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 Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it would
propose a drinking water limit for perchlorate, a harmful
chemical in rockets and other explosives, but also said doing
so wouldn’t significantly benefit public health and that it was
acting only because a court ordered it. The agency said it will
seek input on how strict the limit should be for perchlorate,
which is particularly dangerous for infants, and require
utilities to test. The agency’s move is the latest in a more
than decade-long battle over whether to regulate perchlorate.
The EPA said that the public benefit of the regulation did not
justify its expected cost.
U.S. lawmakers largely rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s
proposed budget cuts to NOAA Fisheries in a new compromise
appropriations bill Congress needs to pass before the
government once again runs out of money on 30 January. On 5
January, House and Senate appropriations leaders released a
compromise piece of legislation that will fund the U.S.
Department of Commerce – which houses NOAA Fisheries – through
the rest of fiscal year 2026, which runs until the end of
September. The compromise bill’s spending for NOAA Fisheries
largely aligns with the original Senate version of the
legislation, ignoring the Trump administration’s proposal to
slash the agency’s funding and eliminate programs.
The Klamath Indigenous Land Trust recently purchased 10,000
acres along the Klamath River, signifying one of the largest
Indigenous-led private land purchases in U.S. history
as salmon continue to make their historic return to
the newly revived watershed. The expansive property,
located mostly in California and extending into Oregon,
includes the sites of reservoirs that existed up until
the removal of four of the Klamath’s dams in
2023 and 2024. PacifiCorp owned the parcel for a century prior
to the purchase and partnered with KILT to complete the
transfer, the land trust announced in a news
release last week.
… Writing in Nature Water, Daniele Penna synthesizes
information from almost 700 forested watersheds around the
globe to understand how forest characteristics control flow
pathways. … Structured around eight hypotheses drawn from the
hydrological literature, the study examines the pathways,
dynamics and controls on water contributing to streamflow in
forest watersheds. Some results from the analysis confirm
existing ideas: that forest streamflow is dominated by
pre-event water (rain that fell prior to the event) moving
through subsurface flow paths. However, many results challenge
our preconceptions.
Water is precious in Nevada, now more than ever. As population
growth and industrial needs increase the demand for water,
researchers at the College of Engineering’s Nevada Center for
Water Resiliency (NCWR) seek solutions. The issues are
highlighted in a new 30-minute documentary, “Water Masters,”
which premiered in December at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Produced by Emmy-winning director Dan Druhora, “Water Masters”
explores water use along the Truckee River Watershed, the water
system connecting Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake.
The Sacramento Valley Conservancy (SVC) is proud to announce
the launch of its Vernal Pool Stewardship Program, a
community-driven effort to protect some of the region’s most
rare and ecologically important landscapes through hands-on
stewardship, education and volunteer engagement. Sacramento
Valley Conservancy is entrusted with the protection and
stewardship of more than 8,000 acres of vernal pool preserves
in Sacramento County, including 3,300 acres of rare vernal pool
wetlands in Rancho Cordova and the surrounding area. These
seasonal wetlands support unique plants and wildlife found
nowhere else, and play a critical role in water quality, flood
management and regional biodiversity.
Every day, Santa Clara County relies on a mix of local and
imported water to meet our community’s water needs. As climate
change brings longer and more severe droughts, Valley Water is
exploring ways to strengthen our water supply. One key project
under evaluation is the State of California’s Delta Conveyance
Project. To plan for a reliable supply of safe, clean water now
and in the future, Valley Water follows the Water Supply Master
Plan 2050. This long-term plan guides investments that support
water reliability, sustainability, and resilience in the
decades ahead.
Seeking to prevent the California State Water Resources Control
Board from stepping in to regulate groundwater in critically
overdrafted subbasins, local agencies are working to correct
deficiencies in their plans to protect groundwater. With
groundwater sustainability agencies formed and groundwater
sustainability plans evaluated, the state water board has moved
to implement the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
or SGMA. … Under probation, groundwater extractors in
the Tulare Lake subbasin face annual fees of $300 per well and
$20 per acre-foot pumped, plus a late reporting fee of 25%.
SGMA also requires well owners to file annual groundwater
extraction reports.
Last year’s snow deluge in California, which quickly erased a
two decade long megadrought, was essentially a
once-in-a-lifetime rescue from above, a new study found. Don’t
get used to it because with climate change the 2023 California
snow bonanza —a record for snow on the ground on April 1 — will
be less likely in the future, said the study in Monday’s
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
… UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, who wasn’t part
of the study but specializes in weather in the U.S. West, said,
“I would not be surprised if 2023 was the coldest, snowiest
winter for the rest of my own lifetime in California.”
Six tribes in the Upper Colorado River Basin, including two in
Colorado, have gained long-awaited access to discussions about
the basin’s water issues — talks that were formerly
limited to states and the federal government. Under an
agreement finalized this month, the tribes will meet every two
months to discuss Colorado River issues with an interstate
water policy commission, the Upper Colorado River Commission,
or UCRC. It’s the first time in the commission’s 76-year
history that tribes have been formally included, and the timing
is key as negotiations about the river’s future intensify.
… Most immediately, the commission wants a key number:
How much water goes unused by tribes and flows down to the
Lower Basin?
A group of Western lawmakers pressed the Biden administration
Monday to ramp up water conservation, especially in national
forests that provide nearly half the region’s surface water.
“Reliable and sustainable water availability is absolutely
critical to any agricultural commodity production in the
American West,” wrote the lawmakers, including Sens.
Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), in a
letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The 31
members of the Senate and House, all Democrats except for Sen.
Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), credited the administration for
several efforts related to water conservation, including
promoting irrigation efficiency as a climate-smart practice
eligible for certain USDA funding through the Inflation
Reduction Act.
A study led by NASA researchers provides new estimates of how
much water courses through Earth’s rivers, the rates at which
it’s flowing into the ocean, and how much both of those figures
have fluctuated over time—crucial information for understanding
the planet’s water cycle and managing its freshwater supplies.
The results also highlight regions depleted by heavy water use,
including the Colorado River basin in the United States, the
Amazon basin in South America, and the Orange River basin in
southern Africa.
State water management officials must work more closely with
local agencies to properly prepare California for the effects
of climate change, water scientists say. Golden State
officials said in the newly revised California Water
Plan that as the nation’s most populous state, California
is too diverse and complex for a singular approach to manage a
vast water network. On Monday, they recommended expanding the
work to better manage the state’s precious water resources —
including building better partnerships with communities most at
risk during extreme drought and floods and improving critical
infrastructure for water storage, treatment and distribution
among different regions and watersheds.
It’s the most frustrating part of conservation. To save water,
you rip out your lawn, shorten your shower time, collect
rainwater for the flowers and stop washing the car. Your water
use plummets. And for all that trouble, your water supplier
raises your rates. Why? Because everyone is using so much less
that the agency is losing money. That’s the dynamic in
play with Southern California’s massive wholesaler, the
Metropolitan Water District, despite full reservoirs after two
of history’s wettest winters. … Should water users be
happy about these increases? The answer is a counterintuitive
“yes.” Costs would be higher and water scarcer in the future
without modest hikes now.
A steady stream of water spilled from Lake Casitas Friday, a
few days after officials declared the Ojai Valley reservoir had
reached capacity for the first time in a quarter century. Just
two years earlier, the drought-stressed reservoir, which
provides drinking water for the Ojai
Valley and parts of Ventura, had dropped under 30%.
The Casitas Municipal Water District was looking at emergency
measures if conditions didn’t improve, board President Richard
Hajas said. Now, the lake is full, holding roughly 20 years of
water.
After nearly a century of people building dams on most of the
world’s major rivers, artificial reservoirs now represent an
immense freshwater footprint across the landscape. Yet, these
reservoirs are understudied and overlooked for their fisheries
production and management potential, indicates a study from the
University of California, Davis. The study, published
in the journal Scientific Reports, estimates that U.S.
reservoirs hold 3.5 billion kilograms (7.7 billion pounds) of
fish. Properly managed, these existing reservoir ecosystems
could play major roles in food security and fisheries
conservation.
California has unveiled an ambitious plan to help combat the
worsening climate crisis with one of its invaluable assets: its
land. Over the next 20 years, the state will work to transform
more than half of its 100 million acres into multi-benefit
landscapes that can absorb more carbon than they release,
officials announced Monday. … The plan also calls for
11.9 million acres of forestland to be managed for biodiversity
protection, carbon storage and water supply protection by 2045,
and 2.7 million acres of shrublands and chaparral to be managed
for carbon storage, resilience and habitat connectivity, among
other efforts.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended
Alternative 3 – Salmon Closure during the final days of the
Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) meeting mirroring
the opinions of commercial and recreational charter boat
anglers. The department’s position is a significant change from
early March. The PFMC meetings are being held in Seattle from
April 6 to 11, and the final recommendations of the council
will be forwarded to the California Fish and Game Commission in
May.
Sustaining the American Southwest is the Colorado River. But
demand, damming, diversion, and drought are draining this vital
water resource at alarming rates. The future of water in the
region – particularly from the Colorado River – was top of mind
at the 10th Annual Eccles Family Rural West Conference, an
event organized by the Bill Lane Center for the American West
that brings together policymakers, practitioners, and scholars
to discuss solutions to urgent problems facing rural Western
regions.
Today, Congresswoman Norma Torres and Congressman David Valadao
– members of the House Appropriations Committee – announced the
introduction of the bipartisan Removing Nitrate and Arsenic in
Drinking Water Act. This bill would amend the Safe Drinking
Water Act to provide grants for nitrate and arsenic reduction,
by providing $15 million for FY25 and every fiscal year
thereafter. The bill also directs the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to take into consideration the needs of
economically disadvantaged populations impacted by drinking
water contamination. The California State Water Resources
Control Board found the Inland Empire to have the highest
levels of contamination of nitrate throughout the state
including 82 sources in San Bernardino, 67 sources in Riverside
County, and 123 sources in Los Angeles County.
