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.
The 2025 WaterWise Garden Recognition Contest is an
annual floral celebration in the County that highlights
remarkable water-saving home gardens. The Santa Barbara County
Water Agency and participating local water purveyors encouraged
residents to partake in the garden competition, offering both
regional and county-wide awards. This year’s competitors
included the Montecito Water District, Carpinteria Valley Water
District, and the City of Santa Barbara. The title for the
grand prize county-wide winner went to Teri and Pat Guillies of
the Montecito Water District for their beautiful
native-dominated garden. … These exceptional gardens
demonstrate that water-efficient, sustainable landscapes can be
lush, colorful, and wildlife-friendly.
… The scrubby little creosote bush, known as King
Clone, sits in an untidy ring just off Bessemer Mine Road
(if you can call it a road), not far from Pioneertown.
What looks like an oblong collection of bushes is actually a
single, thriving clonal colony with a genetically unique
starting point buried underground. That first plant from all
those thousands of years ago has, in essence, been regenerating
slowly for close to 12,000 years, a single living organism
that’s as old as the ice age. King Clone, for all intents and
purposes, is among the oldest living anything on this
planet. … It’s even possible that, somewhere way out
past Soggy Dry Lake, there’s a hidden clonal creosote bush
that’s somehow even larger and older than King Clone, but that
seems unlikely.
The Paso Robles Area Groundwater Authority was forced to
abandon water use fees during a tense meeting Friday after a
majority of property owners overwhelmingly objected to them.
This means that people pumping from the basin still won’t have
to pay for their water use. … As of Friday, 689 of the 1,283
impacted parcels submitted protests for the fees — the majority
vote needed to stop the Board of Directors from voting on the
rates. … Because the basin is considered “critically
overdrafted” by the California Department of Water Resources,
the Paso Robles Area Groundwater Authority is required to bring
the basin into balance by 2040. The fees were designed to
fund state-mandated tasks like monitoring wells and writing
annual reports, along with new programs designed to support
farmers, dry well owners and balance the basin.
The picturesque tufa towers on the shores of Mono Lake, formed
over centuries by underwater springs and left high and dry as
Los Angeles diverted water from nearby creeks, have long been a
symbol of the saline lake. … But residents, local officials
and environmentalists say the lake’s level should be much
higher than it is today, and that the fully exposed tufa spires
show L.A. remains far from meeting its obligation to restore
the lake’s health. … Frustrated by what they view as
L.A.’s lagging progress, environmental advocates are looking to
the State Water Resources Control Board to set new rules
further limiting diversions so the lake can rise toward the
target level. … DWP officials say they welcome an
opportunity to revisit Mono Lake’s issues, and have encouraged
the state water board to schedule a hearing.
Last week Mexico and the U.S. reached an agreement committing
both nations to expedite and solidify funding for projects
meant to curb the Tijuana River sewage crisis. [I]f both
countries keep their promises, the Tijuana and San Diego
communities could see significant progress in confronting a
problem that has long plagued them – billions of gallons of
untreated wastewater flowing through the Tijuana River
watershed past neighborhoods, and into the Pacific Ocean. The
projects on the agenda, however, are nothing
new. … While leaders and advocates are celebrating
the efforts from both governments to accomplish goals, they
also say more can be done and it remains unclear what recourse
there will be if either party fails to meet the timelines.
Plans to keep dwindling Kern River rainbow trout populations
from dipping into endangered species territory are detailed and
exacting. … When the first “Upper Kern Basin Fishery
Management” plan was written in 1995, its goal was to
avoid the Kern River rainbow having to be listed as threatened
or endangered after it became a candidate for listing under the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Since then, the fish has,
in fact, become listed as a “species of concern” by the U.S.
Forest service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife
(CDFW). Still, there has been little to no headway made on
actions described in that 1995 management plan, nor an updated
and comprehensive 2014 conservation checklist by CDFW, the
state’s top agency tasked with managing its fish populations.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) has announced a plan to
contain and treat invasive zebra mussels in a privately owned
body of water in western Eagle County. According to a press
release from CPW, staff will apply EarthTec QZ, an
EPA-registered copper-based molluscicide, to the lake in the
coming weeks. Staff will routinely monitor the water to
evaluate its effectiveness following the initial treatment.
… As well as this planned treatment, CPW staff will
continue increased sampling efforts on the Colorado River and
its tributaries above and below the infested body of water.
Three straight years of wet winters appear to be benefiting
water bird species in the state, with some species showing a
more than doubling in population since last year, according to
the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Total breeding
duck populations in California increased 27%, with mallards
increasing 49%. Gadwall numbers are up 104%. … These
gains were accomplished with even more development and changes
in agriculture to less water bird friendly crops continue to
decrease habitat in the state. … For perspective on
the loss of habitat statewide, mallards remain below the
long-term average by 16%.
Officials are warning the public to stay out of the water near
a popular resort on Lake Tahoe’s southern shore … after
detecting “high levels” of E. coli bacteria Friday after a
sewage leak. Water quality samples collected near the Camp
Richardson resort revealed elevated levels of Escherichia coli,
commonly known as E. coli, according to the U.S. Forest
Service’s Tahoe Basin Management Unit. Immediately after the E.
coli was detected, the resort conducted a sewer line
inspection, located a leak and began repairs, the forest
service said. … According to the Forest Service,
officials are collecting and analyzing water samples from Camp
Richardson and areas east and west of the resort and will
advise the public if they need to take additional precautions
or if it’s safe to resume normal activities.
Officials have lifted the caution advisory for Lake Oroville’s
Middle Fork, as the algal bloom that prompted the advisory has
dissipated. The California Department of Water Resources
initially issued the advisory on July 3 after staff observed
the bloom. Testing revealed no toxins present in the samples
collected. Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, naturally occur
in ecosystems but can grow rapidly under certain conditions,
such as warmer temperatures and increased nutrient loads. Such
blooms sometimes produce toxins harmful to humans and animals.
After three years of negotiations, a coalition that includes
Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park and about two dozen other
cities is preparing to sign off on a revised deal with its
water supplier, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
The agreement between the Bay Area Water Supply and
Conservation Association, which represents the 26
municipalities, and the SFPUC seeks to take some of the
pressure off cities that have not bought their minimally
required allotment thanks to conservation efforts and alternate
supplies. This includes Mountain View, which has had to pay
millions of dollars in penalties over the past 15 years for not
meeting the purchase quotas, and which would see some relief in
the amended agreement.
On July 30, 2025, a divided California Court of Appeal issued
its long-awaited opinion in Patz v. City of San Diego,
affirming the trial court’s judgment that the City’s tiered
residential water rates violated Proposition 218 of the
California Constitution. The ruling reinforces the strict
interpretation of cost-of-service requirements previously
articulated in Coziahr v. Otay Water District. However, given
the nearly 70-page dissenting opinion, the California Supreme
Court may take up the case if the City seeks review.
… The City argued that higher-volume users should pay
more due to the increased infrastructure costs required to
support peak demands, which is unnecessary for lower-use
customers. The Court of Appeal rejected this rationale,
holding that the City failed to demonstrate that its rates bore
a reasonable relationship to the “proportional cost of service
attributable to the parcel.”
The Environmental Protection Agency has approved the Yurok
Tribe Environmental Department’s application for Treatment as a
State (TAS), giving the tribe authority to set and enforce
water quality standards on the Yurok Reservation in northern
California. The designation, based on a 1987 amendment to the
Clean Water Act, allows the department to administer federal
environmental laws including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act
and Safe Drinking Water Act within reservation boundaries. The
approval applies to 44 miles of the Klamath River and its
tributaries, according to a Yurok news release. Under TAS,
the tribe may determine beneficial water uses based on local
cultural, environmental and community considerations.
Toxic chemicals present in our air, food and water have been
strongly linked with a huge number of environmental problems
and serious health issues, including cancer, obesity, dementia,
infertility and ADHD. … The team warned the production
of persistent chemicals, a group of toxic chemicals that remain
in the environment for a long time, has grown so large that “a
safe planetary boundary has been breached”. As an example, they
said PFAS have “contaminated the entire planet”, with rainwater
levels often surpassing safe drinking water limits and the
chemicals found in the blood of almost the entire population.
… [O]n June 17, when the USDA announced the end of $148.6
million in funding awarded by prior administrations to projects
geared toward DEI, the move appeared in lockstep with the
president’s priorities. … The press release said that
“more than 145” awards would be canceled, and it gave three
anonymized examples of such projects. There was a $575,251
project “educating and engaging socially disadvantaged farmers
on conservation practices”; a $192,246 project for “creating a
new model for urban forestry to lead to environmental justice
through more equitably distributed green spaces”; and a $2.5
million award for a project “expanding equitable access to
land, capital, and market opportunities for underserved
producers in the Bay Area.” … More than a month later, no one
yet seems to know whether, or to what extent, the $148 million
in grants has actually been canceled.
On July 24, 2025, the State Water Resources Control Board
released an updated Bay-Delta Water Plan, a critical framework
designed to protect the ecological health of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta while addressing California’s diverse water
demands. The plan outlines two primary approaches—the
Unimpaired Flow Alternative and the Healthy Rivers and
Landscapes (or Voluntary Agreements) alternative, to balance
water quality, ecosystem restoration, and water supply needs.
So, what are the key differences between these approaches? How
is their success evaluated? And what is the unimpaired flow
alternative water users may have to adopt? A dive into the Plan
helps answer those questions, and more.
… For generations, America’s crumbling infrastructure has
quietly poisoned its most vulnerable populations. From peeling
paint in public housing to unsafe water pipes beneath city
streets, lead has lingered long before and after its federal
ban in 1978. But while the government has taken action
against lead exposure in homes, experts say its impact in our
schools remains overlooked. … Nationwide, more than 38
percent of public K-12 schools were built before 1970, well
before the government banned the use of lead-based paint. Many
of the schools were built to serve Black students in
underfunded, segregated neighborhoods, and these aging
buildings often contain lead service lines, contaminating the
water that flows into cafeteria faucets and hallway water
fountains.
… [I]n the American West, water shortages are severe enough
that even St. George, a small city of only 200,000 people, has
decided to commit to the high financial costs of water
reclamation. The project will cost about a billion dollars in
total. … The new water reclamation plant, with 60 miles of
new pipeline, and advanced wastewater treatment technology will
enable them to stretch their resources even further.
… While there are no active DPR facilities up and
running in the United States right now, El Paso, Texas and San
Diego, California are both considering DPR projects for the
future. And diminishing regional water sources mean that we
will likely see more water reclamation projects in the coming
years across the Southwestern U.S.
State officials may have solved the puzzle of how zebra mussels
got into the Colorado River. On July 3, Colorado Parks and
Wildlife officials discovered a large number of adult zebra
mussels in a privately owned body of water in western Eagle
County. On Monday, Madeline Baker, an invasive species
specialist with CPW, told members of the Colorado Basin
Roundtable they believe this private lake is an upstream source
of the mussels that have contaminated the Colorado River, the
Government Highline Canal, Highline Lake and Mack Mesa Lake.
… Baker said that the lake’s owner is collaborating with
CPW on a mitigation plan. … Zebra mussels are a prolific
invasive species that if left unchecked could clog irrigation
infrastructure, and strip the plankton and nutrients from the
water.
Emergency hiring plans are underway in an effort to keep two
Central Valley weather stations fully staffed in the wake of
federal budget cuts. The National Weather Service’s Sacramento
and Hanford offices have been operating for months with reduced
staff. California legislators have issued dire warnings about
the service reductions, calling the cuts “the beginning of a
public safety crisis.” … [Tom Fahy, the legislative
director for the union that represents the National Weather
Service] said in late July there were 11 vacancies among the 29
staff positions at the NWS’s Sacramento office, including eight
unfilled meteorologist roles. Three technical staff vacancies —
an observing program lead, or OPL, an assistant electronic
systems analyst and an administrative assistant — are also
leaving gaps, he said.
