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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A coalition of farmers in Central Valley sent a letter to
President Trump on Monday, urging advancement of the
controversial Shasta Dam enlargement plan. The development
follows a series of letters sent late last year by local water
agencies, state Republican lawmakers and water contractors,
where they called the administration to fund the Shasta Dam
raise project using money from Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill
budget. The project is estimated to cost between $1.4 billion
and $2 billion. … Meanwhile, state officials and tribes
and environmental groups have argued the project would threaten
an already struggling salmon population and increase flood
risks.
Federal forecasters dramatically cut their estimates Friday for
how much water will flow down the Colorado River this year —
projections that now thrust the Trump administration into
politically contentious decisions about how to operate the
river’s dams. The Feb. 1 forecast the Colorado Basin Forecast
Center released last week projects the amount of water flowing
from the river’s headwaters into Lake Powell this year will be
one-third less compared with its already grim Jan. 1 forecast.
… The new forecast comes at a critical moment for the
management of the drought-riddled waterway, which serves 40
million people from Denver to Los Angeles to Phoenix. The
Interior Department’s deadline for a major new
water-sharing deal is less than one week away.
The Trump administration wants some of the world’s largest
technology companies to publicly commit to a new compact
governing the rapid expansion of AI data centers, according to
two administration officials granted anonymity to discuss
private conversations. A draft of the compact obtained by
POLITICO lays out commitments designed to ensure data centers
powering the AI boom do not raise household electricity prices,
strain water supplies or undermine grid
reliability — and that the companies driving power demand also
carry the cost of building new infrastructure. The proposed
pact, which is not final and could be subject to change …
could bind OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook parent
Meta and other AI giants to a broad set of energy,
water and community principles.
… For over a decade, [ecologist Greta] Wengert and her
colleagues have warned that illegal cannabis grows …
dangerously pollute California’s public lands and pristine
watersheds, with lasting consequences for ecosystems,
water and wildlife. … In recent work they
published with scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, the
team found that illegal grows pulsed pollutants from plastic,
painkillers, personal care products, pot and pesticides into
the soil that could be detected months or even years later.
Some contaminants also showed up in nearby streams.
… Force-feeding waterways the excess nutrients in
fertilizer can upend entire ecosystems and spur algae blooms.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is
inviting the public to its annual Salmon Information Meeting on
Feb. 25, 2026, at 1 p.m. The hybrid event will take place at
the California Natural Resources Agency Auditorium in
Sacramento and will be livestreamed online. The meeting will
provide an outlook for this year’s ocean salmon fisheries and
review last year’s salmon fisheries and inland spawner returns.
… The meeting marks the start of a two-month public
process to develop annual sport and commercial ocean salmon
fishing seasons.
The Westlands Water District Board of Directors has certified
the environmental review for the Valley Clean Infrastructure
Plan (VCIP), a master-planned renewable energy project that
aims to transform up to 136,000 acres of fallowed farmland into
clean energy infrastructure. The board voted unanimously on
December 16, 2025 to certify the Final Programmatic
Environmental Impact Report and approve the project. With no
lawsuits filed during the 30-day challenge period, the
certification is now final and cannot be contested.
… The project has been strategically sited on impaired
or fallowed agricultural land in areas affected by reduced
surface water supplies, groundwater depletion, and Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requirements.
A long-running dispute over water deliveries to the Diablo
Grande community in western Stanislaus County escalated again
this month, as the Kern County Water Agency said negotiations
with the community’s water provider have stalled over a $14
million debt. In a recent letter, the agency said it had
proposed “certain financial adjustments in an attempt to
significantly reduce Western Hills’ outstanding $14M financial
obligation,” and offered to modify water purchase volumes to
better align with the community’s demand. The agency said
Western Hills Water District declined those proposals and
instead requested payment terms “substantially below” the
agency’s actual cost of delivering water.
When the golden mussel was discovered near the Port of Stockton
in late 2024, lakes and reservoirs across Northern California
imposed new rules on boaters to try to keep the invasive
species out. EBMUD, the water supplier for most of the East
Bay, took no chances, banning all boats from entering its
reservoirs. On Sunday, after more than a year, they began
inviting boats back to the water, but they’re being very
careful about it. … EBMUD has decided the most effective
action is a 30-day quarantine. After an inspection to be
sure they’re completely clean and dry, boats will be tethered
to their trailers with sealed cables to prevent them from being
launched. After the waiting period, they will be allowed back
on the lake and then, upon leaving, given another sealed
tether, specific to San Pablo.
On Jan. 3rd, low-lying areas of Marin County were hit with
massive flooding from an unexpectedly high king tide.
Some say it is a preview of what will become common as sea
levels rise. And the city of San Rafael isn’t waiting for it to
become a reality to try and protect its most vulnerable
neighborhood. … The first proposal, Alternative 1, is to
raise all the edges of the creek, increasing the height of the
banks and flood walls. … Alternative 2 is to raise the outer
banks and add a gate at the end that can be closed when the
tide gets too high. That would cost more, but with sea level
rise projections, might only be effective until about the year
2050. Finally, Alternative 3 is a complete renovation of
the Canal District shoreline, removing about 550 existing homes
and raising the land high enough to safely redevelop on top of
it.
As water agencies across California grapple with the
increasingly extreme effects of climate change, they’re also
facing another problem: the incoming “silver tsunami.” That’s
the phrase coined by the industry to illustrate the fact that
much of the workforce — largely baby boomers — that keeps our
water flowing and safe are getting ready to retire. Nationwide,
about a third of the nation’s water workforce is eligible for
retirement within the next decade, “the majority being workers
with trade jobs in mission critical positions,” the
Environmental Protection Agency wrote in a 2024 report.
Climate change is making the Colorado River drier, and the
cities and farms that use it need to make big changes to their
demand for water. Negotiations about the future of sharing the
river have stalled, and the promise of sweeping, long-lasting
changes to water use in the Southwest are seeming less likely
as the weeks pass by. Now, a short-term fix may be on the
horizon. Negotiations have been at an impasse for months, and
officials are wringing their hands about the possibility of a
big multi-state court battle. Given the circumstances, some
experts say a short-term agreement might be a useful, albeit
imperfect, solution for the Colorado River.
… The states are currently staring down a Feb.
14 deadline to hand an agreement to the federal
government, but it seems unlikely that they will have a deal by
then.
After a run of spring‑like warmth and stubborn high pressure,
forecasters say California could finally see a shift toward
cooler, wetter conditions by mid‑February — a welcome sign for
skiers, water managers, and anyone hoping for more snow in
California. Meteorologists with the National Weather Service
(NWS) in Reno say the ridge that has kept storms away since
early January is beginning to show cracks. NOAA’s Climate
Prediction Center is now leaning toward a colder,
wetter stretch for the Sierra and parts of Northern
California later this month, though exact timing and
snow totals remain uncertain.
In a significant move for the Coachella and Imperial Valleys,
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has agreed to visit the
New River and Salton Sea to
witness firsthand the decades-long pollution crisis affecting
the region. The commitment came during a high-level roundtable
discussion in Coronado on Thursday, where Assemblyman Jeff
Gonzalez (R-Indio) joined Zeldin, SBA Administrator Kelly
Loeffler, and regional leaders to address cross-border
water contamination. While the meeting primarily
focused on the Tijuana River, Gonzalez pivoted the conversation
toward the East Desert, arguing that the New River presents an
even more severe and enduring threat to public health.
… The rapid growth of data centers across Nevada, and their
enormous energy and water demands, took center
stage at the annual Nevada Water Resources Association
conference last week. Rapid growth also means data centers need
large plots of available and scalable land, leading tech
companies and data center developers to eye rural
landscapes. … Much of Nevada has suffered through
severe drought conditions for years. More than half of the
state’s groundwater basins are already “over-appropriated,”
meaning farmers and communities are drawing down groundwater
reservoirs faster than they can be
refilled. Despite the lack of water in Nevada,
there are several benefits that have attracted developers to
build in the driest state in the union.
It’s a pivotal time for water in Southern California — and
Shivaji Deshmukh is at the center of it.
Deshmukh took over last month as general manager of the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a
sprawling, aging system that pipes water hundreds of miles to
19 million people in Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland
Empire and San Diego. … Deshmukh must figure out how to
keep this delicate water puzzle together, all while dealing
with the politics of a 38-member board and regional power
struggles both inside and outside of California. He spoke with
POLITICO about the balance between affordability and
reliability and his early priorities in the wake of leadership
tumult at the agency.
A Superior Court judge is weighing whether greater regulation
in La Paz County undermines or intensifies the state’s legal
claim over whether Fondomonte Arizona, a Saudi-owned
alfalfa farm, is illegally pumping excessive
groundwater. Yet while Attorney General Kris Mayes pursues
Fondomonte on public nuisance charges, the Arizona Department
of Water Resources implemented a new active management area for
groundwater in the Ranegras Plain Basin. Now, ADWR is tasked
with assessing current groundwater use, exempting existing
users, blocking new irrigation and implementing water reporting
and management plans to protect an area’s water supply — all of
which could impact a decision on whether Fondomonte’s
agricultural operations constitute a public nuisance.
A Native American tribe and coalition of environmentalists are
challenging the Trump administration’s approval of a mine
expansion that could threaten one of Nevada’s most
delicate ecosystems. In a federal lawsuit filed
Wednesday, the Timbisha Shoshone tribe, Center for
Biological Diversity and Amargosa Conservancy allege that the
Bureau of Land Management failed to fully consider
environmental harm when it greenlit St. Cloud
Mining to drill 43 holes adjacent to its existing Ash
Meadows mine. … St. Cloud Mining intends to drill 200 feet
into the ground and is expected to hit the groundwater
table at about 100 feet, according to company plans
cited in a Wednesday news release issued by the plaintiffs.
The Sierra Club California has raised concerns about one of the
two new water bills introduced by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla,
warning that “loopholes” in the current language could allow
federal funding to be steered toward large water conveyance
projects the group opposes, including California’s
controversial Delta tunnel. The MORE WATER Act, which Padilla
unveiled in a news release on Wednesday, would reauthorize
federal funding for large-scale water recycling projects and
create a new Water Conveyance Improvement Program to benefit
existing water conveyance infrastructure across the West.
The Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission will
hold a meeting Thursday to discuss water storage options as the
county prepares for PG&E’s plan to shutter the Potter
Valley Project. The meeting will be at 5 p.m. Thursday at the
Mendocino County Administration Center in Ukiah. … The
Inland Water and Power Commission is a joint powers authority
that works to protect the Russian and Eel river watersheds and
ensure Mendocino County’s water sources are safeguarded. The
board is working to find solutions, such as creating water
storage, once the Potter Valley Project is decommissioned.
If the golden mussel invasion that already is
expanding throughout much of California hits the Eastern
Sierra, the damage it will bring will ripple far beyond
recreational fishing, according to state officials. Nick
Buckmaster, an environmental specialist with the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the Inyo County Board of
Supervisors Tuesday that the invasive species is “amazingly”
resilient and that its adaptability makes it effectively
impossible to eradicate.
