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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February storms brought fresh snow to the Sierra Nevada, but
California’s snowpack remains far smaller than average during a
winter that has brought record warmth across much of the West.
California water officials said Friday that the Sierra snowpack
is at 66% of average for this time of year. … California
relies on the Sierra snowpack for about 30% of its water. But
extreme warmth across the West this winter has meant more
precipitation falling as rain, not snow — a symptom of global
warming, which in recent years has been pushing average snow
lines higher in the mountains and changing the timing of
runoff.
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
A simple bill on the Colorado River Authority of Utah has been
amended in a sign that negotiations are not going well. House
Bill 473, sponsored by Rep. Scott Chew, R-Jensen, started
simply by moving the Colorado River Authority of Utah from
underneath the Governor’s Office and over to the Utah
Department of Natural Resources. But language has been
added into the bill to bolster its authority to stick up for
Utah’s interests in the ongoing high-stakes negotiations over
the river that supplies water to more than 40 million
across the West. Rep. Chew told members of the Senate
Natural Resources Committee that it was done because
negotiations between the seven states along the Colorado River
have not yielded a new agreement.
… Urban water agencies that get Central Valley Project
supplies from the Sacramento and American rivers are set to
receive 100% of their contracted water. Irrigation water
service contractors — or agricultural water users — on the
Sacramento River are also getting their full contracted
amounts. Jim Peifer, executive director of the Sacramento
Regional Water Authority, said he views the allocation as a
positive sign of water supply conditions this year, with no
shortages expected for the region. Peifer, however, warned that
conditions can change from year to year.
California officials on Thursday adopted the final two state
permits that California’s last operating nuclear power plant
needed to continue operating through 2030. The Central
Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board approved a
certification that Diablo Canyon’s waste discharges comply with
the Clean Water Act and a permit regulating how the plant
discharges water from its cooling system back into the Pacific
Ocean. Pacific Gas & Electric, which operates the plant,
celebrated the decision.
The Southern California steelhead trout is a fish that has been
on the endangered species list since 1997,
and habitat loss has played a key role in their
population decline. But recently, a local nonprofit, the
U.S. Forest Service and other partners completed a roughly $6
million project in the Los Padres National Forest Service in
Ventura County to improve their
habitat. At Wheeler Gorge Campground in the Los Padres
National Forest, a gentle water now feely rushes through Bear
Creek. The creek, along with the North Fork Matilija Creek at
Wheeler Gorge are part of the Ventura River Watershed and are
habitats for the federally endangered steelhead trout.
Recently, the State Water Resources Control Board held
comprehensive hearings on the update of the Bay Delta Plan that
governs how much water flows from the state’s rivers though the
largest estuary on the Pacific coast. The ecological health of
the San Francisco Bay Delta estuary has been at risk from
inadequate freshwater flows and climate change. The state’s
draft plan was criticized by Delta farmers, the fishing
industry, environmental advocates and dozens of individuals.
Scientists warned it will lead to ecological collapse of the
estuary. The hearings also exposed friction between tribal
nations living in the Bay Delta watershed and the state
government’s water planning and policies.
The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors this week discussed
allocating a half-million dollars to regional entities involved
with the decommissioning of the Potter Valley Project, with one
supervisor questioning the need for it and another saying it
was essential. Ultimately, the board approved $500,000
earmarked for the Mendocino County Inland Water and Power
Commission and the Eel-Russian Project Authority. The money
would go to “unanticipated” costs that may incur, according to
Tony Rakes, deputy county chief executive officer. The
Potter Valley Project, owned by PG&E, is a hydroelectric
facility that will be dismantled as soon as 2028.
As Arizona lawmakers look to address constituent concerns over
data center growth in the state, water usage is increasingly
fading from the conversation. Republican and Democratic
legislators introduced 13 bills this session related to data
centers, but now that the Legislature has entered crossover
week, many of the bills aimed at curbing data center water
usage have landed on the cutting room floor. Those bills,
sponsored by Democratic lawmakers, would have limited daily
water usage for data centers — many of which rely on large
amounts of water to keep the technology and facilities
cool.
Cambria’s long-idled, often controversial water-reclamation
facility got a unanimous go-ahead by county planning
commissioners Thursday, when they authorized the decade-old
installation for operations at times other than just during
declared severe water-shortage emergencies. Commissioner Anne
Wyatt made the motion to approve the Cambria Community Services
District’s coastal development permit application for the
project. The vote came after a three-hour hearing. If opponents
appeal the Planning Commission’s decision, county supervisors
would be next in line to consider the multi-million-dollar
project, possibly followed by the California Coastal
Commission.
The County of San Diego has hired a Washington, D.C.-based law
firm to lobby federal officials on the Tijuana River sewage
crisis, a contract worth up to $637,200 over five years,
according to county records. Best Best & Krieger LLP, known as
BBK, was selected through a competitive process in which the
county received four bids, according to county spokesperson
Tammy Glenn. The contract, signed in January 2026, tasks BBK
with advocating before Congress, the White House and federal
agencies on behalf of the county to secure funding and action
to address cross-border sewage flows that have fouled South Bay
beaches and communities for decades.
A proposed water pipeline project that would tunnel under the
Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area is one step closer to
construction after a unanimous Senate vote Thursday. The Sloan
Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act, introduced by
Nevada Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, directs the
Department of the Interior to grant the Southern Nevada Water
Authority rights-of-way for the construction and operation of a
40-mile water pipeline beneath the Sloan Canyon National
Conservation Area. The pipeline would have the capacity to
carry 375 million gallons of water per day to Henderson and the
southern Las Vegas Valley.
Since California’s new regulations for the water contaminant
chromium six went into effect in October 2024, many Santa Cruz
County residents have received notifications that their tap
water may exceed the limit. … Of nearly 9,000 public water
wells sampled in California from 2015 to 2025, 693 had at least
one detection of chromium six above the 10 ppb billion
standard, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.
In Santa Cruz County, chromium six was detected above that
level in more than 20 public groundwater sources. … The water
at Rountree and Buena Vista has been found to have high levels
of PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” as well.
As crossover week at the Arizona Legislature concludes, it
appears lawmakers will go yet another year without passing
significant groundwater reform. Gov. Katie Hobbs and rural
stakeholders have been seeking reform for years, and one
Democrat who has been involved in recent negotiations said he
believes a deal could soon be struck at the Legislature —
depending on which way the Governor’s Office swings after the
2026 general election in November. … If a Republican is
elected to the Ninth Floor, it would be much more difficult for
legislative Democrats to get a deal done if they remain the
minority party.
A pilot program is providing Bay Area high school students with
lessons on the importance of where their local water comes
from, the systems that bring it to their homes, and the threats
to the supply. Four years ago, East Bay native Nina
Gordon-Kirsch stuffed a backpack, laced up her shoes, and
started on a 240-mile trek from Oakland to Highland
Lakes near Ebbets Pass in the Sierra Nevada. Her goal was
to trace the source of her drinking water and to inspire her
students to know more about their local drinking water and to
think about conservation. Today her journey continues in
Oakland classrooms as Gordon-Kirsch heads up a pilot program
for Bay Area high school students.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Department of Water Resources (DWR)
today conducted the third snow survey of the season at Phillips
Station. The manual survey recorded 28 inches of snow depth and
a snow water equivalent of 11 inches, which is 47 percent of
average for this location. The snow water equivalent measures
the amount of water contained in the snowpack and is a key
component of DWR’s water supply forecast. Statewide, the
snowpack is 66 percent of average for this
date.
… California water officials, who are conducting their
monthly snow survey Friday, will find that the statewide
snowpack heading into March is just under 70% of average for
this point in the season. … Already, managers of the
giant state and federal water projects are saying that low
snowpack, which makes up nearly a third of California’s water
supply, will mean scaling back water deliveries to cities and
farms over the coming year. The federal government announced
Thursday that irrigation agencies in the San Joaquin Valley,
the state’s biggest agricultural region, would likely get just
15% of the water they requested.
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
The Colorado River may be running dry, but the Pacific Ocean is
not — and on Thursday, San Diego took a first formal step to
turn that into a business opportunity. The San Diego
County Water Authority voted to sign a memorandum
of understanding with federal, Arizona and Nevada
water managers to explore selling desalinated Pacific Ocean
water across state lines. The pilot, if formalized,
would turn ultra-expensive water and underused capacity at the
Western Hemisphere’s largest desalination plant, in Carlsbad,
into a resource for fast-growing neighboring states as they
absorb potentially-economy-shattering cuts on the Colorado
River.
Attorneys and officials opposed to a massive California water
project pleaded their case Thursday to an oversight panel,
arguing point by point how the Delta Conveyance Project failed
to meet specified criteria. … The opponents — which
included several groups, governmental entities and Native
American tribes — delivered similar messages: a certificate of
consistency issued in October that shows the project as
consistent with the Delta plan is faulty. The state Department
of Water Resources failed to show the project would uphold the
plan’s two coequal goals: creating a reliable, statewide water
supply while protecting and restoring the Delta ecosystem that
preserves its values as a place.
After an unprecedented three-year shutdown of California’s
commercial salmon fishery, Chinook salmon runs are beginning to
rebound, particularly in the Klamath Basin. On Wednesday, the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) hosted its
Annual Salmon Information Meeting where fisheries scientists
and industry stakeholders shared the latest ocean salmon
abundance forecast and offered a basin-by-basin breakdown last
year’s salmon returns and a first look at what’s to come in
2026. The annual meeting marks the beginning of a
two-month public process to develop management criteria for the
upcoming sport and commercial ocean salmon fishing seasons,
both of which are tentatively scheduled to open on May
16.
Aquatic invasive mussels that can hitch a ride in a small
amount of trapped water are prompting a new competition aimed
at stopping their spread — and it comes with significant prize
money. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced the “Halt the
Hitchhiker: Invasive Species Challenge,” a three-phase prize
competition designed to identify innovative solutions that stop
aquatic invasive species from spreading through watercraft
ballast compartments. Aquatic invasive species such as
quagga, zebra, and golden mussels can travel between
waterbodies in small amounts of water trapped in ballast
systems. The invasive mussels threaten water delivery and
hydropower infrastructure across the West.
