of a population
center. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that Lee couldn’t
sell off the national forest land, the Associate Press
reported, due to restrictions in the budget reconciliation
process.
A group of young Indigenous kayakers is headed to the mouth of
the Klamath River in free-flowing water after portaging around
two dams and paddling through four former dam sites. They
launched into the Klamath River headwaters two weeks ago and
are now more than halfway through a momentous 30-day journey.
So far, they’ve paddled through waves on a treacherous lake,
portaged around the two remaining dams on the river, plunged
into canyons with class 3, 4 and 5 rapids, and paddled through
four former dam sites where removal operations wrapped up last
fall. The nonprofit Rios to Rivers organized the event, which
is the first source-to-sea descent of the Klamath since dam
removal. Their Paddle Tribal Waters team aims to reach the
mouth of the river by July 11 and celebrate the removal of J.C.
Boyle, Copco 1, Copco 2 and Iron Gate dams.
Caltrans got one step closer to its controversial $500 million
project to widen Highway 37, a notoriously trafficky corridor,
with an infusion of funding Thursday. But critics said the
money could be wasted as rising tides are expected to
flood the low–lying highway within decades. On
Thursday, the California Transportation Commission approved $73
million toward the plan, which calls for widening Highway 37
between Sears Point in Sonoma and Mare Island in Vallejo from
two lanes to four. Caltrans said the project will greatly
reduce congestion on a highway used by 47,000 daily. However,
the highway is also expected to be inundated by rising tides by
2050, threats that will not be addressed by the project,
Caltrans said. Instead, the agency has a separate $10 billion
plan to elevate and protect the highway in the future.
… Portions of Highway 37 “will be completely inundated
by 2050,” especially during major storms and king tides, and
there will be increased flooding leading up to that time,
Caltrans said in a statement.
The Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District, which provides wastewater
service to Fairfield, Suisun City and Travis Air Force Base, is
kicking off a long-range planning initiative. The purpose of
the initiative is to “safeguard nearly $1 billion in aging
infrastructure and control future costs.” “Our goal is to plan
smarter now so we complete needed replacements and upgrades
responsibly and efficiently,” Engineering Manager Irene
O’Sullivan said in a statement. “This is about continuing safe
and reliable sewer service to our community.” Many facilities
are more than 50 years old. ”The district is investing
$2.8 million, 1.5% of its 10-year capital budget, into a series
of master plans for sewer collection, treatment, recycled
water, storm drainage and mapping systems,” the statement said.
The master plans were unveiled during a recent district board
meeting. The Fairfield and Suisun City council members sit as
the directors.
California is now ten years into a revolution in groundwater
management. In 2014, the state passed the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) which requires newly formed
local groundwater sustainability agencies to develop long-term
plans to reduce overdraft by 2040. To date, more than 250 local
agencies have written and begun implementing groundwater
sustainability plans, with more than 100 plans in action. This
has taken enormous effort and represents a significant
departure from the prior status quo for groundwater management
in California. Many wonder, however, if SGMA is affecting
behavior around the use of the groundwater resource yet. Are
farmers making decisions around planting or drilling new
groundwater wells with future SGMA reductions in mind? If so,
are they switching away from permanent crops that may not have
available water through 2040? We set out to answer those
questions with publicly available data.
Wholesale water rates in San Diego County — a key factor in how
much local residents and businesses pay for water — will rise
next year by less than half of what officials were predicting
last winter: 8.3% instead of 18%. But the Jan. 1 increase,
which the county water authority’s board of directors approved
Thursday after months of debate and negotiation, is still a
substantial hike that brings the cumulative two-year increase
to 23.1%. Board members said they were frustrated that they
have to ask residents and businesses to pay so much more for
water at a time when everyone is already facing higher costs
for groceries and many other things. “Am I happy about it? No,”
board Chair Nick Serrano told his colleagues Thursday. “But it
reflects a meaningful downward trend and it shows that this
authority is listening and is turning the ship.”
PFAS are everywhere. Manufacturers have been using “forever
chemicals” for their durability and resistance to heat and
water, adding them in countless everyday products for decades,
such as cell phones, laptops, medical devices, textiles and
food packaging. … California, Maine and Minnesota have
taken the strictest actions to restrict the use of
fluorochemicals, but other states are following suit. Minnesota
and others are also enacting legislation mandating
manufacturers publicly report their use of
PFAS. Manufacturing Dive is tracking the status of bills
related to PFAS oversight and use during states’ legislative
sessions in 2025 and beyond, with updates to be added over
time. Read on for the status and details of each bill.
The Trump administration is proposing to cut the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers’ construction budget next fiscal year by
more than half, a move that could devastate levee restoration
projects in the Delta. The proposed cuts, which would reduce
the construction budget by 53% compared to the amount
previously allocated, could include work on the San Joaquin
Basin Project in Stockton, said U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Tracy.
The basin project is directed at protecting 300,000 residents
from flooding. Harder is one of 12 members of Congress who
sent a letter urging that funding be restored. The
congressional members sent the letter to the chairperson and
ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee and the
Energy and Water Subcommittee. … Besides the San Joaquin
Basin Project, the letter lists other environmental works that
are in jeopardy. One involves 42 miles of American River levees
protecting Sacramento and the Natomas Basin. Another includes
41 miles of levees along the Sacramento River and its ship
canal that would protect West Sacramento.
The Trump administration’s plan to repeal a rule prohibiting
logging and road construction in undeveloped parts of national
forests would strip protection from more than 4 million acres
within California’s borders. U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced on Monday that she will
act to rescind the “roadless rule,” developed during the
Clinton administration, to allow “for fire prevention and
responsible timber production” on more than 58 million acres of
national forests. … These roadless areas are considered
important for providing habitat for more than 200 threatened or
endangered species of wildlife, including owls, salmon and
frogs, and for protecting vital watersheds.
… U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat representing
Northern California coastal communities and parts of Trinity
and Six Rivers national forests, said the revision would
threaten watersheds that provide clean drinking
water, the rights of tribes and local communities, and
the power of forests to hold onto climate-warming carbon.
In a comment letter to the state Water Resources Control Board,
one of the plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit over Kern River
flows alleges information has been withheld from the region’s
groundwater plan to the detriment of the river. Water Audit
California states a number of entities, including the City of
Bakersfield and its main drinking water purveyor California
Water Services, “…failed to disclose the adverse impacts that
their groundwater extraction is having on
interconnected surface waters, thereby causing
injury to the public trust and its biological components,”
according to the June 20 letter. … Water Audit contends
that diverting Kern River water into groundwater recharge
basins that are then pumped for drinking water, creates an
interconnectivity that may affect stream flows. … Kern’s
plan states that there are no areas of interconnectivty in the
subbasin per the definition under SGMA regulations, which is
that there must be a continuous connection between underground
and overlying surface water.
… Climate change has exacerbated shortages, with studies
indicating that recent Colorado River flows are near their
lowest in at least 2,000 years. That has had severe
consequences for fish: Of the 49 fish species native to the
Colorado River Basin, 44 are already threatened, endangered or
extinct. … New research led by University of Washington water
policy expert Philip Womble found that a market-based approach
to managing water could provide more reliable supplies for
farmers, communities and industry. The right market design and
a little extra investment could also help threatened fish
species. The study, published June 20 in Nature
Sustainability, details a new system for leasing rights to
water from the basin while reallocating some water to imperiled
habitats. Among the paper’s most substantial findings,
researchers estimate that strategically spending 8% more than
under the cheapest water conservation program could nearly
triple the ecological benefits.
A vitamin deficiency likely killed as many as
half of newly hatched fry of endangered winter-run Chinook
salmon in the Sacramento River in 2020 and 2021. These new
findings were published in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. The deficiency of
thiamine, or Vitamin B1, is linked to
large-scale shifts in the ocean ecosystem. These shifts changed
the prey adult salmon consume before they return to West Coast
rivers to spawn, scientists reported. They said the longtime
loss of habitat and water has already weakened many California
salmon populations. Further declines from thiamine deficiency
or other impacts may lead to their extinction. The deficiency
syndrome can also affect salmon runs like the Central Valley’s
fall-run that once supported valuable commercial fisheries
across California. They have since dwindled to the point that
commercial ocean salmon fishing in California has been closed
for the last 3 years. … Anchovy manufacture an enzyme
called thiaminase that breaks down thiamine and can, in turn,
affect salmon that eat large amounts of the small fish.
Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court slashed federal Clean
Water Act protection of wetlands, streams, and all of our clean
water with its decision in the Sackett v. EPA case. NRDC
scientists mapped the potential impact of the Sackett decision
and found it devastating—threatening harmful repercussions for
droughts, wildfires, flooding, wildlife, and the drinking water
supply. In the absence of federal protection, the
imperative to defend our shared waters falls increasingly on
individuals, states, and Native American Tribal
Nations. NRDC is actively working to prevent any further
weakening of the Clean Water Act (which the federal U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency intends to pursue) and to
ensure the law remains a robust tool for all wetland and stream
advocates, including Indigenous Peoples. Tribal Nations protect
and manage millions of acres of wetlands in the United States,
and with commitments made by the U.S. government to Tribal
co-management and co-stewardship of federal lands, the amount
of clean water safeguarded by Tribal Nations is growing.
Lake Berryessa remains free of invasive freshwater mussels —
for now. But the recent arrival of golden mussels in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has prompted Napa County to
bolster its efforts to keep the pests out. On Tuesday, the Napa
County Board of Supervisors signaled support for a new
ordinance that would give county inspectors and sheriff’s
deputies the authority to stop and inspect any vehicles,
trailers, boats or other watercraft that could be carrying
mussels — either adult or larval — at any of the lake’s resort
areas. The ordinance would also allow them to issue citations,
including fines and misdemeanor charges, to violators. The
inspection program itself isn’t new, said Thomas Zeleny, chief
deputy county counsel. The ordinance essentially codifies what
the county is already doing. … Sheriff Oscar Ortiz added
that existing rules lack enforcement power. Right now, there’s
“no teeth” — nothing inspectors can actually write a citation
for, he said.
