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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Wyoming’s top water managers are warning that a significant
drawdown of Flaming Gorge Reservoir this spring is likely
imminent due to low snowpack and generally dry conditions
throughout the seven-state Colorado River
Basin region. Wyoming is a headwaters of the Colorado
River system, mostly via the Green River, which feeds Flaming
Gorge. As of Jan. 8, snow cover across the West was at its
lowest since 2001. … Flaming Gorge, which straddles the
Wyoming-Utah border, is one of the key reservoirs in the
Colorado River system that water managers turn to for extra
releases when there’s a projected shortage — primarily to
ensure operational water levels at Lake
Powell.
Nearly one million young salmon are being released this week
into flooded rice fields near the Yolo Bypass. The project is a
partnership with stakeholders from the Bridge Group and
the Coleman National Fish Hatchery. The juvenile fish,
called salmon fry, will spend several weeks growing in the
shallow fields. After that, they will swim into the Sacramento
River and begin their trip to the Pacific Ocean. The
effort is based on scientific research showing flooded rice
fields can help young Chinook salmon grow and survive.
The South Fork Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA)
approved a pumping allocation during a Jan. 15 board meeting.
The policy will allow Lemoore-area pumpers to extract a base
amount of .86 acre feet per acre of land. “I think it’s a
necessary evil, but it scares me and it’s going to be real
expensive and I don’t know how long it’s going to last. I don’t
think it’s sustainable for the farmer. It might be sustainable
for the groundwater, but it’s not sustainable for the farmer,”
Board member Ceil Howe said before the vote. The pumping
allocation policy is just one piece of the puzzle to ensure
that the GSA complies with the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA), which aims to have local
entities bring aquifers into balance by 2040.
The State Water Resources Control Board unanimously adopted an
order extending its approval of the landmark Lower Yuba River
Accord for another 25 years. Specifically, the board approved
Yuba Water Agency’s petition for a long-term extension of the
points of diversion and places of use associated with
the Lower Yuba River Accord through 2050.
… Since the mid-2000s, the Yuba Accord has advanced a
broad suite of important benefits [including]:
… science-based minimum instream flows to protect
spring-run Chinook salmon and steelhead trout … a
reliable source of water available to improve statewide water
supplies … a reliable source of supply to ensure local
agricultural needs can be met, while also maintaining
hydropower production.
The Delta Science Program leads the development of the Delta
Science Plan, a shared framework that provides vision,
principles, and approaches for better coordinating science in
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and more effectively
communicating the outcomes of science activities and their
management implications to policymakers. … The due date for
public comments on the draft 2026 Delta Science
Plan has been extended until January 30,
2026, and we encourage community feedback to help
shape its final form.
San Diego County leaders announced Thursday they have a plan to
help reduce toxic sewage pollution in the Tijuana River Valley
and measure its impact on residents’ health. At a news
conference from the river valley, Supervisors Paloma Aguirre
and Terra Lawson-Remer said they want the county to use
reserves typically set aside for emergencies for two
initiatives they estimate would cost $4.75 million. The
proposal to use rainy-day funds for Tijuana River sewage
efforts is the latest Aguirre has made this week. On Tuesday,
she suggested using $19.25 million to buy more air purifiers
for residents and air monitors for the county to record
real-time data of hydrogen sulfide levels and to run a
treatment pilot program that would improve the river water’s
conditions.
The story of California begins with water. Without the mass
import of the wet stuff from parts north and east, much of
Southern and Central California would be barely inhabitable. No
one tells the story of water in California’s heartland in more
detail, or with more tenacity, than Lois
Henry. She’s a former Bakersfield Californian
columnist who six years ago launched
SJVWater.org. Mega-farmers, environmentalists
and everyday folk read her site to learn about arcane water
district policies, the effect of those policies on farmland and
fish and for insights on the political intrigue that powers the
San Joaquin Valley.
Water-related violence has almost doubled since 2022 and little
is being done to understand and address the trend and prevent
new and escalating risks, experts have said. There were 419
incidents of water-related violence recorded in 2024, up from
235 in 2022, according to the Pacific Institute. … [Pacific
Institute Co-Founder Peter] Gleick said: “The Colorado
River and the Rio Grande in the US have become
increasingly politically contentious in recent years. There are
treaties dating back to 1944 that govern both rivers, requiring
the US to deliver Colorado River water to Mexico and Mexico to
deliver Rio Grande water to the US. But as border politics
ramped up under the Trump administration, these issues became
more contentious. Several people were killed in Mexico during a
protest at a dam used to deliver water to the US, after farmers
objected to the releases.”
The No Desert Data Center Coalition filed a lawsuit last week
against Pima County in southern Arizona for approving a land
sale and rezoning request from a data center developer — just
the latest move in the battle over data centers amid
water concerns in Arizona. … Local
opposition to data centers in Tucson, a Democratic stronghold,
Marana, a conservative-leaning district, and Chandler, a
Republican suburb, suggests bipartisan consensus over concerns
of water scarcity and rising energy costs. … Beale
Infrastructure, the data center developer, said the data
centers will be air-cooled instead of using millions of gallons
of water to “wash” the heat away from servers. But the
trade-off in this case is a massive energy draw in an already
strained region.
Poway residents will be paying more for water after the City
Council’s Jan. 20 approval of a 9.9% rate increase this year,
with another 4% hike each year for the next four years.
Additionally, the cost of recycled water is increasing by 23%
this year and wastewater costs are scheduled to rise by 3% each
year from 2028 through 2030, according to a staff report.
… The increases are needed to fund the costs of imported
water, capital expenses, operational expenses and appropriate
reserve levels. … Also leading to the rising rates are
the wholesale costs associated with operating the Claude “Bud”
Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant and from the detachment of
the Rainbow and Fallbrook municipal water districts from the
County Water Authority.
California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) has increased
the 2026 State Water Project (SWP) allocation to 30% of
requested supplies, up from the initial 10% announced Dec. 1,
following mid-December storms that boosted available water
supplies. … Despite the recent dry conditions,
California’s reservoirs remain well above average, at 125% of
typical storage statewide. Lake Oroville, the SWP’s largest
reservoir, is currently at 138% of average for this time of
year. DWR also pointed to increased operational flexibility
following a December amendment to the project’s Incidental Take
Permit, which allows adjustments to certain fish protection
actions during storms.
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.
