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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U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating funding
for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund – a program that
directs tens of millions of dollars annually toward supporting
salmon populations along the West Coast. The cut is part of the
Trump administration’s planned cuts to NOAA; preliminary fiscal
year 2026 budget documents outlined a USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.1
billion) reduction to NOAA’s overall budget. Now, additional
budget documentation released by the federal government shows
which programs will be impacted by that cut, and salmon
recovery efforts are one of the major government programs on
the chopping block. For fiscal year 2026, the Trump
administration is proposing zero funding for the Pacific Coast
Salmon Recovery Fund, a program established in 2000 to help
restore Pacific salmon populations in California,
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska.
… California was forced to cancel its commercial salmon
season for the third year in a row this year, while northward
fisheries continue to suffer from low abundance.
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Coachella Valley
Water District and Desert Water Agency have agreed to settle
two long running water rights lawsuits, which the three parties
said in a news release will “enhance certainty and stability
over the future of water management and increases supply
reliability for Coachella Valley residents.” The
tribe’s historic water rights are affirmed in the
agreement, placing them at the head of the line for
water from a vast aquifer stretching under much of the
Coachella Valley, but they agreed to share it in times of
drought or water restrictions. Congress must approve the
proposed settlement, and the tribe and the agencies will also
ask for $500 million in federal funds and $15 million in state
funds under new legislation. More than 2,700 acres of the
280,000-acre Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National
Monument currently managed by the Bureau of Reclamation would
also be transferred in trust for the tribe’s use and benefit to
the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Look down from a plane at farms in the Great Plains and the
West and you’ll see green circles dotting the countryside, a
kind of agricultural pointillism. They’re from center-pivot
irrigation systems. But some farmers are finding older
versions, many built 10, 15 or even 20 years ago, aren’t
keeping up with today’s hotter reality. … By the time the
sprinkler’s arm swings back around to its starting point, the
soil has nearly dried out. The main culprit? Atmospheric
thirst. “A hotter world is a thirstier one,” said Solomon
Gebrechorkos, a hydroclimatologist at the University of Oxford.
He led a new study, published on Wednesday in the journal
Nature, which found that atmospheric thirst, a factor that
fills in some of the blanks in our understanding of drought,
over the last four decades has made droughts more frequent,
more intense and has caused them cover larger areas.
New Mexico’s relatively cool and moist weather so far this
spring will dry and warm up in coming weeks, putting fire
managers and forecasters on high alert for wildfires before the
start of the seasonal monsoon rains this summer. This year’s
low snowpack has already put much of the state
in drought conditions, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently
declared a state of emergency and additional actions to prevent
fires over the coming weeks. … The rains lessened the
acute risks of fire in the Southwest, said Jim Wallmann, a
senior forecaster for the National Interagency Coordination
Center Predictive Services. But other parts of the county are
seeing wildfires “extremely early” in the fire season. …
“We’re having to spread our resources over a much greater
footprint of the country,” Wallmann said. “That could affect
how big a fire gets in California, if we’re
stretched and can’t send everything to California while it’s
burning; we’ll be on fires burning everywhere else.”
… Roughly 73 square miles (189 square kilometers) of
homelands have been returned to the Yurok, more than doubling
the tribe’s land holdings, according to a deal announced
Thursday. Completion of the land-back conservation deal along
the lower Klamath River — a partnership with
Western Rivers Conservancy and other environmental groups — is
being called the largest in California history. The Yurok
Tribe had 90% of its territory taken during the California Gold
Rush in the mid-1800s, suffering massacres and disease from
settlers. … The Yurok people will now manage these lands
and waterways. The tribe’s plans include reintroducing fire as
a forest management tool, clearing lands for prairie
restoration, removing invasive species and planting trees while
providing work for some of the tribe’s more than 5,000 members
and helping restoresalmon
and wildlife.
Fresno residents looking to save water and beautify their yards
may now qualify for more financial help from the city. The City
of Fresno has expanded its “Lawn to Garden Rebate Program,”
offering increased incentives for homeowners and businesses
that replace traditional lawns with drought-tolerant
landscaping. The program, which began in 2015, is designed to
reduce water use and promote sustainable gardening practices.
Thanks to a $5 million grant, the city has increased its rebate
to $2 per square foot-up to 1,500 square feet for residential
properties and up to 4,000 square feet for commercial
properties. That means homeowners can receive up to $3,000,
while businesses may qualify for as much as $8,000.
Last weekend, watercraft inspectors found golden mussels,
a highly invasive aquatic species, on a 65-foot boat
that was headed to Lake Tahoe. Experts say golden
mussels pose an extreme threat to Lake Tahoe. To stop
the mussels from getting into the lake, this spring, Tahoe
implemented much stricter measures that go beyond the norm,
requiring that every single motorized boat not just be
inspected but also be decontaminated before hitting the
water. The boat carrying the golden mussels was put into
quarantine until it’s deemed risk-free, according to the Tahoe
Environmental Planning Agency. The close call was the first
time officials intercepted the golden mussels at one of Tahoe’s
boat inspection stations. … If the mussels were to reach
Lake Tahoe, they would wreak havoc on the ecosystem and degrade
water quality, and there’s no getting them out, experts
say.
When the head of the Environmental Protection Agency announced
a wide-ranging rollback of environmental regulations, he said
it would put a “dagger through the heart of climate-change
religion” and introduce a “Golden Age” for the American
economy. What Lee Zeldin didn’t mention: how ending the rules
could have devastating consequences to human health. The
EPA-targeted rules could prevent an estimated 30,000 deaths and
save $275 billion each year they are in effect, according to an
Associated Press examination that included the agency’s own
prior assessments as well as a wide range of other
research. The AP set out to look at what could happen if
all the rules were eliminated, by first examining exhaustive
assessments the EPA was required to produce before the rules
were approved. … The AP used those and eight different
government and private group databases for its estimate of
financial costs, some death estimates and analysis of pollution
trends.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a Senate hearing
that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
is “fully staffed” with weather forecasters and scientists
after concerns were raised about some offices losing 24-hour
staffing ahead of hurricane season. “We are fully staffed with
forecasters and scientists. Under no circumstances am I going
to let public safety or public forecasting be touched,” Lutnick
told a Senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing NOAA,
saying he got the National Weather Service (NWS) exempted from
a federal hiring freeze. NOAA, which includes the NWS,
lost around 1,000 people or 10% of its workforce amid federal
job layoffs in the first months of the second Trump
administration, including 600 at the weather service. At least
six NWS offices had stopped the routine twice-a-day weather
balloon launches that collect data for weather models. … The
agency had been scrambling to reassign staffers internally to
fill gaps in understaffed offices over the last few months,
sources have told Reuters.
Water agencies like the Kings River Water Association rely on
up-to-date airborne surveys of the Sierra snowpack to mitigate
flood risks and estimate watershed yield that Valley
communities, agencies and farmers depend on. But with the
California budget crisis at hand, the state plans to slash
funding for the Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) program,
despite its clear benefits. Funding for ASO has been reduced in
the state’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget — from $35 million
down to just $4 million. Without stable investment,
California risks losing one of its most effective climate
adaptation and water management tools. says Kings River
Assistant Watermaster Matt Meadows. As of now it looks like
funding for only two flights in this water year will happen
over the upper Kings River River watershed. Snowpack is
California’s largest reservoir, providing up 75-80% of water
for the state — and the ASO program is the only source to
accurately determine the volume of water stored in that
snowpack, says a letter to the governor.
… For eons, the Colorado River flowed through this canyon,
its pounding rapids carving the landscape. In 1963, though, the
government—determined to tame the river and feed the
Southwest’s unrelenting appetite for water—built Glen Canyon
Dam. Slowly, year by year, the giant reservoir it created
backed upstream, drowning 18 rapids whole and transforming 186
miles of what had been a rushing river into a wide, still,
man-made pool. After that, it was eerily quiet, the river
current slackening as it submitted to the lake. But if you
visit this place now, you’ll hear a rumble. And there, right in
front of you, you’ll see it: white water flashing in the sun. A
standing wave big enough to flip a boat. Water moving and
moving fast. A rapid, drowned for 60 years, is emerging from
the depths. To understand this story, we’ll need to time
travel.
State health officials will face tighter deadlines and more
scrutiny of a water quality permitting program that has been
plagued by massive backlogs and criticized by some small
communities who say they can’t afford their state-mandated
water treatment systems. The changes would come under a new
bipartisan law Senate Bill 305 approved last month. Gov. Jared
Polis is expected to sign the bill this week, according to
state Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Democrat from Greenwood Village who
is one of the bill’s sponsors and chairs the Joint Budget
Committee. …The measure is designed to help the CDPHE battle
a permitting backlog that has left dozens of communities
without a current wastewater discharge permit. Those
communities can still discharge under a special administrative
rule, but the backlog means the communities aren’t complying
with the most current wastewater treatment standards that seek
to reduce the various contaminants, such as ammonia and
nitrates, being discharged into streams.
On Aurora’s eastern edge, where the bustle of metro Denver
fades to farms, the first building of what will become the
state’s largest data center stands behind a wrought-iron fence.
… Seventeen miles west, in a dusty industrial nook of
northern Denver, workers on a recent day scattered across a
huge pit dug into the earth to lay the foundation for that
city’s newest data center. The two construction sites offer a
glimpse into what a predicted boom in Colorado’s data center
industry may look like as the industry expands exponentially
nationwide to meet the needs of Americans’ increasingly online
lives — and to provide the computing power demanded by
artificial intelligence. The potential growth — and repeated
proposals for state incentives to expedite that development —
are creating concerns that the centers’ required power and
cooling needs could keep Colorado from meeting its climate
goals and drain already-stretched water
resources.
Getting federal approval for permits to build bridges, wind
farms, highways and other major infrastructure projects has
long been a complicated and time-consuming process. Despite
growing calls from both parties for Congress and federal
agencies to reform that process, there had been few significant
revisions – until now. In one fell swoop, the U.S. Supreme
Court has changed a big part of the game. Whether the effects
are good or bad depends on the viewer’s perspective. Either
way, there is a new interpretation in place for the law that is
the centerpiece of the debate about permitting – the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, known as NEPA. … The
challenge for federal agencies was knowing how much of that
potentially limitless series of indirect effects courts would
require them to evaluate. … With the court’s ruling, federal
agencies’ days of uncertainty are over.
San Diego County’s cash-strapped water authority is considering
a plan that could remove a discount it gives to local farmers —
something farmers claim could put them out of business. The
authority gives a roughly 25% discount to about 1,000 farmers,
who grow everything from flowers to avocados. Everyone involved
in the issue is facing higher costs. The authority has been
imposing consistent double-digit rate increases on local water
agencies in recent years primarily because of declining demand.
Farmers are facing higher costs for labor, supplies, equipment,
transportation and fuel. Critics say removing the discount is
shortsighted because it threatens to kill off a customer class
the water authority can’t afford to lose. At the same time,
rates for other customers may increase to cover the authority’s
costs.
Stuart Woolf, President of Woolfe Farming and Processing,
recently sat down with AgNet West’s Nick Papagni to discuss how
water challenges have reshaped California’s agricultural
landscape—particularly on the west side of Fresno. With a
career rooted in California farming, Wolf’s reflections offer a
sobering look at what he describes as a prolonged battle for
water security. “I can’t remember a day where we weren’t
concerned about water,” Woolf remarked, encapsulating a
sentiment familiar to many growers in the region. … Woolf
criticized the state’s water management strategies,
particularly the diversion of water for environmental purposes.
He noted that while these efforts aimed to support ecological
health, they have not yielded the intended environmental
benefits. Instead, the burden has shifted heavily onto farmers,
leading to higher production costs and greater uncertainty.
… We applaud the senator’s efforts thus far, but suggest he
get up to speed quickly on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Delta Conveyance
Project, a proposal to modernize the state’s
water infrastructure by constructing tunnels to divert water
from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the California
Aqueduct. Sen. Alex Padilla has not taken a any stand. “I
haven’t reached a conclusion on the conveyance project yet,”
Schiff said. “I’m still in the process, frankly, of trying to
get my head around the whole agriculture industry. I would say
the subset of agriculture that is the most difficult is water.
People spend a lifetime studying it and still struggle with
it.” Schiff said he is “trying to figure out what is the
most effective and efficient way to meet the competing needs of
farms, cities (and) wildlife.” The multi-billion cost of the
project, he added, requires “we weigh the costs of that with
what it would deliver.”
It was one of the largest, longest and most lethal harmful
algae blooms in Southern California’s recorded history,
claiming the lives of hundreds of dolphins and sea lions
between Baja California and the Central Coast. And now,
finally, it’s over. Levels of toxic algae species in Southern
California coastal waters have declined in recent weeks below
thresholds that pose a threat to marine wildlife, according to
the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System, or
SCCOOS, which monitors algae blooms. … This is the
fourth consecutive year such outbreaks have occurred along the
Southern California coast, fueled by an upwelling of
nutrient-rich waters from the deep ocean. Yet multiple research
teams are currently investigating whether the surge of
additional runoff into the sea resulting from
the firestorms may have contributed to the recent bloom’s
intensity. No data on the subject are available yet.
The Interior Department announced Wednesday more than $119
million meant to aid communities reclaiming abandoned coal
mines — part of President Donald Trump’s agenda to achieve
American energy dominance. Two tribes were named as grant
recipients. The Navajo Nation and Crow Tribe of Montana are
among 24 coal-producing states getting federal dollars,
including Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Between the
pair of tribes, they tallied $607,376 in federal funding
stemming from the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of
1977. The Crow Tribe got $148,721, while the Navajo Nation
secured $458,655. On top of that, the federal agency on
Thursday announced another $3.67 million each for the Navajo
Nation, Crow Tribe and Hopi Tribe through the Abandoned Mine
Land Economic Revitalization Program, which is supposed to help
states and tribes by “turning legacy coal mining sites into
engines of economic growth.”
The state Water Resources Control Board Tuesday passed a
resolution to send the Chowchilla subbasin back under the
purview of the Department of Water Resources. So far, it
is the only subbasin of seven in the San Joaquin Valley to have
succeeded in making the U-turn away from potential probationary
status. Water Board members noted that early engagement
from Chowchilla’s four groundwater sustainability agencies
(GSAs) was key. … The Chowchilla subbasin has
experienced more than five feet of subsidence in the last
decade alone, especially in its western portion where a
significant layer of Corcoran clay exists. In its newest
groundwater plan, managers cranked down allowable groundwater
pumping with both voluntary and mandatory policies, capping
subsidence rates at two feet in 2025, with a goal of zero
subsidence after 2040.
