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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Locals call the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve “UC
Merced’s backyard,” and it’s a backyard unlike any other.
Picture a 6,500-acre stretch of land that has thousands of
vernal pools in the winter, blankets of vibrant flowers in the
spring, the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the distance, and
countless animals to watch, including the famously-elusive
“fairy shrimp.” Established in 2001 and located just north of
Merced, the reserve protects the sensitive vernal pool habitats
and grasslands. … Vernal pools are small pond-like dips in
the ground that fill up during the rainy season. … Jasmine
Salazar, a graduate student assistant and tour guide for the
reserve, told community members on the recent tour that vernal
pools are very rare to California now, but they’ve been around
for centuries. “In the Central Valley, we used to have a
ton of vernal pools. But because of infrastructure and
urbanization, we’ve lost 99% of them,” Salazar, 20, said.
California water managers this week cut in half the amount of
water being pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta at the
state’s plant near Tracy, saying the main reservoir it serves
is nearly full and the water is needed for fish. The reduction
is required under the state’s environmental permits for pumping
from the fragile Delta, because despite nearly full reservoirs
and a robust snowpack, the San Joaquin River watershed had
less-than-normal precipitation during the water year which
began Oct. 1. … The state’s Banks Pumping Plant lifts water
from the Delta to canals and reservoirs that serve San Joaquin
Valley farms and Southern California cities. But environmental
regulations require pumping to be reduced in the spring months
of March, April and May to protect fish, including spring-run
Chinook salmon, Delta smelt and longfin smelt, DWR officials
said in a news release.
Hours after President Donald Trump threatened Mexico with
additional tariffs over a massive water debt, that country’s
president publicly vowed to make a substantial payment soon.
Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet of
water to the U.S. from the Rio Grande every five years, and the
United States is to pay Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet of water
annually via the Colorado River out West. The
current five-year cycle ends in October and Mexico, so far, has
paid only 512,604 acre-feet of water to the United States —
about one-third of what it owes — according to the latest IBWC
data published Friday. … On Friday morning, Mexican President
Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said her country doesn’t have enough
water to give to the United States but will make payments.
Every year, when snow from the Rocky Mountains melts into
water, it finds its way into Lake Powell, the country’s
second-biggest reservoir. But with each passing season, less
snowmelt becomes reservoir water that 40 million people can use
to drink, plant crops or satiate their
lawns. … Atmospheric demand from climate change is
one piece of the puzzle, as Schumacher puts it, as to why
federal projections show that runoff into Lake Powell will
reach about 67 percent of a historic average this season. Other
reasons include dry soils and hotter temperatures accelerating
sublimation, the process where solid snow turns only into gas
instead of liquid, Schumacher said. Snowpack itself above the
reservoir has hovered between around 84 and 91 percent of
average in this month’s readings — another poor showing that
continues over two decades of Western drought.
The entire staff of the lead poisoning office at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention was included in layoffs at
the agency last week. And in recent weeks, state water
officials have complained that funding for replacing lead pipes
had been frozen or delayed. These actions have alarmed public
health experts, who worry that decades of progress in
eliminating a persistent and preventable threat could be
jeopardized. More than 20 employees from the CDC’s Lead
Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch were let go as
part of a sweeping staff reduction across the Department of
Health and Human Services, where more than 10,000 employees
were put on administrative leave. The division played a key
role in addressing lead contamination in applesauce pouches and
in helping communities across the country curb the threat of
lead in schools.
Inland waters like rivers, lakes, streams and reservoirs need
oxygen to survive, just like we do, but oxygen levels have
dropped dramatically since 1900, researchers warn. The reason?
Human behavior. That’s according to researchers of the
Netherlands’ Utrecht University in their study, published
Friday in the journal Science Advances. “More farming, more
wastewater, more dams, and a warmer climate — they all change
how our freshwater ecosystems function,” said one of the
paper’s lead authors, Junjie Wang, in a written statement.
Co-author Jack Middelburg, added, “We found that the main
causes lay in these direct human activities. First, it turns
out that nutrient input through, for example,
over-fertilization, is a major driver of this acceleration.
Secondly, the longer travel time of freshwater to the sea
through the construction of dams and reservoirs has proven to
be just as important.” The results of this oxygen depletion are
already being felt around the globe, in the form of dying fish,
disrupted food chains and poor water quality.
California’s national forests are on the chopping block —
literally — in the wake of the Trump administration’s April 5
order to immediately expand timber production in the United
States. Last week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins
issued an emergency declaration that ordered the U.S. Forest
Service to open up some 112.5 million acres of national
forestland to logging. The announcement included a grainy map
of affected forests, which did not specify forest names or the
amount of impacted acreage in each. However, U.S. Department of
Agriculture officials have confirmed to The Times that the
order will touch all 18 of the Golden State’s national forests,
which collectively span more than 20 million acres.
President Trump this week directed 10 federal agencies —
including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy
Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — to implement
a novel procedure to scrap a wide array of longstanding energy
and environmental regulations. He told agencies that oversee
everything from gas pipelines to power plants to insert
“sunset” provisions that would cause regulations to
automatically expire by October 2026. If the agencies wanted to
keep a rule, it could only be extended for a maximum of five
years at a time. Experts say the directive faces enormous legal
hurdles. But it was one of three executive orders from Mr.
Trump on Wednesday in which he declared that he was pursuing
new shortcuts to weaken or eliminate regulations.
… SGMA requires local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
(GSAs) to develop groundwater sustainability plans (Plans) to
chart a path for achieving sustainable groundwater management
by 2040. Implementing Plans will cost money. However,
generating new sources of revenue and repurposing existing ones
can be complex. Without careful attention to these challenges,
the revenue generation process can be protracted and vulnerable
to failure–a concern that early signs of litigation and
opposition to GSAs’ efforts to generate revenue suggest. Our
new issue brief reports on results from a systematic analysis
of attention to financing in a sample of Plans. We developed a
rubric for evaluating Plans for adequacy of attention to
financing considerations and applied this rubric to a sample of
Plans. We also analyzed DWR’s process for reviewing Plans,
including its approach to satisfying relevant statutory and
regulatory requirements.
San Diego officials say Mexico is continuing to release
millions of gallons per day of raw sewage into the city’s
waters despite its promises to end the flow that has sickened
Navy SEALs and San Diego residents. “Mexico just dumped 6
million gallons of sewage into the Tijuana River — after
promising they wouldn’t,” said San Diego County Supervisor Jim
Desmond on X today (Apr. 11). “We are at the mercy of a foreign
government that continues to pollute our waters — while we get
stuck with the consequences.” Desmond also said Navy SEAL
training is often being shifted farther north in San Diego from
Coronado, where the training typically takes place, due to the
high volume of waterborne illness caused by fecal and bacterial
contamination.
Since golden mussels were recently identified in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, officials introduced new rules
for boaters at some waterways in parts of Northern California
and the Bay Area. … Federal and California state officials
announced Monday a set of new inspection and quarantine
requirements for the launch of boats at Folsom Lake and Lake
Clementine. Those will take effect starting April 14. This
comes after other new restrictions have been put in place at
Rancho Seco Lake, Woodward Reservoir and Lake Berryessa, among
other water bodies. The state maintains a list of where
watercraft inspections are required for certain vessels to
combat the spread of golden mussels, zebra mussels and quagga
mussels. Because the list may not have the latest information,
boaters are urged to contact the agency that manages the water
body they plan to visit. See more in the map below.
… In a published opinion filed on April 2, 2025, California’s
Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District considered the
interaction between the Fish and Game Code’s requirements for
water to keep fish in good condition one the one hand, and the
California Constitution’s mandate that water be put to
reasonable and beneficial use on the other.
… In Bring Back the Kern, et al. v. City of
Bakersfield, a group of environmental plaintiffs sued the City,
arguing operation of the weirs violated Fish and Game Code
section 5937, which requires that a dam owner or operator
“allow sufficient water at all times to pass over, around or
through the dam, to keep in good condition any fish that may be
planted or exist below the dam.” … The trial court granted
the injunction. … The Court of Appeal reversed, holding
that courts “must always consider reasonableness whenever
[they] would direct or adjudicate a particular use of water,
even when applying statues that do not expressly incorporate a
reasonableness determination.”
Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield) held a press conference
announcing legislation to support floodplain restoration,
enhance flood safety, and improve groundwater recharge in the
counties of Kern, Kings, and Tulare. According to a
release, the bill, Senate Bill 556, represents a rare example
of consensus in California water policy as the farmers,
environmentalists, local communities and irrigation districts
are supportive the bill. Those who attended the conference
include Bakersfield Mayor Karen K. Goh, Kern County Supervisor
Jeff Flores, and McFarland Mayor Saul Ayon.
A new partnership between three organizations will explore
options for raising the dam at Lake Mendocino to boost the
water supply supporting agriculture and recreation. State
and local politicians, tribal officials and representatives
from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers met Friday at Lake
Mendocino to formalize a cost-sharing agreement for the Coyote
Valley Dam General Investigation Study. According to the
Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, Lake
Mendocino provides drinking water for over 650,000 people in
Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin counties and plays a role in flood
control. The study, led by a partnership between the
commission, the Lytton Rancheria and the Corps of Engineers
will assess the prospects of greater water supply and potential
federal interest in reducing flood risks.
What’s described as a major restoration project in Humboldt
County’s Eel River delta area will restore tidal marshes and
create a new public trail. Restoration of a 795-acre area of
the Eel River estuary gained permitting from the Humboldt
County Planning Commission at its April 3 meeting. Under a
partnership including the CalTrout non-profit conservation
group and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the
complex project encompasses and surrounds the estuary’s
Cannibal Island area. It includes deepening 5,000 linear feet
of existing dikes, replacing failed culverts that separate
tidal habitat areas and re-connecting 500 acres of former marsh
habitat to tidal action. Also included are construction of
“inter-tidal lagoons” and a 6,000 linear-foot earthen levee
with two gated culverts to shield agricultural lands from tidal
intrusion.
As warmer days approach, many Angelenos eager to once again
spread their toes in the sand may find an unwelcome sight along
the shoreline: dark, ashy sediment still sitting on beaches
from the devastating January firestorm. But residents need not
fear the detritus, which is composed of fine ash that swirled
together with sand and washed ashore, the Los Angeles County
Department of Public Health announced. Tests performed by the
L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board
found that the charred silt does not contain wildfire-related
chemicals at levels considered to be dangerous to human health,
the health department concluded. … Earlier this week,
the public health department lifted its final wildfire-related
ocean water advisory and declared that beaches in the burn area
— from Las Flores State Beach to Santa Monica State Beach — are
once again safe for swimming.
Radhika Fox has spent her career at the intersection of people,
policy, and infrastructure. In a conversation from the
Reservoir Center in Washington, D.C., the former head of EPA’s
Office of Water shares how she helped lead the largest federal
investment in U.S. water infrastructure, advance PFAS
regulation, and expand environmental justice efforts. Radhika
reflects on her path to leading federal water policy, shaped by
experience at the San Francisco PUC and the US Water Alliance.
She explains how EPA launched $500 million in technical
assistance to help more underserved communities access federal
funding. Radhika also discusses the creation of EPA’s first
agency-wide PFAS strategy and the importance of holding
polluters accountable. Plus, she shares what she’s working on
now—from sector disruption and AI to impact investing and
democracy renewal.
Earlier this week, as part of annual Water Week, when water
professionals gather to discuss priority issues impacting the
industry, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Senior
Advisor for Water Jessica Kramer joined a roundtable to discuss
the Water Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act (WIFIA).
The WIFIA program provides borrowers with flexible, affordable
financing options to support water updates in communities. It
funds planning, design, and construction of water
infrastructure projects and can finance a combination of
projects in a single loan. … Roundtable participants
included East County Advanced Water Purification Joint
Powers Authority in California, which is using a WIFIA
loan to help fund a water reuse project that will meet up to
30% of East San Diego County’s drinking water demand.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Mexico with
sanctions and tariffs in a dispute over water sharing between
the two countries, accusing Mexico of breaking an 81-year-old
treaty and “stealing the water from Texas Farmers.” Under the
1944 treaty, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet of water
to the U.S. from the Rio Grande through a network of
interconnected dams and reservoirs every five years.
… The treaty also requires that the U.S. deliver 1.5
million acre-feet of water annually to Mexico from the
Colorado River, an obligation that the U.S.
has largely fulfilled, although recent deliveries have been
reduced due to severe drought, something the 1944 accord allows
for. While Mexico sends far less water to the U.S., it has
struggled to fulfill its end of the bargain due to a
combination of factors including droughts, poor infrastructure
and growing local demand.
La Niña has fizzled out, data released Thursday shows.
According to the Climate Prediction Center, temperatures in the
central and eastern equatorial Pacific have returned to
near-normal. And, according to a technical definition, La Niña
never truly developed. The outlook for La Niña became
progressively weaker over the past half year. In October 2024,
experts predicted that La Niña would emerge during the fall.
After months of delay, officials announced in January that La
Niña conditions had finally arrived, with below-average sea
surface temperatures in the Pacific. But those temperatures
didn’t hold. The Climate Prediction Center update calls
for neutral conditions — neither La Niña nor El
Niño — for the coming months. That means different climate
patterns, some of which are harder to anticipate than La Niña,
could have outsize effects on California weather in the coming
months.
