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.
… 2025 has featured a very weak monsoon on the western
fringe of the typical summer wind reversal region–so much so
that summer 2025 to date has been among (if not singularly) the
driest on record to date across a broad swath of the Great
Basin. … Fortunately, it does appear that a late
monsoonal surge will slightly ease these concerns. I don’t
expect a dramatic “saved by the bell” moment, but a substantial
and more western-oriented monsoonal surge now appears likely
over the next 7-10 days across the Great Basin and even
extending into portions of southern and eastern
California.
For years, residents of the Fresno County city of Sanger
endured foul, overbearing odors caused by a wastewater
treatment plant stressed by immense amounts of raw
sewage from the nearby Pitman Family Farms chicken processing
plant. … The city of Sanger failed to fully enforce a
state-required wastewater pretreatment program for industrial
dischargers like Pitman Family Farms for more than two decades,
a Fresno Bee investigation has found. … For this
investigation, The Bee interviewed regional water regulators,
city officials, wastewater experts and reviewed hundreds of
pages of city and state reports.
… [S]ince late 2021, swaths of the south San Diego coast have
been closed every day — 1,345 days in a row and counting —
because of sewage and industrial pollution flowing in from the
Tijuana River. … For youths in South Bay communities
such as Imperial Beach, San Ysidro and Nestor, worsening river
conditions the last few years have stripped away not just
recreational opportunities but a key part of community life.
… The Tijuana River is ranked the second-most endangered
river in the United States by American Rivers. Data from the
San Diego County Department of Environmental Health & Quality
show the Imperial Beach shoreline this year has been closed
every day except for one.
The timber industry and its supporters, joined by many in the
Trump administration, have long promoted logging as a way to
reduce fire danger. Some even blame declining timber operations
in recent decades for the uptick in catastrophic wildfire. A
growing body of research, however, suggests the benefits of
logging are far more limited. The latest study to examine
the impact of harvesting trees on fire behavior, published
Wednesday in the journal Global Change Biology, finds that
lands administered by private timber companies were nearly 1½
times more likely to burn at “high severity” levels than public
lands with less timber production.
On Monday, U.S. Representatives Jim Costa (CA-21) and Chuck
Edwards (NC-11) introduced the Emergency Rural Water Response
Act, bipartisan legislation to cut the red tape and deploy
emergency federal water funding to rural communities. … From
the return of Tulare Lake to wells running dry in East Fresno
County, the Valley has been hit hard by water crises in recent
years. Since the program’s [USDA’s Emergency Community Water
Assistance Grants] creation in 1972, only rural communities
with fewer than 10,000 residents have been eligible for aid.
While populations in many rural towns have grown over the past
five decades, the eligibility cap has not kept pace, leaving
thousands of residents in small but growing communities without
access to this lifeline.
A U.S. appeals court has temporarily blocked the transfer of
federal forest land in Arizona to a pair of international
companies that plan to mine one of the largest copper deposits
in North America. … The land includes Oak Flat — an area used
for centuries for religious ceremonies, prayer and gathering of
medicinal plants by the San Carlos Apache people and other
Native American tribes. … Before the land exchange can
happen, the plaintiffs argued that the federal government must
prepare a comprehensive review that covers “every aspect of the
planned mine and all related infrastructure.” They said the
government failed to consider the potential for a dam
breach, pipeline failure and if there was an emergency
plan for a tailings storage area.
Two weeks ago, 43 endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs
took to the skies in a helicopter from the Oakland Zoo. A team
transported them to their new home in the high country of
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The zoo has now
successfully translocated its 1,000th frog to its mountain
home. … The Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs
(Rana sierrae), also called yellow-legged frogs, used to be
common across California’s alpine lakes and streams. Keeping
insect populations balanced and feeding predators like birds
and snakes. Non-native trout introduced in the late 1800s
were the first blow to this native species. The trout ate the
tadpoles in large numbers.
Located in the heart of Colorado’s high country, Summit
County’s Town of Frisco has implemented mandatory water use
restrictions amid a strain on the area’s water infrastructure
amid low creek flows. … The goal of these restrictions is to
reduce strain on the town’s water pumps given low creek flow,
as well as to protect creek habitat. At this time, drinking
water supplies and water used for fire protection are not at
risk. A few key water use changes that are required by
these restrictions include the following: Restaurants and other
commercial establishments can only serve water upon customer
request.
… When heavy rain falls, it can overwhelm streams and streets
with little to no warning, both along the coast and inland. All
it takes is six inches of fast-moving water to knock over an
adult, according to the National Weather Service, and most cars
can be swept away in as little as a foot of water. Beyond the
risk of drowning, floodwaters are often full of sewage, medical
waste, industrial chemicals and more. And even after the storm
is over, many hazards can remain. … Preparation is
key, including heeding evacuation orders and having at least
five days of supplies in your home so you can avoid venturing
out.
Amid severe drought and ongoing, tense negotiations over the
future of the Colorado River, federal officials are predicting
that Lake Mead will see its lowest water levels ever within the
next two years. Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation
released a report that estimates water levels for reservoirs in
the Colorado River Basin, including Lake Powell and Lake Mead,
over the next two years. … The report led the
bureau to cut Arizona and Nevada’s shares of water from the
Colorado River by 18% and 7%, respectively. Mexico will also
lose 5% of its water allotment. The bureau did not call on
California to reduce its water usage, however.
Placer County officials began Monday removing a bridge which
sank under the American River after a dam failure washed out
the structure in 1964. Water rushed through the Hell Hole Dam
on Dec. 23, 1964, after a five-day storm gushed 22-inches of
rain into the reservoir. The construction for the project went
slower than anticipated, and was incomplete in anticipation of
flooding season, according to the Association of State Dam
Safety Officials. … On Monday, Placer County officials
began removing 750 tons of bridge debris, such as 10-feet tall
and 200-foot-long girders.
California has approved an unprecedented plan to protect the
iconic Joshua tree from climate change and development.
… It recommends limiting development, taking steps to
reduce wildfire risk like culling invasive grasses and
introducing Joshua trees with genetic variations that make them
more resilient to warming temperatures. … The
conservation plan has drawn criticism from a coalition of local
water agencies, a residents’ organization and
trade groups representing realtors and farmers, who last month
sent a letter to the state. The letter demanded changes in
the implementation of the plan, including exemptions or
expedited permitting for projects like water
distribution system repairs and maintenance.
The California Senate Appropriations Committee released a
report Friday outlining the potential fiscal impact of AB
1018, a high-risk artificial intelligence bill moving through
the state legislature which could cost state and local agencies
millions of dollars. Known as the Automated Decisions
Safety Act, or AB 1018, the legislation would set new rules for
how artificial intelligence and other automated-decision
systems are used in situations that significantly affect
people’s lives, such as in the domains of housing, jobs, health
care, credit, education and law. … The California
State Water Resources Control Board, which
offered information on the potential fiscal impact of the
legislation, said in the report that the bill is “vague,
ambiguous, and could encompass many current tools used, like
excel workbooks.” “These tools are used broadly across
Water Boards programs, and many are used to inform actions that
could be considered consequential actions under the bill,” the
report read. “To meet the bill’s AB 1018 provision, the State
Water Board estimates significant cost pressures, likely in the
millions of dollars per year.”
… As research assistants in a nationwide study — created in
collaboration with experts from the UC Davis School of
Education and Center for Watershed Sciences — high schoolers
worked with scholars from 2020 to 2025 to collect the data
needed to determine the cause of rising TDC [Thiamine
Deficiency Complex] rates. Together, they monitored hundreds of
spawning salmon for early signs of thiamine deficiency, most
notably, swimming in spinning patterns. Researchers published
the final study in July 2025, identifying anchovy-dominated
diets as the cause of TDC. With a recent and ongoing
decline in oceanic biodiversity, salmon are primarily consuming
anchovies.
As demand for artificial intelligence technology boosts
construction and proposed construction of data centers around
the world, those computers require not just electricity and
land, but also a significant amount of water. … A 2024
report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated
that in 2023, U.S. data centers consumed 17 billion gallons (64
billion liters) of water directly through cooling, and projects
that by 2028, those figures could double – or even
quadruple. The same report estimated that in 2023, U.S.
data centers consumed an additional 211 billion gallons (800
billion liters) of water indirectly through the electricity
that powers them.
… NASA, of course, is best known for launching expeditions
into space and capturing images of distant galaxies. But NASA
also has a mission to Earth. Its satellites surveil what the
agency calls “vital signs of the planet” and supply information
to scientists whose work is decidedly Earthbound. A good deal
focuses on tracking the effects of climate change
ongroundwater levels, wildfires,
global temperature trends, and more. … The future of
some of that public health work is now unclear. The Trump
administration’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year
would, if enacted, bring NASA’s spending back to 1961 levels.
… The overall budget would be cut by nearly 25 percent,
and Earth science more than halved.
… Decades of unreliable surface water left San Joaquin Valley
farmers no choice but to pump groundwater — with severe
consequences. Sinking land, cracked infrastructure and reduced
capacity to the California Aqueduct that delivers water to
millions in Southern California. The good news: Subsidence can
be slowed — and potentially reversed. Since 2023, Westlands’
farmers recharged over 470,000 acre-feet of groundwater,
restoring water levels by 200 feet in some areas. Injection
wells have lifted land by half a foot. In one important
location, subsidence stopped completely. –Written by Allison Febbo, general manager of the
Westlands Water District.
A “devil” comet’s water is strikingly similar to the water on
Earth, researchers have discovered. The finding supports the
idea that water was brought to our planet
through comet impacts, helping set the stage for life
to evolve, the team reported Aug. 8 in the journal Nature
Astronomy. … This is especially significant because
previous measurements of the water on Halley-type comets
revealed different D/H ratios, casting doubt on the theory that
comets could have brought water to Earth. This new discovery,
by contrast, strengthens the theory.
California pistachio growers are preparing for what could be
the largest harvest on record. According to Richard Kreps,
Ultra Gro representative and Chairman of the American Pistachio
Growers Board, the 2025 crop is showing the most uniform nut
fill seen in more than 15 years. … Despite strong market
conditions, growers continue to face challenges. Labor
shortages, freight disruptions, and California’s ongoing
water constraints remain pressing issues.
Rodent and bird damage to irrigation systems is another
concern. … Kreps emphasized the need for new
dams and recharge projects to support
sustainable farming across the Central Valley and the
Southwest.
Dozens of water-harvesting pods are set to be deployed along
the sea floor off the coast of California as the United States
ramps up its first subsea desalination project. The effort is
expected to produce 60 million gallons (227 million liters) of
fresh water per day. … Water technology company
OceanWell has just announced the launch of the Water Farm 1
(WF1) project in cooperation with Las Virgenes Municipal Water
District (LVMWD), which manages fresh water for about 70,000
residents located in western Los Angeles County. Six additional
California water agencies are also part of the effort.
