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.
Los Amigos de la Comunidad, Inc. hosted an information session
on August 14 on the receding Salton Sea and its potential
impact on air quality, bringing together researchers and
residents to address concerns about toxic dust. The project, a
two-and-a-half-year collaboration between UC San Diego, UC
Riverside, and community partners, aims to measure dust coming
from Salton Sea’s exposed lake beds, or playa, identify its
chemical composition, and assess the resulting health impact.
… The project also has a forecasting component, using
weather modeling to track where dust travels during wind
events.
The world’s largest data center campus may be coming to Utah,
with a pair of companies planning to construct artificial
intelligence-ready hubs in Millard County. The first domino
fell when Orem-based Fibernet MercuryDelta LLC in May filed a
request to rezone nearly 1,200 acres of property — located
southeast of Delta — from agricultural land to heavy industrial
land for its potential 20-million-square-foot data center
campus called Delta Gigasite. … ”Many operators have
designed closed-loop cooling systems that use various fluids
instead of water. When powered with natural gas, this system is
net water-positive — it can actually generate
about 100 acre feet of new water per 100 megawatts annually”
… reads a release from Creekstone.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is set to commence
the removal of the Eel River Dam, a move that has sparked mixed
reactions among local communities. While some believe the
project will aid in the restoration of native fish populations,
others are worried about its potential impact on water supplies
for the Russian River Basin. … The deconstruction work,
part of the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project originally
built over a century ago, is expected to take several years due
to the project’s scale and seasonal work constraints.
The latest California numbers suggest 2025 will be another
record-smashing year for valley fever, the illness linked to
drought and precipitation and spread by fungal
spores. … Researchers speculate the rise is tied to
patterns of drought and precipitation. Periods of severe
drought followed by wet winter and dry summer seem to coincide
with more people getting sick. They also suspect
climate change has expanded the fungi’s range
into areas where it was previously rare.
Funding for water in Colorado is seeing a surge, despite the
state budget crisis, with cash from sports betting hitting a
new high this year. The gaming initiative brought in $37
million for the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to
the Colorado Division of Gaming. That represents a nearly 21%
increase from last year, when tax revenue came in at $30.4
million. But water projects statewide still are at risk as the
legislature gears up for a special session next week to close a
new $1 billion gap in Colorado’s budget. Approved by voters in
2019, the sports betting tax is used to fund Colorado’s Water
Plan.
The California Department of Water Resources announced Thursday
there will be changes to the Feather River flows on Friday and
Saturday. Officials say that the reduction in flows is in order
to facilitate maintenance work at the O’Neill Forebay. On
Friday at 11 a.m., the Feather River releases will decrease to
1,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) through the City of Oroville.
By 1 p.m., flows from the Thermalito Afterbay River Outlet will
be reduced to 3,000 cfs, resulting in a total Feather River
release of 4,000 cfs downstream.
Local officials are doubling down on efforts to protect Lake
Sonoma from a tiny invasive mollusk with a massive destructive
potential. At this week’s Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
meeting, the board unanimously approved a plan to extend the
Lake Sonoma Mussel Infestation Prevention Program, aiming to
keep quagga and zebra mussels out of the
reservoir. The board’s official resolution ratifies and
approves Sonoma Water’s application for a state grant to fund
two more years of mussel-prevention measures at Lake Sonoma. In
plain terms, the county is trying to secure about $400,000 in
state funding to continue boat inspections, public outreach,
and early-detection monitoring on the lake through 2027.
The robust plan to start rebuilding Lake Hodges dam has come to
a screeching halt as a new cost analysis has just jumped from
$275 million to between roughly $500 million and $700 million.
Now, the San Diego Water Authority says they will no longer
cover their promised half of the repairs, and the City of San
Diego is now weighing alternatives to repairing the
106-year-old dam. … Lake Hodges has been an emergency
water supply for San Diego since World War I. Now with the
State deeming the dam unsafe to operate in its current
condition, 12 billion gallons of water has been released and
uncertainty to this manmade lake is in the air.
… Three to 6 million visitors a year flock to Lake Tahoe, due
in large part to the crystal-clear blue water. … But a
recently released study by UC Davis on the water’s health shows
clarity is the third murkiest since records were taken in the
1960s, with visibility ending at 62.3 feet down — a fair
distance from the best clarity level recorded of 102.4 feet.
… To protect water health and clarity, environmental
groups are turning to new tech — from sand-sifting and
surface-skimming robots to a flying water taxi with
environmental perks.
… Since the 1970’s, untreated sewage flows have polluted the
[Tijuana] river, contaminating beaches from the California
communities of Coronado to La Jolla and disrupting both
military operations and civilian life. Generations of service
members stationed along the Silver Strand in San Diego County
have trained, lived and worked under the shadow of this
cross-border contamination problem. For Naval Special Warfare
units, the ocean is an operational environment. SEAL candidates
train daily in the surf zone, practicing timed swims,
underwater navigation and small-boat handling. When bacterial
counts spike, training is curtailed or moved, disrupting
schedules and adding logistical strain.
The city of San Diego has been fielding complaints from some
Bay Park residents losing sleep over its water project. The
first phase of Pure Water San Diego is under construction
overnight at the intersection of Clairemont Drive and Denver
Street. … In part of a statement emailed to NBC 7, city
spokesperson Tyler Becker says the project “will provide a
sustainable, locally controlled water supply” and that
overnight construction is “necessary to maintain safety for
both the public and construction crews.” Residents question
that last one. The whole road is closed day and night.
… [F]or wetland biologists and others with a stake in the
health of the surrounding Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the
largest estuary on the West Coast, the birds represent the
latest – and an exponentially growing – threat to the few
remaining wetlands left in California. … Mute swans
also feed gluttonously on submerged vegetation, destroying the
plant life on which other native wetland species depend. … A
measure before the state Legislature aims to allow hunters and
landowners to shoot the swans for the next five years to try to
bring their numbers down to more manageable levels in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and beyond.
Climate change appears to have driven an ongoing 25-year
shortfall in winter rains and mountain snows across the U.S.
Southwest, worsening a regional water crisis that’s also
related to hotter temperatures and growing demand. Multiple
studies now suggest that human-caused climate change is
boosting an atmospheric pattern in the North Pacific that
favors unusually low winter precipitation across the Southwest.
… A study published in Nature on Wednesday, August 13,
finds that emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases and
tiny sun-blocking particles called aerosols have driven
long-term PDO [Pacific Decadal Oscillation] changes over the
last few decades, depriving the Southwest of much-needed winter
rain and snow.
Other drought, rain and snow news around the West:
A trial over flows in the Kern River, originally set for
December 8 this year, was kicked 15 months into the future to
Feb. 8, 2027 on Wednesday. Kern County Superior Court Judge
Gregory Pulskamp wanted to give all the parties and their many
lawyers enough time to do the proper “homework,” including
numerous depositions of expert witnesses, and await a ruling by
the California Supreme Court on one portion of the case, that
may, or may not, alter some of the key issues being examined.
He set aside 30 court days for the trial, which is anticipated
to be complex. … The high court justices will review a
ruling by the 5th District Court of Appeal that overturned a
preliminary injunction issued by Pulskamp in fall 2023 ordering
the city to keep enough water in the Kern River for fish that
had returned following that year’s epic runoff.
After weeks of hot, dry and windy weather across western
Colorado, Gunnison County Commissioners received a water-issues
update on Tuesday that was filled with “sobering” news. …
[T]he U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is once again considering
emergency releases from Blue Mesa Reservoir to bolster falling
water levels in Lake Powell. … If current conditions
persist, Lake Powell is projected to fall below the critical
elevation of 3,525 feet above sea level in the spring of 2026.
This would be the second time that has occurred since the
reservoir filled in 1980. … To complicate matters, the
2007 agreement between upper and lower Colorado River Basin
states that guides decision-making in the event of shortages is
set to expire in 2026.
As California pushes toward its ambitious goals for addressing
climate change, the fate of its signature program is hanging in
the balance. For months, lawmakers, industry groups and
environmental advocates have been mired in negotiations over
whether and how to extend the cap-and-trade program, which
limits planet-warming emissions, beyond its 2030 expiration
date. … Gov. Gavin Newsom is advocating for the program
to be extended to 2045, and hopes to see it reauthorized before
the end of the legislative session on September 12.
… Among critics’ biggest concerns are that the cap is
too weak and there are too many credits for polluting
companies.
An Arizona judge has ruled a coalition of farms and
municipalities can’t jump into a lawsuit the state has brought
against Saudi Arabian-backed farming company Fondomonte.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is suing Fondomonte in
Maricopa County Superior Court on claims its groundwater
pumping is a “public nuisance.” … In his ruling, Judge
John Blanchard acknowledged this is seen as a “test case” for
enforcing groundwater regulation, but said “generalized
concern” about potential future lawsuits isn’t a good enough
reason to let the other groups intervene.
San Diego is backing away from plans to rebuild the Lake Hodges
Dam, thanks to ballooning cost estimates and the county
water authority announcing it’s no longer willing to pay half
the cost. The state declared the dam unsafe two years ago,
demanded the water level be lowered because of flood risk and
ordered San Diego to accelerate efforts to rebuild the
106-year-old dam. The city was on track to begin the rebuild by
the end of 2029 — until a recent analysis determined the
estimated costs had climbed from $275 million to somewhere
between $474 million and $697 million. That new 386-page
analysis, which was conducted by an outside consultant, has
prompted the cash-strapped county water authority to withdraw
its support for the rebuild.
…[A] study recently published by University of Nevada, Reno
researchers finds that increasingly severe wildfires and drier
conditions in places such as Lamoille Canyon are threatening
water quality, fish and other aquatic life in streams.
… The researchers found that with drier conditions, even
less severe fires can cause lasting harm to water quality and
aquatic habitat. Wildfire ash is rich in nitrogen, and when
plant recovery is slow after a burn, they take up less nitrogen
from the soil. So, the nitrogen ends up in the streams instead,
degrading water quality and threatening fish and other species
living in those habitats.
A binational analysis of data from 20 beaches on both sides of
the border shows fecal bacteria is present in the water and
exceeds health standards almost year-round. Over a two-year
period, One Coast Project and the Permanent Forum of Binational
Waters looked into water samples gathered since 1999 along the
coastline from Carlsbad, California, about 50 miles north of
the border, to Rosarito, Baja California, roughly 15 miles
south of Tijuana. The study found that in Southern California’s
beaches, the highest concentrations of enterococci bacteria
were reported during the spring, averaging over 15,000 units
per 100 milliliters of water, nearly 100 times the binational
legal limit average in both countries.
