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.
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed SB 72 into law after the bill
passed unanimously through the California Legislature. The
legislation establishes clear statewide water supply targets
and sets in motion long-term strategies to secure reliable
water for residents, businesses, agriculture, and the
environment. … The bill requires state agencies, water
providers, and stakeholders to work together on durable supply
solutions that extend beyond any single administration.
The most cost-effective and quickest way to conserve the
Colorado River’s shrinking water supply amid persistent drought
and rapid population growth is changing how states handle the
largest use of water on the river: agriculture. … That’s
according to a comprehensive study examining 462 federally
funded Colorado River conservation and supply projects using
available spending data from the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation. … The water projects examined – ranging
from large-scale infrastructure such as reservoirs and
wastewater treatment plants to agricultural water use – totaled
about $1 billion in federal funding between 2004 and 2024.
The California Department of Water Resources is implementing
new safety measures after the discovery of invasive golden
mussels in Merced County. The California Department of Water
Resources (DWR), in collaboration with the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and California State
Parks, is implementing new measures to protect the state’s
water infrastructure and curb the spread of invasive golden
mussels. This follows the recent discovery of the species at
San Luis Reservoir in Merced County, with confirmed findings in
Fresno and Kings Counties.
… Long before humans began altering the climate with
greenhouse gases and other air pollutants, the Southwest was
subject to feast-or-famine weather featuring extreme dry
spells, raising the possibility that this current drought is
just part of that natural variability. What scientists are
exploring now is how the human touch is imprinted on the
drought due to our ongoing transformation of the climate,
atmosphere and oceans. Three recent scientific studies identify
human emissions as a key driver in the precipitation declines
that have helped cause the Southwest’s current drought, which
has been made much worse by rising temperatures due to climate
change.
The ongoing case against a Tulare County groundwater agency for
allegedly not paying its fair share to fix the sinking
Friant-Kern Canal will continue, according to a recent ruling.
A trial date is set for Dec. 22 in Tulare County Superior
Court. A judge recently shut down an attempt by the Eastern
Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) to dismiss the
lawsuit by the Friant Water Authority, which alleges Eastern
Tule breached a 2021 agreement to pay up to $200 million toward
fixing the canal. But Tulare County Superior Court Judge Brett
Hillman’s Sept. 23 ruling also indicated that, should Friant
win the case, it could be a hollow victory.
Last week, the California State Senate’s Joint Committee on
Fisheries and Aquaculture hosted its 50th annual Zeke Grader
Fisheries Forum. … Committee Chair Senator Mike
McGuire opened proceedings by noting the challenges the state’s
fisheries are facing as well as some of the state’s redoubled
efforts and funding, via Proposition 4 funding and other
legislative commitments, to improve resiliency along the
California coast and waterways. … California Natural
Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot echoed those
sentiments, praising Yurok and Karuk Tribe-led efforts to
restore the Klamath River in the wake of historical dam removal
and saying that he is increasingly inspired by tribally led
land and water restoration projects.
Datacenters’ electricity demands have been accused of delaying
the US’s transition to clean energy and requiring fossil fuel
plants to stay online, while their high level of water
consumption has also raised alarm. Now public health advocates
fear another environmental problem could be linked to them –
Pfas “forever chemical” pollution. … Advocates are
particularly concerned over the facilities’ use of Pfas gas.
… No testing for Pfas air or water pollution has yet
been done, and companies are not required to report the volume
of chemicals they use or discharge. But some environmental
groups are starting to push for state legislation that would
require more reporting.
The Trump administration said this week it will lower American
electric bills by delaying an EPA rule requiring coal-burning
power plants to reduce discharges of toxic wastewater. But the
EPA analysis justifying that decision paints a more complicated
picture. It shows the long-term costs of allowing coal plants
to continue with outdated water pollution controls could exceed
potential cost savings. Coal plants draw large volumes of
water to create steam to drive turbines that produce
electricity. But when plants discharge that water, it carries
mercury, lead, cadmium, bromide and nitrogen into rivers, lakes
and streams that are also used as sources of drinking water.
October first marks the official start of California’s water
year and local prediction centers, including the Department of
Water Resources and National Weather Service in Hanford say
long range forecasts could have a mixture of multiple
patterns. ”So, as far as El Nino, it’s about a 20% chance
we might see that for April, May, and into June. So it’s still
a 20% chance, so it still could go back up to El Nino, but, the
highest chances right now, near 70%, is for a neutral pattern,”
explains Emily Wilson, a meteorologist with the National
Weather Service in Hanford.
A bill aiming to relieve environmental constraints to speed up
a project on Highway 37 is awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s
signature. … The law would enable project planners to secure
“incidental take” permits from the California Department of
Fish and Wildlife. … The protected species in question
include the salt marsh harvest mouse, the California Ridgway’s
rail, the California black rail and the white-tailed kite.
… The project will replace the Tolay Creek Bridge, east
of the Highway 37 and Highway 121 interchange, and extend an
eastbound merge lane for a mile. The project also will restore
a 3.5-mile section of degraded tidal salt
marsh called Strip Marsh East to help protect against
sea-level rise and flooding while creating habitat.
San Diego County’s largest community garden, the Tijuana River
Valley Community Garden, is set to close after more than two
decades, displacing hundreds of local gardeners and small
farmers. The Resource Conservation District of Greater San
Diego County has decided to end its lease to operate the
garden, citing ongoing concerns with sewage
issues and potential flooding. This decision
will return the site to the county, leaving the future of the
garden uncertain.
For decades pesticide-intensive farming of Easter lily bulbs on
the Smith River Plain has contaminated groundwater and surface
waters of the Smith River estuary, threatening the health of
wildlife and humans along one of California’s healthiest, most
ecologically pristine rivers. Now the North Coast Regional
Water Quality Control Board is considering new regulations to
address this persistent pollution. Greg King, Executive
Director of the Siskiyou Land Conservancy, joins the program to
discuss an important upcoming townhall meeting … and what it
would take to effectively regulation pesticide pollution.
Disputes over water have been a constant in California history,
and San Diego is going through a particularly rough patch on
that front these days. … Last week, the San Diego City
Council delayed action until the end of this month on another
round of proposed increases in water and sewer rates — 63
percent and 31 percent, respectively, over four years. A city
budget analysis said there is no wiggle room and warns of dire
consequences if the rates are not raised, but council members
insisted it was too much. –Written by San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Michael
Smolens.
A year into an effort to prioritize protection of water
resources as part of its mission, the Colorado West Land Trust
is putting out some hard numbers on how it is doing on that so
far. Since the plan’s introduction, the land trust has
permanently conserved eight properties directly supporting
livelihoods tied to water security, it said in
a news release. … It also cites its completion of 13
weeks of on-the-ground restoration work, partnering with the
Western Colorado Conservation Corps, to improve
watershed function and resilience.
… Once rodents have settled in on one farm, they can spread
to neighboring properties, creating a pervasive — and expensive
— problem. The creatures chew through irrigation lines and
equipment wires, pull bark from trees and feast on ripening
fruit and nuts. Last month, the California Almond Board
said rodents had racked up more than $300 million in damages to
the state’s almond orchards between fall 2023 and fall 2024.
The main culprit was roof rats, a species that has also plagued
homes and restaurants in the South Bay. … [H]igher
rainfall could also be a factor, since it fosters the
low vegetation that gives the creatures shelter. A broader
theory posits that shorter, warmer winters associated with a
changing climate extend the rodents’ foraging and breeding
season.
… The corkscrew-shaped bacteria, leptospirosis, causes severe
abdominal pain in sea lions by damaging their kidneys and
inflaming their gastrointestinal tracts. … Since the end of
June, officials say nearly 400 animals have been reported
stranded or sickened along the Central Coast beaches. …
Hundreds more probably were washed away before anyone spotted
them, or died at sea. The historically large and long bacterial
outbreak is adding to an already devastating death toll for the
seals, sea lions, dolphins, otters and whales who live in and
migrate through the state’s coastal waters.
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.
