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Aquafornia
Water news you need to know

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 headlines below are the original headlines used in the publication cited at the time they are posted here and do not reflect the stance of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit that remains neutral.
Aquafornia news The Conversation

Blog: Water wars — a historic agreement between Mexico and US is ramping up border tension

As climate change drives rising temperatures and changes in rainfall, Mexico and the US are in the middle of a conflict over water, putting an additional strain on their relationship. Partly due to constant droughts, Mexico has struggled to maintain its water deliveries for much of the last 25 years, in keeping with a water-sharing agreement between the two countries that has been in place since 1944 (agreements between the two regulating water sharing have existed since the 19th century). As part of this 1944 treaty, set up when water was not as scarce as it is now, the two nations divide and share the flows from three rivers (the Rio Grande, the Colorado and the Tijuana) that range along their 2,000-mile border. The process is overseen by the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Other U.S.-Mexico water news:

Aquafornia news Tucson Sentinel (Ariz.)

Dem candidates for Tucson Council oppose proposed Project Blue data center

The Tucson City Council is tentatively scheduled to decide whether to move forward with a Southeast Side data center before the city’s November election, but Council candidates are weighing on whether they would support Project Blue if they were in office. … Supporters of the proposal say the proposal would create an estimated 180 permanent jobs in addition to temporary construction jobs as well as a projected $250 million in tax revenues over the next decade. Private funding would pay for extended infrastructure in the area, making future development possible. The facility’s developers also say they would use reclaimed water as well as solar energy to reduce its environmental impact. But critics say it will still use too much water and energy and there are not enough guarantees that the jobs and other economic benefits will come to fruition.

Other data center water use news:

Aquafornia news Lookout Santa Cruz (Calif.)

As Republicans toy with selling public lands, is Santa Cruz’s Cotoni-Coast Dairies protected?

… [I]n recent months, the sense of anticipation surrounding the 5,800-acre Cotoni-Coast Dairies, near Davenport, has had to compete with rumblings in Washington, D.C., about rolling back some of the United States’ national monument protections and selling off public lands for development and resource extraction trades.  … [W]hen the Trust for Public Land donated the property to the Bureau of Land Management in 2014, the federal agency explicitly agreed to a series of tight deed restrictions that not only govern BLM’s use of the land, but all future owners as well. … According to the deed, the Trust for Public Land still maintains mineral and water rights. By contract, regardless of who owns the property — whether the federal government or a future private buyer — the Trust for Public Land will still own “all minerals, oil, gas, petroleum, and other hydrocarbon substances” as well as the property’s geothermal steam and water. 

Aquafornia news The Guardian (London, U.K.)

The life of microplastic: how fragments move through plants, insects, animals – and you

The story starts with a single thread of polyester. … Along with billions of other microscopic, synthetic fibres, our thread travels through household wastewater pipes. Often, it ends up as sewage sludge, being spread on a farmer’s field to help crops grow. Sludge is used as organic fertiliser across the US and Europe, inadvertently turning the soil into a huge global reservoir of microplastics. One wastewater treatment plant in Wales found 1% of the weight of sewage sludge was plastic. … Spread on the fields as water or sludge, our tiny fibre weaves its way into the fabric of soil ecosystems. … With the passage of time, our plastic thread has still not rotted, but has broken into fragments, leaving tiny pieces of itself in the air, water and soil. 

Other nano- and microplastics news:

Aquafornia news The National Law Review

Blog: Beyond review — water contract conversion, Reclamation law, and California’s Central Valley Project

On June 30, 2025, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California held that the conversion of temporary to permanent contracts for the Central Valley Project (CVP) water does not require additional environmental review. … The challenged provision of the WIIN Act allowed holders of temporary water service contracts to request that the Reclamation convert their contracts into permanent “repayment” contracts, with accelerated repayment of construction costs. … The Court agreed with Reclamation’s decision that these WIIN-mandated conversions do not trigger additional environmental review under NEPA or the ESA, despite other water contract renewals being subject to those environmental review requirements under provisions of the 1992 Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA).

Aquafornia news Marin Independent Journal (San Rafael, Calif.)

Opinion: When environmental protections are misused, everyone loses

Earlier this year, a modest, two-year pilot program aimed at opening 6 miles of trails (out of 60) to bicycles in the Mount Tamalpais watershed hit an unexpected legal roadblock. Despite four years of outreach, resource surveys and stakeholder input, the decision by the Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors to approve the program was met with a California Environmental Quality Act lawsuit from a coalition of hiking groups. I consider it a major setback for data-driven planning, public collaboration and more equitable trail access. … This decision should not be viewed as an admission of error, but rather as a pragmatic response to legal tactics that exploit CEQA to obstruct progress, even when no real environmental harm is at stake.
–Written by Krista Hoff, off road advocacy director for the Marin County Bicycle Coalition.

Other CEQA news:

Aquafornia news San Francisco Chronicle

Monday Top of the Scroll: Two dams in Northern California could be razed under PG&E plan

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. submitted a request to federal regulators Friday to tear down an aging hydroelectric project in Mendocino and Lake counties, a $530 million demolition that would include removal of two dams on the Eel River. The Potter Valley Project, according to PG&E, is no longer financially fit for power generation. However, the project’s greatest asset has become the water it provides, and the beneficiaries of that water, which include cities and towns in Sonoma and Marin counties as well as the region’s celebrated grape-growing industry, have been on edge about losing supplies. … Under PG&E’s proposal, a new agency run by local communities would take over some of the existing project facilities and continue water shipments. The agency, though, wouldn’t be able to ship as much water and would likely charge more for it.

Other Potter Valley Project news:

Aquafornia news E&E News by Politico

Interior increases targets for layoffs

The Interior Department is expanding its targets for layoffs to include more than 1,400 “competitive areas” — an increase of hundreds of categories since its first notice this spring — including new units within the Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and Office of the Secretary, according to an internal document. … New additions to Interior’s list include Bureau of Reclamation offices — where the number of targeted units has doubled since the first notice, to more than 180 — for the Upper and Lower Colorado River Basin, Great Plains, Mid-Pacific and Pacific Northwest regions. The Fish and Wildlife Service faces potential cuts to jobs in national wildlife refuges across the nation and to posts focused on ecological services and fish and aquatic conservation.

Other natural resource and environmental agency news:

Aquafornia news The Tucson Sentinel (Ariz.)

Tribal water settlement aims to repair generations of exclusion

… Because the Hopi—along with the nearby Navajo and San Juan Southern Paiute—live in remote areas far from major population centers, residents rely on practical solutions to survive with limited access to water. … Now, after years of negotiations, the tribes are seeing their push for long-term solutions gain renewed momentum in Congress. The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, reintroduced this year with bipartisan support, would resolve decades of legal disputes and devote $5 billion to delivering Colorado River water to the region through a new pipeline, pumping stations and storage systems. … The state also stands to benefit. If passed, the settlement would give tribes the authority to release water to other users—flexibility that could help ease shortages during the ongoing drought. 

Other tribal water news:

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

Santa Ana River watershed cloud seeding canceled due to wildfires

A cloud seeding pilot program that aimed to enhance water supplies within the Santa Ana Watershed has been called off, due to insignificant results and the proliferation of burn scars from wildfires in the target areas, including Orange County. Officials with the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority announced earlier this month that the four-year program, which began in late 2023, would not be continued as researchers did not see the anticipated results. … Findings from a validation report published in May indicate while precipitation levels in the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains, in the respective northeast and southeast corners of the territory, increased by 4%, additional rainfall in the San Gabriel and Santa Ana mountains was negligible.

Aquafornia news Aspen Journalism (Colo.)

River District offers proposal on Western Slope water deal

In an effort to head off concerns about the state’s role in a major Western Slope water deal, a Western Slope water district has offered up a compromise proposal to Front Range water providers. In order to defuse what Colorado River Water Conservation District General Manager Andy Mueller called “an ugly contested hearing before the CWCB,” the River District is proposing that the state water board take a neutral position on the exact amount of water tied to the Shoshone hydropower plant water rights and let a water court determine a final number. … The River District, which represents 15 counties on the Western Slope, is planning to purchase some of the oldest and largest non-consumptive water rights on the Colorado River from Xcel Energy for nearly $100 million. … As part of the deal, the River District is seeking to add an instream flow water right to benefit the environment to the hydropower water rights.

Other Colorado River Basin news:

Aquafornia news CBS Sacramento

Hundreds of spring-run salmon rescued after taking detour into Tuolumne River

More than 1,200 adult spring-run Chinook salmon meant to return to the San Joaquin River ended up in the Tuolumne River instead, prompting a five-part rescue operation. The fish were originally released as part of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program. But cooler, cleaner water and improved habitat conditions on the Tuolumne appeared to draw the fish off course, according to officials from the Turlock Irrigation District (TID). … The salmon became trapped below the historic La Grange Diversion Dam after spring flows receded, isolating them in a plunge pool with limited oxygen and rising temperatures. … Officials say the salmon were likely drawn to the Tuolumne due to restoration work already underway. 

Other salmon news:

Aquafornia news SJV Water (Bakersfield, Calif.)

State zeroes in on the sinking San Joaquin Valley

Newly released state guidelines on how to get a handle on subsidence, or land sinking, were received with mixed reactions after they were released by the Department of Water Resources on Thursday. The guidelines provide some basic, but pointed, advice on how San Joaquin Valley groundwater managers can best stop, slow or even reverse subsidence, which a 2014 report shows had cost billions of dollars up to that time in history. Managers should put more water, lots more, into withered aquifers to bring land elevations back up, according to the new guidelines. … One groundwater agency or water district can’t fix the problem without help from surrounding districts, the new guidelines state.

Other groundwater news:

Aquafornia news ProPublica

The Drying Planet

As the planet gets hotter and its reservoirs shrink and its glaciers melt, people have increasingly drilled into a largely ungoverned, invisible cache of fresh water: the vast, hidden pools found deep underground. Now, a new study that examines the world’s total supply of fresh water — accounting for its rivers and rain, ice and aquifers together — warns that Earth’s most essential resource is quickly disappearing, signaling what the paper’s authors describe as “a critical, emerging threat to humanity.”  … More than anything, Earth is being slowly dehydrated by the unmitigated mining of groundwater, which underlies vast proportions of every continent.

Related articles:

Aquafornia news The Nevada Independent

‘When the water goes away, it goes away’ — Nevada’s desert wildlife can’t keep up with drought

It’s been five years since Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) staff specialist Joe Bennett spotted 20 dead bighorn sheep near a guzzler while flying over Southern Nevada. The manmade water source had run dry, and the sheep, reliant on it for water, had died within 40 feet of the failed water source. … [T]he death of dozens of sheep represented what climate, wildlife and other experts say they are seeing day after day across the Southern Nevada desert — desert-adapted wildlife feeling the toll of abnormally dry conditions carrying on season after season, and not enough relief through monsoons. … The vegetation turns crispy; animals that rely on the vegetation for moisture don’t get it, Bennett said, requiring even more water to digest the dry roughage.

Other drought impact news around the West:

Aquafornia news CNN

US and Mexico agree to long-term wastewater treatment plan in the San Diego-Tijuana region

The governments of Mexico and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to fund and expedite several wastewater treatment projects in the Tijuana River basin. Untreated wastewater continually affects residents living along the river, which flows across the border from Tijuana and through several of San Diego’s southern neighborhoods. Residents living along the river have long battled severe health issues which researchers say stem from the river’s contamination. … In Thursday’s event celebrated in Mexico City, US Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin and Mexico’s Secretary of the Environment and National Resources of Mexico Alicia Bárcena agreed to a series of actions to be taken by both governments by 2027 to address the deteriorating wastewater treatment crisis.

Other Tijuana River sewage news:

Aquafornia news The New Lede

Trump AI plan would “ramp up exploitation” of people and the environment, advocates warn

The Trump administration this week released a plan to fast-track the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in the US, delighting tech groups while alarming environmental advocates who point to the industry’s toxic emissions, high water usage and heavy reliance on fossil fuels. The “AI action plan,” released July 23 by the White House, calls for the development of new AI data centers – huge facilities that house AI computing infrastructure –  to be waived from typical assessment requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act, which determine a project’s environmental impact. The plan also proposes expediting environmental permitting for such data centers by streamlining or reducing regulations under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws.

Other data center water use news:

Aquafornia news Reuters

Eroding protections for public lands

The U.S. Congress has passed hundreds of laws protecting federal public lands over the past century through bipartisan efforts and with the support of local governments. Now, President Donald Trump’s administration and some Republican lawmakers in Congress are pushing policies and legislation that upend these protections. … Even Americans who may not seek out the wild landscapes of public lands benefit in less obvious ways. Large portions of the water supply for some of the biggest U.S. cities come from forests. … While about 13% of the U.S. water supply comes from national forests, this source is particularly important in the West, where it accounts for almost half of the total water supply. 

Other public land news:

Aquafornia news Action News Now (Chico, Calif.)

Survey by California Department of Fish and Wildlife shows increase in number of Mallard ducks and total duck species

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has completed its 2025 waterfowl breeding population survey. The survey shows an increase in both mallard and total duck species this year. The breeding population of mallards rose from 177,828 to 265,640, marking a 49% increase. Total ducks, encompassing all species, increased from 373,864 to 474,495, a 27% rise. Despite this growth, mallards remain 16% below the long-term average. “The survey indicated an increase in mallard abundance, and habitat conditions were good in northern California, so we expect average to above-average production for all waterfowl species,” said CDFW Waterfowl Program Biologist Melanie Weaver.

Related articles:

Aquafornia news Redlands Community News (Yucaipa, Calif.)

SBVMD supports governor streamlining water project

San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District (SBVMD) has voiced strong support for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest budget revision, which identifies the Delta Conveyance Project as a key initiative for streamlining and investment. The fast-tracked permitting process for the project was highlighted in the governor’s 2025-26 May Budget Revision released earlier this year. … The Delta Conveyance Project, or DCP, aims to strengthen the State Water Project, a large water delivery network that supplies 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland, including parts of the Inland Empire. Currently, the State Water Project accounts for 26% of the water delivered by local retailers within the San Bernardino Valley’s 353-square-mile service area.