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.
A historic salmon run returned to Northern California this
fall, with a record 2,150 adult Chinook salmon counted spawning
in Putah Creek near Sacramento. Putah Creek, which forms part
of the border between Yolo and Solano counties, has long
supported a small but resilient salmon population. Previous
estimates put the run at about 1,700 fish in 2016, but this
year’s total reflects an individual count conducted by UC Davis
biologists. The surge is being credited to decades of
coordinated restoration work, improved habitat, and carefully
managed water flows. The milestone marks the culmination
of roughly 25 years of restoration efforts backed by nearly $20
million in grant funding.
… The prelude to Southern California’s most destructive fires
in recorded history was Earth’s hottest summer, and
California’s hottest July, in the record books. … All of that
heat has alarming implications for California’s wildfire risk —
namely, drawing out the moisture from vegetation, according to
a blog post by UCLA scientists on climate and weather factors
leading up to the recent wildfires. … Another expected impact
of climate change are increases in the dramatic dry-to-wet and
wet-to-dry weather whiplash California faces. A separate study
published in the journal Nature Reviews in January found that
more episodes of “hydroclimate whiplash” are anticipated
worldwide due to human-caused global warming.
A new project in the Central Valley is aiming to restore
hundreds of acres of grasslands to reconnect the San Joaquin
River. The initiative is part of a larger effort to preserve
the Great Valley Grasslands State Park, and involves removing
levees to reconnect the river with its historic floodplain.
Great Valley Grasslands in Merced County spans more than 2,800
acres of a broader 160,000-acre ecological zone. It’s one of
California’s largest continuous wetland areas. The nonprofits
American Rivers, River Partners, FlowWest and several local
tribes have supported the project dating back to 2009. The
project will reconnect the San Joaquin River with 220 acres of
historic floodplain by removing a defunct levee built in the
1950s.
… On [peach farmer Rob] Talbott’s farm, water pumps move
almost 200 gallons per minute to the thirsty crops on his 145
acres. This year, a new threat is approaching that water
system. And it’s microscopic. Invasive zebra
mussels have now infested at least 135 miles of the
Colorado River, from the Utah border to Dotsero in western
Colorado. That includes the stretch that meanders alongside
Talbott’s orchards in Palisade. And if these tiny pests flow
into his narrow irrigation pipes and tubes, they threaten to
mature and block his most precious farming ingredient. These
mussels rapidly multiply. A single female lays up to 30,000
eggs. And when they reach adulthood, their sharp shells can
wreak havoc on water infrastructure.
Less water heading to Central Valley farmers not only means
billions of dollars lost in economic activity, but also the
loss of thousands of jobs and more public health
risks. Westlands Water District delved into those findings
in its 2025 Economic Impact Report, which was released on
Wednesday, reviewing the latest available data up to 2022.
… While the conclusion may be an obvious one, the report
honed in on how when water flows, the Central Valley thrives.
When water allocations are light, the Valley struggles.
… Along with the direct economic losses, the report also
found that decreased water availability led to more bird
strikes at Naval Air Station Lemoore due to an increase in
fallowed farmland.
Groundwater is a critical resource in Southern California,
where long-term drought and climate change place increasing
pressure on local aquifers. Some regions, like the Hollywood
Basin (a small region in and around the West Hollywood
neighborhood), are increasing their reliance on these aquifers
in order to reduce the amount of water imported from elsewhere.
A new Caltech-led study provides the most detailed picture to
date of how the Hollywood Basin responds to groundwater usage,
revealing that current estimates of sustainable groundwater
yield may be too high.
In the South Bay, engineers are racing to finish a new levee
system meant to shield thousands of homes from rising seas.
Behind the levee, workers are restoring tidal wetlands to
absorb storm surges. The South San Francisco Bay Shoreline
project is a model for climate adaptation — and also a case
study in how long it takes California to approve a project like
this. The project has been slowed by over a decade of
environmental review and multi-agency coordination under the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), even as the water
levels in the Bay creep higher each year. This is a pattern
across California: From groundwater recharge basins in the
Central Valley to coastal retreat fights in Pacifica, CEQA
timelines, exemptions and litigation are directly influencing
whether adaptation keeps pace with our changing climate. –Written by Erin Gustafson, environmental planner and UC
Davis graduate student.
In 2020, a panel of social scientists from across the country
provided a roadmap and motivation for increasing social science
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Five
years later, we’re asking — “What do we have to show for it?”
Humans are a central part of the Delta system. A truly
resilient Delta that supports a reliable statewide water supply
and healthy ecosystems — as well as thriving communities — must
understand 1) the people who live, work, and recreate in and
around the estuary, 2) how the region impacts their health and
well-being, and 3) how their behavior influences environmental
issues. The social sciences can help us design management
approaches that earn trust, reflect shared values, and advance
equity.
San Diego State University officially broke ground on the One
Water Laboratory (OWL), a pioneering facility dedicated to
research, education and community outreach focused on
sustainable water management. Situated adjacent to the river
park at SDSU Mission Valley, the OWL will be an active research
and training facility, with construction to be completed later
next year. Once operational, SDSU students will have the
opportunity to gain real-world experience, deepening their
understanding of watershed science and hydrological systems.
The project is made possible by $2.6 million in grant funding
from the San Diego River Conservancy.
The San Bernardino Municipal Water Department (SBMWD)
celebrated its 120th anniversary with a dedication of its new
Tertiary Treatment System (TTS) at its water reclamation plant
on Chandler Place. The TTS can treat and reuse up to 2.5
million gallons per day of recycled water. … Operational
since September, the TTS uses recycled water to increase
operational efficiency at the Water Reclamation Plant and
reduce reliance on potable water supplies. … Looking
forward, the TTS also positions the Department to expand the
system’s recycled water capacity to 5 million gallons per day
and help to recharge the Bunker Hill Groundwater Basin.
California’s biggest water districts presented their own
framework Tuesday for how to share the Colorado River’s
dwindling water supply, including a commitment to conserve
440,000 acre-feet of water per year – enough to meet the needs
of 1.5 million households annually. Last month, the seven
western states that rely on the Colorado River missed a
federally-imposed deadline to submit a preliminary agreement
for a plan to replace the river’s operating guidelines set to
expire at the end of 2026. Those negotiations continued Tuesday
during the annual Colorado River Water Users Association’s
conference in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace. … California
is projected to cap water use at 3.76 million acre-feet in 2025
– the lowest annual use since 1949.
The board of California’s largest agricultural water district
approved a master plan Tuesday to convert over a quarter of the
land in its service area into solar farms, a sign that Central
Valley growers are looking for new business as their water
sources dry up. The board of the Westlands Water District
approved the plan to develop 136,000 acres on the west side of
the Central Valley into solar farms, complete with new
transmission lines and substations at a Tuesday morning meeting
in Fresno. The new master plan, called the Valley Clean
Infrastructure Plan, would allow for the development of up to
20 gigawatts of new solar farms, which taken together would be
the largest solar installation in the world.
If Mexicali farmers can’t cut a deal with Mexican President
Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration, the city of Tijuana’s at
risk of losing its water supply from the Colorado River.
For generations, these farmers – known as Irrigation District
14 – sold river water the Mexican government ceded to them for
agricultural production to coastal cities like Tijuana and
Ensenada. The Colorado River flows through Mexicali, but
because of this deal, it’s diverted over 100 miles the coast
via an aqueduct. But Mexico’s president has taken a hard
stance on how the country’s constitution defines ownership of
water: It belongs to the nation and cannot be privatized.
… How did entire communities find themselves in the midst of
raging fires without enough water on hand to fight them? The
answers have exposed the weaknesses of Los Angeles’ water
systems and prompted widespread calls to redesign Southern
California’s water infrastructure. Water managers and experts
said the water systems in Pacific Palisades and Altadena were
never designed for wildfires that rage through entire
neighborhoods, or for infernos intensified by climate change.
In fact, their design effectively guaranteed that hydrants
would lose pressure and fail during a giant fire. … So
far, however, local officials in Los Angeles and L.A. County
appear to have taken few, if any, concrete steps toward major
changes.
As Tijuana River sewage has contaminated neighborhoods in
southern San Diego County, the federal government has pledged
two-thirds of a billion to clean it up. Now local
lawmakers are calling on California to step up the fight
against cross-border pollution, and one introduced a bill this
week to revisit air quality standards for noxious gas from the
river. … The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
on Monday announced a new agreement with Mexico to plan for
wastewater infrastructure to accommodate future population
growth in Tijuana. On Wednesday State Sen. Steve Padilla
introduced a bill to update state standards for hydrogen
sulfide, a noxious gas with a rotten egg smell that’s produced
by sewage in the river.
United States Representatives John Garamendi and Mike Thompson,
alongside five other California congressional representatives,
penned a letter to Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation Scott Cameron, blasting his plan to siphon
additional water out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
… The letter, penned in response to the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation’s Dec. 2 Notice of Decision on Executive Order
14181, argues that the delta is too ecologically,
agriculturally and municipally important to convey for other
purposes. The delta is the hub for California’s water
supply, providing fresh water to approximately 30 million
Californians and six million acres of farmland,” the letter
reads.
Senate Democrats rebuked EPA on Wednesday for the sluggish pace
of loan closings under a popular water financing program,
accusing the Trump administration of putting up “red tape.” In
a letter to Administrator Lee Zeldin, the lawmakers said the
slowdown affecting the Water Infrastructure Finance and
Innovation Act (WIFIA) program is stunting water projects in
California, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska and other states. Led
by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … “Our states and
municipalities rely on WIFIA loans to finance large-scale
projects to provide clean water to our constituents, and it is
imperative that EPA use the resources Congress has provided to
address the significant need for water infrastructure
improvements,” the lawmakers wrote.
California has reached a major milestone in understanding the
condition of its wastewater systems with the completion of
Phase 1 of the statewide Wastewater Needs Assessment (WWNA).
Led by UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation and partners, the
effort established a first-ever comprehensive baseline
evaluation of wastewater infrastructure performance, risks, and
unmet needs—creating a foundation for more equitable sanitation
policy and investment across the state. The WWNA was
conceived to help answer a simple yet critical question: how
well are California’s thousands of wastewater systems serving
people and communities, especially disadvantaged and
underserved areas?
A record 2,150 king salmon (or Chinook salmon) returned to
spawn in Putah Creek this fall. Timely water releases, habitat
creation and regional collaboration among various public and
private organizations are being credited with the successful
run. Putah Creek, which runs along the border of Yolo and
Solano Counties near Sacramento has historically supported a
small, but vital salmon population. Estimates in 2016 put the
salmon return at 1,700, but this year’s record-breaking number
is the result of a precise, individual count conducted by
biologists with UC Davis at the department of wildlife, fish
and conservation biology.
Colorado took a major step last week to protect
wetlands and streams by finalizing rules for a
new state-run permitting program. The new ‘dredge-and-fill’
rules address a gap by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett
decision two years ago, which drastically shrunk the number of
waterways eligible for federal protections. The ruling left
millions of acres of wetlands and miles of streams nationwide
vulnerable to pollution. Under the new rules, businesses or
landowners must obtain a state permit to dig ditches or fill
wetlands that no longer qualify for federal protection.
… New Mexico passed similar legislation this year and
its environment department expects to hold a rulemaking hearing
next summer.
