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.
Amazon is expanding the number of locations that will use
treated wastewater for data center cooling from 20 to 120. The
company this week announced it will expand its use of water
recycling to more than 120 locations in states and counties
where the cloud giant has data center operations by 2030.
… Though data centers typically reuse water by
recirculating the same water through their cooling systems
multiple times, it is often drawn from potable (drinkable)
sources. As the water can collect bacteria and limescale, it is
treated with chemicals, leaving it unsuitable for people to
drink once it leaves the facility. Exactly how much drinkable
water the data center industry uses is unclear, but estimated
to be in the billions of gallons annually. Today, Amazon
uses recycled water instead of potable or drinkable water
across 20 locations; 16 in Virginia and four in Santa Clara in
California.
On scorching days when winds blow across the California desert,
the Salton Sea regularly gives off a stench of decay resembling
rotten eggs. New research has found that the shrinking lake is
emitting the foul-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide more frequently
and at higher levels than previously measured. The findings
document how the odors from the Salton Sea add to the air
quality problems and health concerns in communities near the
lake, where windblown dust drifts from exposed stretches of
lakebed and where people suffer from high rates of asthma and
other respiratory illnesses. “The communities around the Salton
Sea are on the front lines of a worsening environmental health
crisis,” said Mara Freilich, a co-author of the study and
assistant professor in Brown University’s Department of Earth,
Environmental and Planetary Sciences.
The Senate is speeding to confirm David Fotouhi for EPA deputy
administrator and Stephen Vaden for deputy Agriculture
secretary this week. Committees are also pushing energy and
environment nominees forward. More than four months after
President Donald Trump took office, Fotouhi is the third of
nine candidates for various EPA posts whose nomination has made
it to the Senate floor. Senate lawmakers voted Monday evening
53-43 along party lines to wind down debate on Fotouhi, a
lawyer who also worked at EPA during Trump’s first term. A
final roll call is scheduled for Tuesday. Fotouhi’s
nomination won approval in March from the Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee on a 10-9 tally, also on party
lines. Before Monday’s vote, committee leaders offered starkly
contrasting portrayals of Fotouhi’s credentials.
Salt Lake County water managers say they’re concerned about new
water trends as the region’s irrigation season has gotten off
to a warmer and drier start. Water consumption in the Jordan
Valley Conservancy District, which includes most of Salt Lake
County, is up 15% from last year, which was up 12.5% from the
previous year. … While Utah’s northern half experienced
a normal snowpack this year, dry conditions prior to winter and
an unproductive meteorological spring compromised the runoff
efficiency. Utah’s meteorological spring — March 1 through May
31 — was the 11th warmest and 40th driest since 1895, according
to National Centers for Environmental Information released on
Monday. … Dry soil conditions before the snowpack also
increased the probability that more snowpack water would go
into recharging the groundwater supply, meaning less water that
flows into the state’s reservoirs. … Over three-fourths
of the state is now in at least moderate
drought at the start of meteorological summer.
Ed Curry is passionate about the green, red and yellow chile
peppers he grows on his 3,000-acre farm in Pearce, Arizona,
about 90 minutes southeast of Tucson. He’s also passionate
about saving water. A new technology Arizona State University
is analyzing and promoting has combined his love for spice and
conservation. … (Farmer Ed) Curry said he cut about 50% of
his water usage in the 1990s by going to a drip system. More
recently, he estimates he’s cut another 10% through a new soil
service. ASU and MyLand, a Phoenix-based soil health
company, demonstrated how soil health innovation can drive
measurable water conservation at Curry’s farm at an event on
May 14. This is achieved by using live, native microalgae to
improve soil so that farmers like Curry can achieve greater
water efficiency, increased yields and reduced environmental
impact. … “We have growers who have documented a 15%
decrease in water use on alfalfa, an extra half-day between
irrigation cycles on peppers and a 24% improvement in water-use
efficiency on tree nuts.”
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the
California Department of Water Resources have issued a warning
to residents about a toxic algal mat in the Pit River, located
in the Jess Valley area near the Modoc National Forest. The
departments urged the public to exercise caution when engaging
in recreational activities near this area. They explained that
harmful algal blooms (HABs) are caused by algae or
cyanobacteria that can grow suspended in the water column or
attached to the bottom, forming algal mats. Some species of
these algae can produce toxins, posing a risk to humans and
pets. The department said to call your veterinarian or doctor
immediately if you become sick after ingesting or coming in
contact with algae. … The departments said they will
provide updates through a routine water monitoring program that
conducts site visits at this waterway.
… The future of San Francisco’s iconic fog has been debated
in media stories during recent years, and some experts note a
diminished cloud cover along the California coast that could
lead to a warming trend. … While the scientific
community endeavors to figure out the long-range impact of
climate change on California’s coastal fog, there’s a strong
consensus that diminished cloud cover would have a harmful
effect. Species such as the widely admired coastal
redwoods, which get up to 40% of their yearly water intake from
fog, could be threatened if that resource dwindled.
… But climate scientists are split over whether the
increased heat will lead to less fog because the air over the
ocean won’t be cold enough to condense, or whether stronger
winds will atone for that factor.
… The Colorado River Basin is in dire straits: The water
supply for 40 million people has been dwindling, and
climatologists say the climate future is bleak. State officials
have spent months mired in thorny negotiations over things like
how to split painful water cuts in the driest conditions — with
scant progress to report publicly. … The final plan
could determine everything from how key reservoirs store and
release water to who takes cuts in dry years and how
environments, like the Grand Canyon, will be impacted for years
to come. It will impact water supplies for cities, like Denver,
Phoenix and Los Angeles, ecosystems, a multibillion-dollar
agricultural industry, hydroelectric power and more.
In California’s water wars, fishermen and farmers have long
been enemies. But now that federal and state regulators have
closed the salmon commercial fishing season for an
unprecedented third year in a row to protect declining
populations, at least one major commercial fishing group is
shifting its alliances. The Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen’s Associations teamed up with farmers for a
first-ever joint Washington, D.C., lobbying trip in early May.
They met with members of Congress and federal officials to ask
for more money for salmon hatcheries, which breed, raise and
release young fish. … For the Fishermen’s Associations, which
have sued for decades to keep water in California’s rivers for
fish instead of being diverted to farmers, the trip is part of
a larger pivot amid growing desperation as high temperatures
and low water levels kill their business.
More than 100 residents in the tiny unincorporated town of West
Goshen can weather the summer months knowing that by the end of
it, the water flowing through their faucets will be safe for
drinking, cooking and bathing thanks to a new connection to
California Water Service. Residents along with local and state
officials marked that monumental step at a groundbreaking
ceremony Thursday evening in West Goshen, west of Visalia and
Highway 99 in Tulare County. … California Water Service
provides water to Visalia residents. It was able to connect
West Goshen through an emergency consolidation project. West
Goshen residents had relied for years on bottled water after
they discovered groundwater from private wells was laced with
uranium, nitrates and other contaminants. The 60-day
connection project will require a crew of eight to lay more
than 8,000 feet of pipe.
… (T)hings only got worse on May 30, when the Trump
administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for NASA came
out. It proposes cutting the agency’s science funding by 47%,
and the agency’s workforce by about one-third — from 17,391 to
11,853. … According to the Planetary Society’s analysis
of the budget, that huge astrophysics reduction could mean
eight spacecraft dedicated to studying extreme events in the
universe (think, the Chandra X-ray Observatory) would be
terminated. This analysis also suggests 10 missions constructed
to study the region around Earth and the sun would be
cancelled, as well as about a dozen Earth-specific missions
that help scientists forecast natural disasters such as
hurricanes and track global
warming. … Per the budget proposal, the
White House also wants NASA to eliminate its “green aviation”
spending, dedicated to making airplanes better for the
environment, and instead work on “protecting the development of
technologies with air traffic control and defense
applications.”
One new legal filing and a raft of letters have been sent to
the California State Supreme Court alternately praising and
decrying the recent 5th District Court of Appeal opinion that
overturned a local court order that had kept the Kern River
flowing, at least for a few months. The response, filed by
several agricultural water districts with Kern River rights,
urges the Supreme Court to deny a petition to review the 5th
District’s opinion and let it remain published, which can set
precedent for how other courts rule in similar cases. The
letters all seek to have the Supreme Court “depublish” the 5th
District’s ruling, making it less potent. Two of the letters
were filed by the original plaintiffs. … The state Attorney
General and two environmental public interest groups also sent
letters beseeching the state’s top court to depublish the 5th
District’s opinion.
… Last year, the final of four hydroelectric dams on the
Klamath River were removed in the largest project of its kind
in US history. Forged through the footprint of reservoirs that
kept parts of the Klamath submerged for more than a century,
the river that straddles the California-Oregon border has since
been reborn. The dam removal marked the end of a
decades-long campaign led by the Yurok, Karuk and Klamath
tribes, along with a wide range of environmental NGOs and
fishing advocacy groups, to convince owner PacifiCorp to let go
of the ageing infrastructure. The immense undertaking also
required buy-in from regulatory agencies, state and local
governments, businesses and the communities that used to live
along the shores of the bygone lakes. As the flows were
released and the river found its way back to itself, a new
chapter of recovery – complete with new challenges – emerged.
A new science brief published today by Audubon California shows
that a number of factors have surprisingly resulted in an
increase in wetland habitat, and that an increasing number of
shorebirds are taking advantage of the changes—driving a growth
rate of 15 percent per year in waterbirds overall. This new
development comes as the Sea continues to witness the shrinkage
of deep-water habitats and fish-eating bird
populations. This finding and others are drawn from seven
years of Audubon’s bird surveys and habitat assessments at the
Salton Sea. … The science brief, which summarizes a
more comprehensive scientific study currently under peer review
in a scientific journal, points to significant shifts in
habitats, food availability, and bird populations. Newly formed
vegetated wetlands, for example, increased from 5,944 acres in
2019 to 7,312 acres in 2022, or by 23 percent.
The Navajo Nation Commission on Emergency Management (CEM)
unanimously approved Resolution No. 25-005, officially
declaring a State of Emergency in response to worsening drought
conditions across the Nation. All six commissioners voted in
favor of the resolution. … Resolution 25-005 addresses a
range of urgent concerns, including critically low
precipitation, deteriorating rangelands, declining water
infrastructure, and heightened wildfire risks. The declaration
calls on livestock owners to reduce herd sizes, instructs
Grazing Officials to update tally counts, and encourages
farmers to shift to drought-resistant crops. It also places
restrictions on irrigation to conserve dwindling lake and
reservoir supplies. … The resolution authorizes
$6,553,730 from the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to
be directed toward critical repairs to windmills and the
installation of water storage systems in drought-affected
communities.
Water scarcity, population growth and climate change are on a
collision course in the American West. That’s clear in cities
like St. George, a desert community surrounded by stunning red
rock cliffs and mesas in Utah’s southwest corner. The
population is booming and climate change is making heat more
intense and rain less reliable. But local leaders have a plan
to stretch the area’s water supply by turning to its sewage — a
solution that could help other drought-stricken cities,
too. … Reusing water that would have otherwise flowed
downstream to Lake Mead — the nation’s largest reservoir — is
the centerpiece of the district’s long-term water plan. But it
will come at a steep cost: over a billion dollars. … St.
George’s quandary is a microcosm of the challenges cities face
across the Western U.S. as overuse and drought strain the
Colorado River and the basin’s seven states fight over how the
river’s water gets distributed in the future.
The vastly different viewpoints around whether or not the
Potter Valley Project should be decommissioned — and dismantled
— took center stage at a special event in Lakeport at the end
of May. The Lake County Chamber of Commerce hosted the Lake
Pillsbury and Potter Valley Project town hall on the evening of
Wednesday, May 28, at the Soper Reese Theater in Lakeport. The
Potter Valley Project includes the Potter Valley powerhouse,
Cape Horn Dam and Van Arsdale Reservoir, Scott Dam and Lake
Pillsbury. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has operated the
project for decades but in 2019 the corporation abandoned its
license for the hydroelectric facility after determining it was
“uneconomic” for its customers to maintain. The negotiations
about the future of the project, and in particular Lake
Pillsbury — located in northern Lake County — have seen Lake
County largely sidelined by larger regional and political
interests.
On the afternoon of May 22, a wildfire sparked next to Highway
395 near the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve in the
Eastern Sierra Nevada, causing major damage to the reserve’s
infrastructure. The Inn Fire took off quickly, fueled by
high and erratic winds that caused it to jump across the
highway, where flames burned into the reserve.
… Officials are still assessing the extent of the damage
caused by the Inn Fire. One home burned down soon after the
fire ignited, and flames destroyed vegetation in the Inyo
National Forest, burning up toward the mountains. In the state
reserve, Jackson said flames burned into protected wetland
habitat and around the tufas. But the tufas are undamaged, she
noted. … The California State Parks Sierra District is
working with local land managers and other partners to plan how
to rebuild the boardwalk and the interpretative signs that were
lost in the fire.
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an 8-0 opinion
that clarifies the scope of environmental effects analysis
under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and requires
substantial judicial deference to federal agencies in NEPA
cases. This decision has broad implications for public agencies
and Tribal Nations involved in infrastructure and economic
development projects, natural resources management, water
supply project operations and other matters where there is a
federal nexus. … For local communities, water agencies,
and Tribal Nations with projects that depend on the NEPA
process, this ruling offers a couple of key takeaways. The
first is straightforward. The scope of environmental effects
analyzed in an EIS will continue to be limited by the authority
of the federal agency. … A more complex implication
relates to judicial deference—particularly deference to a
federal agency’s choice of alternatives and its feasibility
analysis.
The State Lands Commission of California has carried out the
largest-ever cleanup of abandoned commercial vessels at a
single site in its history. The operation took place at the
Sevenmile Slough area in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, at a
location locally known as the Skarry site. This stretch of
water had been heavily affected by rotting, abandoned vessels
for years. For decades, abandoned vessels have been a
persistent issue across California’s waterways. However, the
problem has been especially severe in the Delta region. The
Commission said that the site contained several large and
deteriorating vessels that had remained untouched in the water,
continuing to break down and causing concerns for public safety
and the environment. … Workers cleared nearly 1,000 tons
of debris from the Delta. They also found and removed more than
1,000 gallons of diesel fuel from one of the largest crane
barges.
