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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Lake Mead has declined about three feet in elevation since the
start of May, and officials are prepping for a future with less
water with an extended boat ramp at Hemenway Harbor. While
seasonal dips are normal this time of year, the reservoir is
about 10 feet lower than it was at this same time last
year. As of Monday, Lake Mead’s elevation clocked in at
1,059 feet, while Lake Powell to the northeast is at 3,558
feet. Both reservoirs are currently 32% full. Winter
totals have now been calculated, with the Upper Colorado region
tracking at just 58% of the median snowpack as of Monday. This
region is the source of most of Nevada’s annual water
supply. Current runoff projections from that snowpack are
at just 55%, continuing a troubling trend. Colorado River
streamflow has shrunk by about 20% since 2000.
Other snowmelt and water supply news around the West:
For the first time, water is flowing into the Species
Conservation Habitat Project at California’s beleaguered Salton
Sea—creating vital refuge for shorebirds and bringing
much-needed relief from airborne dust in nearby communities.
… The state-run Salton Sea Management Program announced the
water flows into the project’s east pond in early May. The
inflow is a mix of water from the Salton Sea and the New River.
This is the first step in the watering of the project. Toward
the end of the month, state officials expect to begin watering
the East Pond 1 Expansion Pond. Together, these ponds will
provide about 2,000 acres of new habitat for migrating
shorebirds, waterfowl and other waterbirds. … The
flooding will substantially reduce acreage of playa, exposed
lakebed that that can send clouds of windborne dust blowing
into nearby communities.
For decades, drilling a well in the Salinas Valley and its
outlying rural communities has required only one bureaucratic
step – applying to the county’s Environmental Health
Bureau for a ministerial permit and paying a one-time fee. But
with the advent of the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater
Sustainability Agency (SVBGSA) in 2017, that paradigm was no
longer sustainable. In the years since forming following
California’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
SVBGSA has been collecting data and creating reports to send to
the state Department of Water Resources to show proof the
region is on track to meet SGMA’s requirements to achieve
groundwater sustainability by 2040. If the Department of Water
Resources doesn’t think a GSA is effectively doing that, it is
empowered to step in and take over the process, which is the
worst-case scenario for stakeholders who want to retain local
control over managing their groundwater.
The Environmental Protection Agency and International Boundary
and Water Commission on Tuesday announced the fast-track
expansion of the International Wastewater Treatment Plant in
the Tijuana River Valley. The facility has been in a state of
disrepair for years and had been undergoing a remodel to double
its capacity at a cost of more than $600 million, the work was
slated to take several years to complete. But according to the
EPA and the IBWC, the construction will now be done in 100
days, expanding capacity from 25 million gallons to 35 million
per day. “It’s something we’ve been asking for a long
time,” said Paloma Aguirre, mayor of Imperial Beach, the
American city most affected by the sewage and pollution that
comes in from Mexico on a daily basis. The contamination
has forced the city’s beaches to be closed for more than 1,000
consecutive days.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency clashed with
Democratic senators Wednesday, accusing one of being an
“aspiring fiction writer” and saying another does not “care
about wasting money.’’ … The heated exchanges, at a
Senate hearing to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposal to
slash the agency’s budget in half, showed the sharp partisan
differences over Zeldin’s deregulatory approach. … Sen.
Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told Zeldin that a plan to cut EPA
spending by 55% means that, to Zeldin and Trump, “more than
half of the environmental efforts of the EPA … to make sure
Americans have clean air and clean water are
just a waste.” If approved by Congress, the budget cuts “will
mean there’s more diesel and more other particulate matter in
the air” and that “water that Americans drink is going to have
more chemicals,” Schiff said.
In 1987, the Carmel River Steelhead Association filed a
complaint with the State Water Resources Control Board, arguing
that utility company California American Water was pumping too
much water from the Carmel River to supply users in and around
the Monterey Peninsula, harming steelhead trout. That state
board agreed, and in 1995, issued Order 95-10, directing Cal Am
to find a replacement water supply for river water it was
illegally siphoning away from the habitat. It’s 30 years later,
and Cal Am has complied. Since 2021, it has pumped within its
legal limit (3,376 acre-feet per year) from the Carmel, down
from about 14,000 acre-feet at the time. And yet Order 95-10 is
still in place, with state officials calling for a “permanent
replacement” supply before lifting it. … For years, Cal
Am and leaders in the hospitality industry have argued a
“permanent replacement” will require massive new infrastructure
– specifically, a desalination plant.
The call of American bullfrogs was deafening when scientists
from the University of California, Davis, first began
researching the impact of invasive bullfrogs on native
northwestern pond turtles at Yosemite National Park. … But
the ponds of Yosemite sound different today, with a chorus of
native species making themselves heard. The researchers’ study,
published in the May issue of the journal Biological
Conservation, found that as the park was depopulated of
bullfrogs, northwestern pond turtles began to return. The study
suggests that removing invasive bullfrogs may be necessary in
priority conservation areas to help pond turtle populations
recover.
The California Tahoe Conservancy let the public tour its latest
restoration project at the former Motel 6 property in South
Lake Tahoe Wednesday. According to the group, the portion of
the Truckee River underneath the Motel 6 is the missing link
between miles of marshland that feeds into Lake Tahoe,
providing critical wetland habitat among other environmental
benefits. “These wetlands provide a lot of really important
functions. One of those is protecting and improving water
quality by providing natural filtration,” Senior Environmental
Scientist at the California Tahoe Conservancy Stuart Roll said.
In addition to helping keep Tahoe blue, the marshland habitat
is home to several ecosystems and wildlife. “Lots of species
use these wetland, and so restoring them and improving them
really helps biodiversity and ecosystems in Lake Tahoe,” Roll
said.
A few years ago, scientists started identifying a potentially
major culprit in the dramatic decline of the coho salmon
fishery — a chemical known as “6PPD-quinone,” a byproduct of a
chemical used in automotive tires. Throughout the course of
their life, tires deposit the precursor of this chemical
everywhere they travel. This precursor degrades into 6PPD-q and
enters the water system, killing coho in particular — a
protected species under the Endangered Species Act — with great
efficiency. Now, a new study from Humboldt Waterkeeper,
conducted in Eureka and Arcata throughout the last few months,
shows that you don’t need a huge, dense car population to
generate potentially lethal concentrations of 6PPD-q — regular
old parking lots seem to do it just fine. … The
study comes at a time when the California Assembly is
considering legislation — Assembly Bill 1313 — that would
require owners of large parking lots to acquire
stormwater discharge permits and mitigate
their runoff.
Water credits, farm equipment, a piece of the
farm itself. These are some of the assets farmers have sold
this year to finance their operations. Typically, many
farmers take out yearly operating loans to pay for labor,
fertilizer, fuel and other input costs, and then they pay back
the loans after harvesting and selling their crops. But as the
farm economy struggles, lenders have pulled back, and some
farmers are liquidating assets to continue
farming. “What’s happened is the working capital—those
loans—just dried up,” said Bill Berryhill, who farms in
Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Sacramento counties. “It’s a little
tough to farm without any operating money.” … In
addition to low commodity prices and high farming costs,
California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act has impacted lending and pushed some growers to
sell land, especially in the San Joaquin Valley.
A new study from the San Francisco Estuary Institute shows
concerning levels of “forever chemicals” — or per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances — in at least 10 fish species in the
San Francisco Bay, with contamination levels particularly high
in the southern region. PFAS chemicals are considered dangerous
due to their near-ubiquity in food and everyday-use products,
as well as their inability to break down easily in the body and
environment. They have been linked to a variety of conditions
and diseases, including some cancers and reproductive issues.
Studies have shown elevated PFAS levels in freshwater fish, and
even though saltwater fish tend to see lower amounts, Rebecca
Sutton, managing senior scientist at the San Francisco Estuary
Institute, said studying fish in bodies of water like the San
Francisco Bay is still critical.
According to a recent report from global water market data and
insights provider Bluefield Research, nearly one in five
gallons — 19.5% — of treated drinking water in the United
States is lost before it reaches customers or is improperly
billed. Known as non-revenue water (NRW), Bluefield estimates
that it costs utilities more than $6.4 billion (USD) in
uncaptured revenues annually. According to Bluefield, a major
contributor to water loss is vast and aging distribution
networks that span more than 2.2 million miles across the
country. Water main breaks are estimated to occur every two
minutes, placing significant financial, operational and
infrastructure burdens on utilities and their stakeholders.
Along with physical water loss, utilities also need to be
concerned about under-registering meters that may improperly
bill customers for their water usage, resulting in lost revenue
for the utility. The total value of the water lost from
physical leakage and water that goes unbilled, is non-revenue
water.
Fifteen California lawmakers from both parties are up in arms
over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest proposal to to use the budget
process to fast-track the Delta tunnel — a deeply
controversial, $20 billion plan to replumb the estuary and
funnel more water south. With the clock ticking for the
Legislature to pass a budget bill tackling the state’s $12
billion deficit, Newsom dropped a spending plan last week that
would add sweeping changes to permitting, litigation,
financing, and eminent domain and land acquisition issues aimed
at speeding approval of the massive
project. … Assembly and Senate Democrats and
Republicans representing Delta counties, including Sacramento,
Yolo, Contra Costa and San Joaquin, fired back in a letter last
week, saying it would “change several, separate parts of state
law to benefit only a portion of California, to the detriment
of Californians north of the Delta.”
Limited Chinook salmon fishing on sections of the Mokelumne,
Feather and American rivers is being reopened for the first
time in two years, the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife announced Tuesday. … The Department of Fish and
Wildlife says salmon stocks throughout the state have been
harmed by multiyear droughts, causing
inadequate spawning and migration conditions, ocean forage
shifts and thiamine deficiencies. Thiamine, also called Vitamin
B1, is an essential nutrient for salmon and their reproduction.
Scientists have theorized that anchovies, which are often prey
for salmon, produce the thiaminase enzyme that breaks down
thiamine. It’s believed warmer climates have caused anchovy
populations to shift to ocean areas where river salmon go to
grow and find food before returning to their rivers to spawn.
The western U.S. is experiencing a late-season snow drought,
according to an update Wednesday by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s National Integrated Drought
Information System. The diminished snowpack could result in
water supply issues and increased wildfire risk in the coming
months, the authors wrote. Above-normal temperatures and a lack
of precipitation in April and early May caused depletions even
in basins where snow had piled up in prior months.
… “While the rate of the snowmelt has not had a major
impact on forecasted April through July seasonal runoff, below
average spring precipitation has lowered runoff projections
slightly,” said Andy Reising, manager of the California
Department of Water Resources’ snow surveys and water supply
forecasting unit.
The Trump administration significantly cut funding for flood
prevention projects in blue states across the country while
creating new water construction opportunities in red states,
undoing a Biden-era budget proposal that would have allocated
money more evenly, according to a data analysis prepared by
Democratic staffers. California and the state
of Washington lost the most funds, with the administration
cutting water construction budget for those states by a
combined $606 million, according to the analysis, which was
shared with CNN. Texas, meanwhile, gained $206 million. …
Collectively, states with Democratic senators lost over $436
million in funding compared to what they would have received
under the last proposed budget of President Joe Biden’s
administration, the data analysis shows. Republican-led states
gained more than $257 million, the analysis shows.
… Throughout the West, pretty much every last drop of
Colorado River is used and accounted for. The majority of
Colorado’s allotment of the river is used for agriculture.
Human-caused climate change is stretching the river even
thinner, and drought persists. That means that the people who
rely on the river have to get creative when it comes to
conservation, especially in Colorado, where the river begins.
… It’s all part of Colorado’s complex water law system,
which states that water released from reservoirs must be put to
a “beneficial use.” That usually means using it for things like
irrigation or industry. The environment, and even fish,
historically haven’t counted. But there’s a workaround:
hydropower. It keeps the water in the river, and under state
law, it qualifies as beneficial.
… Arizonans across the state are facing rapidly declining
groundwater. Many officials, lawmakers, residents, and
conservation advocates say stemming the loss is urgent for
communities—and wildlife, too. In 2025, the Arizona Department
of Water Resources took an unprecedented step to declare the
Willcox groundwater basin a new “active management area” (AMA)
under the 1980 water law. The designation requires that large
groundwater consumers in (some parts) of Arizona report their
use, prohibits drilling large new wells and the expansion of
irrigated farmland, and sets goals to cut withdrawals over
time. Many now want to see that momentum spread statewide.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers recently introduced
bills that would end Arizona’s era of unlimited groundwater
extraction.
Contaminants known as “forever chemicals” have been discovered
in San Francisco Bay fish at levels that could pose a health
threat to people who eat fish caught there, according to new
research published today. Linked to an array of health
conditions such as cancers, heart disease and pregnancy
disorders, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances resist breaking
down in the environment. … Researchers from the San Francisco
Estuary Institute found the chemicals in striped bass,
largemouth bass, leopard shark, white croaker, white sturgeon
and other fish collected between 2009 and 2019 throughout San
Francisco Bay. Recreational and subsistence anglers catch
striped bass and the other fish from boats, shores or piers,
but they are not sold commercially.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) have
announced the expansion of the South Bay International
Wastewater Treatment Plant will be fast-tracked to be completed
in just over 3 months. The work is in an effort to reduce
polluted river flows and aims to address air and water quality
impacts in southern San Diego County. The USIBWC and EPA
announced Tuesday the South Bay International Wastewater
Treatment Plant that is located just north of the U.S.-Mexico
border along the Tijuana River in southern San Diego County
will be expanded from 25 to 35 million gallons per
day. The work will now take place in 100 days for the
project that was initially slated to take two years to
complete, USIBWC said.
