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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Since the 1950s, California’s salmon populations have dwindled
due to lost habitat from a combination of factors, including
human-made barriers such as dams, altered river flows, and
climate change. These challenges mean DWR looks for
opportunities to support salmon and other endangered species in
its projects whenever possible. DWR’s Lower Elkhorn Basin Levee
Setback (LEBLS) Project is a multi-benefit project where
engineering, flood protection, and supporting nature all come
together. While the primary goal of LEBLS is to reduce flood
risk, the recently expanded bypass floodplain is producing
zooplankton, an energy-rich invertebrate that’s a key part of
the juvenile salmon diet. This food production is happening in
significant quantities and sooner-than-expected.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday signed into law four
bills she said better prepares New Mexico to address: water
shortages from climate change; contamination from so-called
“forever chemicals;” and pollution in the state’s waters. …
“When you talk about water to anyone, it’s typically not a
dialogue, it’s a debate, because water is life,” Lujan Grisham
said during the bill signing, adding that the Legislature and
her office “did about three decades worth of work” on the issue
over the session. New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney
called the four bills “a big, bold package” for the
environment.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has been
tasked with developing a model which will enable staff to
determine just how much water is in all the nooks and crannies
of the Willcox basin and others around the state. Rep. Gail
Griffin (R–LD14) tasked the agency, which oversees water issues
within the various basins in the state, to prepare a report so
legislators can make more informed decisions before making
rural groundwater policies, she stated. “Are groundwater levels
decreasing in certain basins? Yes, but the first step should be
to stop the bleeding to prevent the rate of decline from
getting worse. Then we can develop tools to help stabilize the
aquifer and find ways to put more water back in the basin, such
as groundwater recharge, reuse and new technology for farming,”
she stated.
… Just 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, in California’s
Cuyama Valley, an exploratory oil drilling project is moving
forward on Harvard’s 6,565-acre vineyard. This project is the
latest in a series of Harvard’s grabs on natural resources in
the region that have worsened a critical drought of groundwater
and endangered the area’s many local farmers and ranchers. To
repair these harms, the University must, to the extent that it
is able, put an end to extractive groundwater pumping and oil
drilling in the area and instead invest in building sustainable
agricultural practices that prioritize — rather than threaten —
a human right to water. … From 2012 to 2018, Harvard
purchased thousands of acres of arable land across California.
Of these holdings, North Fork Ranch, acquired through the
subsidiary company Brodiaea Inc., has been the subject of
particular controversy. The land, historically a dry rangeland,
was transformed in a water-intensive process by Harvard into
the largest vineyard in the valley.
After more than ten years of meticulous planning and
collaboration among local landowners, government officials,
tribes and environmental scientists, the Redwood Creek Esturary
Restoration Project is finally gaining momentum. The U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and Humboldt County officials will host a
public meeting at the Orick Community Hall at 4 p.m. on
Wednesday to discuss next steps for the estuary restoration
project, which aims to revitalize critical habitat for
threatened and endangered salmonid species in Redwood Creek.
… The restoration project would undo decades of
ecological degradation caused by the earthen levee system that
runs through the heart of Orick. Originally designed to control
flooding along the lower 3.4 miles of Redwood Creek, the levees
have “reduced the size, complexity, and ecological function of
the estuary,” according to the project’s description.
After years of struggling with poor water quality and aging
facilities, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the
completion of a new water system for the City of Needles in
eastern San Bernardino County. This system will ensure reliable
access to safe drinking water for Needles’ 5,000 residents.
Today’s announcement of the new clean water system in Needles
furthers the state’s goal to provide all Californians with
clean and safe drinking water. Since 2019, thanks to state
efforts, the number of Californians without safe drinking water
has been reduced by half, from 1.6 million to about 800,000
people.
After decades of efforts to remove dams on the Klamath River
near the California-Oregon border, the project was completed
last year. It was the largest dam removal project in U.S.
history and, as the Associated Press reported, the removal was
a victory for tribes in the region who had fought to free the
river from four hydroelectric dams which, advocates said, had
contributed to environmental damage, including disrupting the
life cycle of salmon in the region. … A special episode
of OPB’s “Oregon Field Guide” series, titled “Klamath: After
the Dams,” will explore issues that exist in the wake of the
dam removal, including challenges to repair salmon habitat,
dealing with water shortages, and other conflicts.
When wildfires swept through Los Angeles in 2025, the flames
revealed more than just scorched communities and hillsides —
they exposed the increasing intersection between wildfire risk
and urban water infrastructure. In response, UCLA’s Climate &
Wildfire Research Initiative has launched the Urban Water
Supply + Fire working group to tackle this issue head-on. Led
by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) in partnership
with the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources’ California
Institute for Water Resources, the working group will serve as
a research and policy coordination network focused on
developing research and policy solutions to challenges related
to water supply infrastructure, resilience, and post-fire
recovery.
Nearly all of California’s major reservoirs are fuller than
they were in previous years after a wet and stormy
winter. … The state’s largest reservoir, Lake Shasta, is
at 92% capacity as of Sunday, which amounts to 115% of its
historical capacity for this time of year, according to data
from the California Department of Water Resources. The lake is
at a surface elevation of 1,055 feet, according to data
from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, a continuation of rising
water levels since the holiday season’s heavy downpours.
(Shasta Lake is considered full at 1,067 feet, according to
Lakes Online, a website that records lake data.) The season’s
rains also have filled California’s other large reservoirs,
including Lake Oroville and Trinity Lake, which are now at at
90% and 87% capacity, respectively. If Oroville surpasses 100%,
it would be the third straight year the reservoir has hit
capacity.
Other water supply and snowpack news around the West:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be
reconvening an independent panel of health experts to make a
new recommendation on putting fluoride in drinking water, a
spokesperson said on Monday. The use of the mineral, which is
added to water to strengthen tooth enamel and promote dental
health, has been a hot-button political issue in some states
for decades. ”HHS is reconvening the Community Preventive
Services Task Force to study and make a new recommendation on
fluoride,” an HHS spokesperson said. The statement
followed an Associated Press report quoting Secretary of Health
and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying at an event in
Salt Lake City, Utah, that he plans to tell the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoride in
drinking water.
… The latest Trends Report from the California ASFMRA (American
Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers) reveals a
significant correction in land values due largely to SGMA,
though land values in some cases did not seem to be following
as quickly with what some said was coming. … For the San
Joaquin Valley, where the northern region enjoys more ample
water supplies than other parts of the valley, even there,
farmland values have declined
significantly. … Conservative estimates suggest that
$17 billion of value in irrigated lands alone has been erased
from financial ledgers, according to Scott Bozzo, an accredited
farm manager with Macotera Ag Group from Lodi,
California. … California’s most valuable agricultural
county by gross output continues to be Kern. … The
highest agricultural land values in Kern County remain in the
river districts or where districts have done a good job
managing groundwater.
The United States is holding back water payments to Mexico in
order to send a message, the U.S. International Boundary and
Water Commissioner told Border Report. “The first action
that the State Department has done is in denying water
deliveries to Mexico in the Tijuana area,” U.S. IBWC
Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner told Border Report last
week. Under a 1944 international treaty, Mexico is
supposed to send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the United
States via the Rio Grande over five-year
cycles. … The United States, likewise, under the
treaty is required to send to Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet of
water from the Colorado River. But Giner says requested
deliveries to Tijuana, Mexico, south of San Diego, were not
recently fulfilled. And she says more holding back of water,
and other resources, could come next if Mexico fails to send
the U.S. water.
As California continues to recover from devastating January
wildfires and extreme dryness that reached deep into winter,
there are early signs that the state and surrounding region
could face a troubling fire season in the months
ahead. The rainy season in the West is winding down, but
much of the region remains well behind on rainfall. The
Southwest is in deep drought after largely missing out on
storms this winter. Much of the broader West is forecast to
have unusually hot and dry weather in the coming weeks and
months. And that heat — along with the recent proliferation of
additional fire-fueling vegetation — could accelerate the
turnaround into yet another wildfire season, with high risks of
concerning conflagrations even for areas that had adequate rain
and snow this winter.
A coalition of top scientists loaded its last set of wastewater
samples for analysis Sunday after receiving the final word from
San Diego County late last week that the work should cease due
to a nationwide clawback of federal public health funds. Since
February 2021, the San Diego Epidemiology and Research for
COVID Health program (SEARCH), a collaboration of UC San Diego,
Scripps Research Institute and the genomics program at Rady
Children’s Hospital, have used advanced science to analyze
wastewater samples collected from three different treatment
plants in San Diego County. Samples have been used to estimate
both the amount and type of viruses shed by the region’s 3.3
million residents. … But those efforts ground to a halt
Monday after researchers received word that the roughly
$400,000 per year provided by the county’s public health
department would cease.
The Bureau of Reclamation has announced a $134 million award
for the proposed Sites Reservoir Project. This new water
storage project would be the second largest off-stream
reservoir in the nation and would increase Northern
California’s water storage capacity by up to 15 percent. The
award, funded by the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the
Nation Act, previously received $389.65 million and was also
authorized $256.5 million from the Infrastructure Investment
and Jobs Act, for a total of $780.15 million in federal
contributions to date.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has
released a status report highlighting the progress of its
Beaver Restoration Program. The initiative aimed to return
beavers to their native watersheds in California to restore
wetlands and combat climate change effects. Between October
2023 and September 2024, the CDFW placed 28 beavers across five
sites in the Sierra Nevada. The project, in partnership with
the Tule River Tribe and the Maidu Summit Consortium, has
already seen beavers producing litters and building dams.
In 1991, the state of California largely banned burning of rice
straw after harvest, and farmers turned instead to winter
flooding of fields to break down straw. As a result, wildlife
has flourished in rice fields which reproduce, to some extent,
the wetland habitat that once covered most of California’s
Central Valley. Rice fields now support some 200 species
including fish, birds and reptiles. Winter flooding depends on
sufficient water supplies and farmers have come under pressure
from drought, climate change and economic changes, putting this
success story at risk. Last year, the California Rice
Commission asked researchers at UC Davis and Point Blue
Conservation Sciences to estimate how many acres of rice would
be required to support multiple species.
The cliché “third time’s the charm” proved true for Berkeley’s
efforts to fix the aging culverts connecting the Aquatic Park
lagoon with the San Francisco Bay. Berkeley received a $4.1
million state grant last month after trying twice before in
recent years for funding to repair or rebuild the deteriorating
100-year-old tubes running under Interstate 80, said Scott
Ferris, head of the city’s parks and waterfront department.
Prone to cracking and clogging, the failing tubes are believed
to be primary culprits for the lagoon’s chronic pollution, as
they’re less and less efficient in channeling bay water in and
out of lagoon with the tides, a cleansing action. Of particular
concern are the lagoon’s periodic but persistent high rates of
enterococcus bacteria, a health risk for humans, and marine
die-offs, primarily affecting rays and leopard sharks.
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 later this month. The
rules are aimed at preventing an infestation of golden mussels,
which were recently identified in the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta and that “pose a significant threat to the ecological
health of all waters of the state, its water conveyance
systems, infrastructure, and water quality,” California State
Parks said. Folsom Lake and Lake Clementine in the Auburn
State Recreation Area will be temporarily closed to all
trailered or motorized vessel launching for a month, from April
14 until May 14.
The City is letting some people in the county who get their
water from wells instead hook up to its city water supply
for free. The work to the water tank started in October and now
crews are welding the red steel panels as part of the base of
the massive tank. It’s a milestone for the one million gallon
water tank project underway. … The City Manager, Pete Carr,
said the water tank will bring water to 185 homes and a mobile
home park with 75 residents and fire hydrants to neighborhoods
which previously had none. The city received $16 million in
state grants for the project.
