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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Democrats bashed the Trump administration Friday for cutting
funding for water infrastructure in several blue states,
calling the move politically motivated. The Army Corps of
Engineers has zeroed out of its budget hundreds of millions of
dollars for ports, dams and other projects in
California, Washington state and Hawaii, while
giving projects in some red states a funding boost, according
to top Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations
committees. The shuffling of funds was revealed this week in
the Army Corps’ work plan for this year. Because of the
continuing resolution that Congress passed in March, President
Donald Trump has more discretion on spending decisions than
would normally be allowed.
The White House wants to cut funding for the project that
delivers Colorado River water to millions on the Wasatch Front
— but no one will say what those cuts would entail. Tucked 28
pages into President Donald Trump’s budget recommendations for
next year, released May 2, was a proposed funding cut to the
Central Utah Project to the tune of $609 million. Congress must
approve the final budget. The Central Utah Project is “the
largest and most complex water resources development project”
in the state, according to the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation. The project is a complicated system of
reservoirs and pipelines that bring water from the
Colorado River system to the Wasatch Front for
irrigation, municipal and industrial uses, supporting the
region’s rapid growth. It also provides opportunities for
recreation, water conservation and fish and wildlife
protection.
For decades, hydrologists believed most spring snowmelt rapidly
enters rivers and streams. But a new study from the University
of Utah shows that most of it spends years as groundwater
before it spills into reservoirs – new research that could help
western water managers and farmers better plan each year.
Researchers collected runoff samples from river basins at 42
sites across the Mountain West, including Colorado, Idaho, New
Mexico, Wyoming and Utah. They used what’s called tritium
isotope analysis to determine the age of the water. In other
words, they were figuring out how much time had elapsed since
the water flowing in the stream was snow falling in the
mountains. Researchers found that a snowflake that falls and
melts will spend, on average, five years as groundwater before
it seeps into mountain streams. That means there’s a whole lot
more water stored underground than water managers account for.
… While the minimal season has been met with joy from many
recreational anglers who will finally have the opportunity to
fish for salmon, others believe the season should not have
opened. … The Sacramento River is the only viable source for
salmon since the San Joaquin was dewatered close to 70 years
ago, and there are four distinct runs on the Sacramento:
winter-run, fall-run, late fall-run, and spring-run. The winter
run was listed as threatened in 1989 and upgraded to endangered
in 1994 while the spring-run was listed as threatened in 1999
and is currently under consideration for upgrade to endangered.
… Opening the ocean season provides some relief for the
long-suffering businesses and coastal communities dependent
upon salmon, but until major changes are made in water
management to allow salmon to migrate safely from the spawning
grounds and the hatcheries, closed or curtailed seasons
designed to save face may be the new normal.
Less than six months into his second term as president, Donald
Trump has initiated or proposed more than 150 actions that
experts say are detrimental to the environment, which range
from cancelling climate grant programs to loosening regulations
that govern air and water quality. Many of these actions have
been part of the president’s larger goals of reining in
government spending, increasing energy independence and
restructuring federal agencies. But some also appear to target
one state in particular: California. Long known as a
nationwide leader in climate and environmental policy, the
Golden State has been in Trump’s crosshairs since his first
administration, when he sparred with Gov. Gavin Newsom over
issues such as forest and water-supply management.
Elected officials and advocacy groups in San Joaquin County are
sounding the alarm after Gov. Gavin Newsom called
for fast-tracking the Delta Conveyance Project. The
$20 billion project would divert water from the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta and send it south. Critics warn it could
drain water needed for agriculture in the Central Valley and
harm Delta smelt, Chinook salmon and other imperiled fish.
“This $20 billion boondoggle won’t create a single
drop of water for anyone, yet Sacramento is doing everything
they can — including ducking the law — to force its destructive
effects and ballooning costs on Delta families,” U.S. Rep. Josh
Harder, D-Tracy, said in a statement.
Two California National Weather Service offices will no longer
operate 24 hours per day, curtailing the output of an agency
that issues extreme weather warnings for more than 7 million
Californians in the Central Valley, the Chronicle has
confirmed. The moves come amid a broader upheaval of weather
service operations touched off by federal budget cuts.
Collectively, the Sacramento and Hanford (Kings County) offices
provide forecasts from Redding to Bakersfield, including
Lassen, Yosemite, Kings and Sequoia national
parks. Officials have previously said the two weather
service offices were enduring “critically reduced staffing”
levels after early career meteorologists were fired in February
and two separate rounds of retirement offers.
A California winery was served with a cease-and-desist letter
after inspectors found that “excessive rates” of wastewater
produced by the winery threatened Fresno drinking water due to
high levels of toxic chemicals, records show. Early this
month, the Central Valley Water Regional Quality Control Board
issued E. & J. Gallo Winery a cease-and-desist after the winery
violated groundwater limitations set by water regulators, the
Fresno Bee reported Thursday. The letter, which was reviewed by
SFGATE, capped wastewater discharges at Gallo’s Fresno winery
at 5610 East Olive Ave. at no more than 54.2 million gallons
per year. But records show that the winery disposed 400 million
gallons of treated and untreated wastewater on its property
annually.
At its May 8 meeting, the Mendocino County Inland Water and
Power Commission (IWPC) focused once again on PG&E’s
planned withdrawal from the Potter Valley Project and the
region’s efforts to secure long-term water supplies. Central to
the discussion was the New Eel Russian Facility (NERF), a
proposed infrastructure project that would maintain Eel River
water diversions into the Russian River after PG&E’s exit.
The IWPC, a joint powers authority composed of five local
agencies—the County of Mendocino, the Redwood Valley County
Water District, the City of Ukiah, the Potter Valley Irrigation
District, and the Russian River Flood Control and Water
Conservation Improvement District—continues to work in
partnership with Sonoma County and Sonoma Water through the Eel
Russian Project Authority (ERPA). ERPA is leading negotiations
with PG&E and planning for the construction of NERF.
New public access sites have opened along the post-dam Klamath
River, allowing opportunities to enjoy the free-flowing river.
The largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed
last year along the Klamath River. Proponents wanted the dams
gone to restore native salmon populations and important
cultural sites for the Shasta Indian Nation. But the undamming
project has also added new recreational opportunities on the
free-flowing river. Three sites opened this week in Oregon
and California, where visitors can put in boats, part of the
Klamath River Renewal Corporation’s recreation plan. American
Whitewater, a recreation advocacy group, has helped with the
process. … This week, the Pioneer Park West site opened
in Oregon. In California, the Copco Valley (K’utárawáx·u or ),
Fall Creek (K’účasčas) and Iron Gate locations have also
opened.
At least 16 AmeriCorps members in the Tahoe Basin were
terminated essentially overnight after the Department of
Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut funding to the AmeriCorps
program nationwide on Sunday, April 27. Those included the
Sierra Nevada Alliance’s ten in the Tahoe region and 25 total
over the entire Sierra Nevada. The ten in the Tahoe Basin serve
at host sites such as the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research
Center, Trout Unlimited Truckee Chapter, Tahoe Regional
Planning Agency, Sierra House Elementary School, and Sierra
Club Tahoe Area Group. The cuts impacted another two CivicSpark
AmeriCorps fellows with South Tahoe Public Utility District,
and four with the City of South Lake Tahoe (co-hosted with
South Tahoe Refuse and South Tahoe Fire Rescue). … Since
2007, SNA hosted AmeriCorps members have restored over 25,000
acres of land, monitored 8,000 watershed sites, and reached
more than 250,000 individuals through environmental education
and outreach.
Today (May 16), the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
(LADWP) released its Annual Operations Plan (AOP) for the Mono
Basin’s 2025-2026 runoff year. The AOP sets forth how LADWP
will manage water exports and stream releases in accordance
with supply conditions, environmental priorities, and its
amended water rights licenses. It is a critical tool for
ensuring the City of Los Angeles continues to advance its
environmental stewardship goals while meeting the water supply
and storage needs of Los Angeles. … The 2025-2026 AOP
projects an export of 16,000 acre-feet, subject to ongoing
review and revision based on evolving supply conditions,
amended water rights licenses requirements, precipitation
forecasts, and storage availability. … The AOP also
incorporates findings from the April 1 snow survey and Mono
Lake elevation readings.
California shouldn’t weaken hazardous waste rules to allow
local landfills to accept toxic dirt that currently goes to two
specialized disposal sites in the Central Valley and hazardous
facilities in other states, the state Board of Environmental
Safety voted Thursday. The vote went against a proposal by the
Department of Toxic Substances Control that had prompted fierce
opposition from environmental groups. … California only
has two hazardous waste landfills — Buttonwillow and Kettleman
Hills in the San Joaquin Valley — which are expected to reach
capacity by 2039, according to a report by the department. An
estimated 47% of California’s hazardous waste is trucked across
state borders. Contaminated soil, waste oil and mixed oil are
the state’s three largest annual sources of hazardous waste. On
average, more than 567,000 tons (514,373 metric tons) of toxic
soil are produced every year.
Over the last decade, California has faced droughts, wildfires,
and rising temperatures that all underscore the importance of
carefully managing the surface and groundwater that irrigates
more than 9 million acres of California farmland and supplies
water to 40 million Californians. In a new special issue of ARE
Update, the authors assess the current impacts of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA),
analyze competition for scarce water allocations throughout the
Colorado River Basin and the successes of federal water
conservation projects in the basin, and consider how the
history of tribal water rights for surface water in California
differs from that of other western states, with implications
for future groundwater policy. … ARE Update is a
bimonthly magazine published by the Giannini Foundation of
Agricultural Economics.
The Remote Sensing of Mercury Pollution in South San Francisco
Bay project aims to create maps of multiple chemical forms—or
“species”—of mercury across time and space, giving resource
managers new tools to monitor water quality, especially after
extreme storms. By combining satellite imagery, shipboard
radiometry, and in-water sampling, researchers are building a
time series of data on mercury species, including
methylmercury, a particularly dangerous form that accumulates
in fish and other wildlife. … Understanding where and when
mercury levels spike is crucial to ecosystem health. This is
especially important as climate-driven storms and floods become
more frequent, churning up bottom sediments and releasing
previously trapped mercury into the water column.
Volunteers planted 1,000 native plants at the Shank Alamo
Wetlands east of Brawley during Community Climate Action Day on
Saturday, May 17. According to event organizers, the native
species will improve water quality, prevent erosion, and treat
drainage water flowing into the Alamo River and eventually the
Salton Sea. A coalition of state and national
groups supported the event, including the Imperial Irrigation
District, Keep California Beautiful, and the California Climate
Action Corps. Robert Schettler, public information officer for
the IID, said Boy Scouts, high school students, and local
families volunteered to help get the plants in the ground. He
said the turnout was larger than expected, with nearly 80
volunteers digging holes and planting 800 bulrushes and 200
cattails. The starter plants will grow over time and clean the
water as it passes through the channels, Schettler said. “When
you provide the Salton Sea with cleaner water, of course it’s
better,” he said.
Local elected officials are blasting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s
call for fast-tracking the Delta tunnel project that could
divert more water to Southern California. Also known as the
Delta Conveyance Project, the $20 billion endeavor would
channel water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
and direct it south. Critics, including San Joaquin County
leaders and Northern California legislators, warn it could sap
badly needed water from farm use. “The Delta Tunnel is a direct
attack on the region’s economy, and it’s clear that politicians
care more about lawns in Beverly Hills than protecting the
fruit-and-nut basket of the world,” U.S. Rep. Josh Harder,
D-Tracy, said in a statement.
NOAA Fisheries will close or constrain fishing for salmon off
the southern Oregon and California coasts for the 2025-26
fishing season, citing “anticipated extremely low returns of
California Chinook stocks,” the agency announced this week.
Fishing will be allowed in between central Oregon and northern
Washington. The new provisions — which also establishes quotas,
landing limits and other management measures for salmon — were
recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council in April
and underwent public review and comment, according to NOAA.
Recreational fishing will also be limited under the new rule.
“This will reduce impacts to stocks of concern until they
rebound to levels that can support further fishing
opportunities,” the agency said in a notice.
The Trump administration has announced it would attempt to kill
some of the strong new Pfas “forever chemical” drinking water
limits set in April 2024. While the moves would deliver a clear
win for the US chemical and water utility industries, it is
less clear whether the action will be successful, what it means
longterm for the safety of the US’s drinking water, and its
impact on progress in addressing forever chemical pollution.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is attempting
maneuvers that violate the law, observers say, and even if they
survive a legal challenge, progress under the Biden
administration cannot be fully undone. … Still, the
announcement raises a fresh round of questions about the water
utility industry, which has led the attack on the new
rules.
A group of farmers, ranchers and rural municipalities are going
to court to try to stop Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes
from pursuing her lawsuit to halt the pumping of groundwater by
a Saudi-owned alfalfa farm. An attorney for the Arizona Farm
and Ranch Group Coalition says they fear other farms in the
future could be sued for their pumping of Arizona’s underground
aquifers. Mayes is relying on a largely untested legal theory.
She argues the company Fondomonte is creating a public nuisance
due to the amount of groundwater it is pumping at its farms in
La Paz County. She says the amount they are pumping has dried
up nearby wells and has resulted in land subsidence. The
coalition worries the outcome of the case could overturn
existing water regulations and could be a dangerous expansion
of public nuisance laws. But the real purpose behind the new
court filing, attorney David Brown said, is the fear that if
the attorney general wins in court, “this case is just the
beginning.”
