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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Water has been a godlike force determining life and death for
centuries across Mexico’s arid Baja California Peninsula. And
today, climate stressors, a boom in tourism, and urban growth
are making water an extra precious resource in Mexico’s driest
state. … In many ways, Baja offers an extreme snapshot
of a globally intensifying aridification crisis, where
landscapes are permanently drying up. But the state’s situation
also offers an opportunity: If an arid, fast-growing peninsula
can stabilize its water supply, it could share those lessons
across the country – and even beyond Mexico.
… Frogs have endured four mass extinctions, evolving
repeatedly to survive a changing planet. But now, facing a
fast-moving fungal pandemic that has become the most
devastating infectious disease in vertebrate history …
[researchers] say they need our help. … In Northern
California’s Cascade Mountains, froglets lie with their legs
outstretched in shallow baths — a group of unlikely patients in
a fight for survival. These are Cascades
frogs. … In 2012, [Washington State Associate
Professor Jonah] Piovia-Scott’s team tested baths with diluted
itraconazole, a common antifungal agent, and found they reduced
chytrid infections and improved survival in wild populations of
metamorphosed tadpoles. … The long-term objective is to reach
a point where frogs can survive on their own — without constant
human intervention.
A long-awaited Bay-Delta Plan is on track to be ready for
adoption this year, with possible refinements still under
review — but with no signs of major changes to the proposal as
released in December. Eric Oppenheimer, executive director of
the State Water Board, on Friday told The Sacramento Bee that
the board’s staff is reviewing thousands of public comments,
evaluating whether any updates to the proposed plan and
supporting environmental analysis are needed before bringing it
to the board for a final decision. “So far, based on what
we’ve seen … what we’ll be putting out is refinement to the
basin plan amendment language,” Oppenheimer said. … The
proposed Bay-Delta Plan has drawn divided reactions from
conservation groups and regional water agencies, with last
month’s three-day hearing underscoring those tensions.
Rainy conditions will pick up again across Northern California
this week, starting Monday night and lasting through Wednesday
morning. … The incoming rain will fall from a large
atmospheric river storm that will impact areas of Northern
California, including high elevations in the Sierra Nevada,
with its newly bolstered snowpack. … The Sierra snowpack has
the capacity to soak up the rain that does fall, which means
less risk of flooding. … Despite all the snow from last
week, much of the Sierra snowpack is still lower than average.
Swain said that while last week’s snowstorms helped, much of
the Western U.S. is starved for snow.
Other water supply and snowpack news around the West:
The Interior Department, which is in charge of the nation’s
public lands and waters, has completed a major scaling back of
its environmental regulations. The department, which also
oversees activities including drilling and mining on the
nation’s lands and in its waters, has rescinded more than 80
percent of its previous environmental regulations under the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Interior said in a
press release that its actions would be aimed at cutting down
delays and costs for energy, minerals, livestock grazing,
infrastructure, wildfire mitigation, water
projects and conservation efforts. … Critics
have argued that NEPA reviews are time-consuming and slow down
the development of the nation’s energy and infrastructure.
Supporters of robust reviews argue they are an important
guardrail for health and the environment.
As artificial intelligence drives the data center construction
boom, building one in Denver is poised to get more complicated
after Mayor Mike Johnston and members of the Denver City
Council announced plans to impose a moratorium on new
facilities. Under the plan, the city will review additional
data-center-specific regulations targeting “responsible land,
energy, and water use.” … “These (data center) projects
present new and complex issues that argue for better alignment
between Colorado’s economic development, energy, and water
strategies, particularly given the obvious impacts of
water scarcity in our region driven by climate
change,” Denver Water CEO and Manager Alan Salazar
said in a statement to The Denver Gazette.
Following the discovery of invasive zebra mussels in the
Colorado River last year, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is
working hard to prevent further contamination across the
state. Part of that is an ongoing effort in boat
inspections to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species
including both zebra and quagga mussels. In 2025, CPW conducted
more than 438,000 such inspections at various bodies of water.
Officials say early detection of the invasive species was made
possible by increased staffing and upgraded lab facilities, but
the discovery on the Western Slope still set off alarm bells
because once adults are present in a reproductive state, they
have the ability to rapidly multiply and clog
infrastructure.
The North Fork of Matilija Creek and Bear Creek both run
through Wheeler Gorge Campground in the Los Padres National
Forest. … Four vehicle crossings through the campground
blocked endangered Southern California Steelhead from migrating
upstream as part of their ocean-to-freshwater stream spawning
process. A just-completed project that’s been in the works for
decades has removed the barriers. … It gives the migrating
steelhead access to an additional 13 miles of streams they
couldn’t reach for decades due to the barricades. There was
also a population of steelhead trout that was trapped, living
in creeks above the campground, which will now be able to
migrate south.
Yuba Water Agency and state officials reported encouraging
water-quality test results following the large pipe rupture at
the New Colgate Powerhouse in Yuba County. In a Friday news
release, the agency said samples collected downstream in the
Yuba River and at Englebright Lake showed no “concerning
results.” The initial testing found no detections of industrial
or petroleum-related contaminants, specifically polychlorinated
biphenyls, petroleum hydrocarbons and volatile organic
compounds, the agency said, adding that Yuba Water has been
taking samples from the Yuba River every day since the morning
after the rupture.
California State Parks is preparing a new general plan
for the Salton Sea State Recreation Area and is inviting
the public to participate in the process through a series of
workshops this month. … The general plan will establish
a long-term vision for the park, which has changed
significantly since the park was designated as a state
recreation area in 1963. … Declining water levels have
reshaped recreation opportunities at the park and impacted the
park’s ecosystem, leading to death of wildlife throughout the
past two decades. By creating a new general plan, California
State Parks is hoping to increase opportunities for land-based
recreation.
The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear from oil
and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the
industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to
climate change. The conservative-majority court agreed to take
up a case from Boulder, Colorado. … Governments around the
country have sought damages totaling billions of dollars,
arguing it’s necessary to help pay for rebuilding after
wildfires, rising sea levels and severe storms
worsened by climate change. The lawsuits come amid a wave of
legal actions in California, Hawaii and New
Jersey and worldwide seeking to leverage action through the
courts. The case out of Boulder County will likely have
implications for other lawsuits.
New Mexico environment officials released data showing higher
levels of so-called “forever chemicals” in water systems across
the state ahead of hearings starting this week to write rules
for phasing out their use in makeup, upholstery, cooking gear
and more. The data, published Friday, showed 15 New Mexico
water systems … have PFAS levels exceeding federal drinking
water guidelines. … Despite the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency under the Trump Administration
delaying implementation of the tougher
standards until 2031, New Mexico is trying to address
current PFAS levels in smaller water systems.
The Middle Colorado Watershed Council (MCWC) announced its 2026
Fire and Water Speaker Series will begin Thursday, with
award-winning author and hydrologist Robert R. Crifasi
discussing how the history of water continues to shape current
geology, infrastructure, and legal systems. … When
setting out to write his second book, “Western Water A-Z,”
Crifasi said he wanted to create a sort of almanac explaining
the situation and history in layman’s terms. “I wanted to
create a guidebook to Western waters that someone could pick up
and bring on a road trip or down a river on a raft trip,”
Crifasi said. “I wanted them to be able to read it and have
more information about how all this stuff is going on and why.”
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.
