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 cities of Phoenix and Tucson are setting up a new system
for sharing water among cities, towns and other water users in
Arizona. City officials are framing it as a way to help keep
cities around the state from going dry in the face of a
shrinking Colorado River. The program, which will be called the
“Secure Water Arizona Program” or “SWAP” will create an
emergency reserve of water and connect cities that are
interested in buying and selling water from other cities and
businesses. … SWAP is designed to be a completely
voluntary program that can help cities and towns facing water
cutbacks.
Members of the House Natural Resources Committee debated
Wednesday whether to give local water contractors input into
Endangered Species Act reviews, as shrinking water supplies
across the West increasingly put agricultural and environmental
needs at odds. The Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and
Fisheries reviewed H.R.8259, the “Federal Water Projects
Consultation Improvement Act,” which would require federal
agencies to involve local contractors during ESA biological
assessments, which can dictate when and how much water flows.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.), focuses on
the Bureau of Reclamation which operates across 17 western
states. That includes the Klamath Basinin Oregon [and California], where Reclamation
is rewriting the endangered species rules that govern its dams
and pumps.
Summer 2026 is expected to bring a volatile mix of heat, severe
thunderstorms and flooding to the United States, with El Niño
developing and flexing its influence on the weather pattern.
… Flooding can also be a concern in the
Southwest and southern Rockies when the North American monsoon
ramps up and tropical moisture surges northward. … While
flooding is a concern in some parts of the country,
drought is expected to worsen in others.
Drought conditions are likely to expand across the Northwest
and Northern California. … Moisture
could start to arrive near the end of June, which is slightly
earlier than normal. That may bring some welcome relief to the
Southwest after a hot, dry start to the summer.
San Luis Obispo County is investigating the potential for
building a desalination facility as a new drinking water
source. As weather patterns change and the length of droughts
increase due to climate change, the county is interested in
pursuing a drinking water source that doesn’t rely on
rainfall. … The San Luis Obispo County Flood
Control and Water Conservation District launched an almost $1.2
million feasibility study to evaluate where a desalination
facility could be located, how it could be funded and what
communities could use the water, San Luis Obispo Public Works
Department resource management group deputy director Courtney
Howard said.
There is no need to wait to show your love for the Water
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West. In conjunction with the Big Day of Giving, we are
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water map or guide!
The California Department of Water Resources says it is ending
its invasive mussel inspection program at Lake Oroville, the
Thermalito Forebay and the Thermalito Afterbay. Effective
Wednesday, DWR says watercraft inspections, decontamination
services and seal checking at the Oroville facilities are no
longer required. … The decision to implement an
invasive mussel boat inspection program at DWR’s Oroville
facilities in May 2025 was based on available information about
how best to protect DWR infrastructure from golden mussel
establishment. Additional analyses of golden mussel biology and
habitat requirements, as well as an assessment of DWR’s
Oroville infrastructure, have shown a lower risk of golden
mussel establishment than was originally anticipated.
Salmon are becoming river ‘ghosts’ as brutal droughts and
violent floods cause unprecedented losses on their treacherous
journey to the Pacific Ocean, scientists say. A major study led
by the University of Essex, NOAA Fisheries, University
of California, Davis, and Cramer Fish Sciences found
that young Californian Chinook salmon face a
deadly double threat from extreme weather and the destruction
of historical wetland habitats they rely on. The study
emphasised how deadly droughts are for young fish and how they
thrive in wetter conditions. However, the results also
indicated that in modern, simplified rivers, extreme flows
during winter storms can be devastating too.
Arizona judges won’t force state officials to determine if
there should be greater state oversight of water use along the
upper San Pedro River. In a new ruling Wednesday, the state
Court of Appeals acknowledged that state law requires the
Arizona Department of Water Resources to “periodically review”
whether to create what are known as “active management areas”
in parts of the state which now have minimal to no limits on
groundwater pumping. Such a designation would
give the state the power to impose new restrictions on pumping.
The court did not dispute arguments by two environmental groups
that it has been more than 20 years since the state agency
conducted such a review of the area.
Colorado forecasters expect the recent pattern of wetter,
cooler weather to continue into the start of May, offering
relief — but not real healing — from drought conditions after a
historically hot, dry winter. … Widespread drought conditions
persist across Colorado, with the U.S. Drought Monitor showing
nearly the entire Western Slope under extreme — Level 3 of 4 —
or exceptional — Level 4 of 4 — drought conditions. The
northwest corner of Colorado is facing some of the worst
drought conditions in the entire country. … [T]he drought
conditions are so severe that the precipitation, which is about
average for April, will hardly make a dent.
… Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural
Resources Committee, has opened an investigation into the Trump
administration’s role in brokering a potential deal that would
send Eel River water to a water district in Southern
California, roughly 600 miles away. The controversy centers on
the Potter Valley Project, a pair of aging dams on the Eel
River that PG&E no longer wants to operate. Under a deal
reached in early 2025 and supported by tribal nations,
conservation groups and five counties, the Scott and Cape Horn
dams were set to be removed, which would have made the Eel the
longest free-flowing river in California and reopened hundreds
of miles of salmon habitat.
California’s state parks system is getting larger, following a
trio of new additions announced on Earth Day. State
officials said the three parks will be located in an area where
these public spaces have long been few and
far-between. They are the Feather River
Park near Olivehurst in Yuba County — the county’s
first state park — the San Joaquin River
Parkway in Fresno and Madera counties, and the Dust
Bowl Camp near Bakersfield in Kern County. … State Parks
Director Armando Quintero spoke with Insight Host Vicki
Gonzalez about these latest efforts to expand recreational and
conservation efforts in the Central Valley.
When you think about how California’s water travels, you might
imagine the water cycle diagram many of us were shown in
elementary school: evaporation, transpiration, condensation,
precipitation. However, the reality is a bit more complicated,
especially in California’s spring-fed systems, which
are of critical importance for water security for both
fish and people. … In 2023, CalTrout and our
partners embarked on a three-year study to provide a
scientifically based toolset to better understand, manage, and
advance the protection of the cold, clean spring waters in the
Upper Sacramento River Basin. New research
from CalTrout and our partners at UC Davis, Lawrence Livermore
Lab, and Cal State East Bay is revealing how these spring
systems actually work, and how resilient they may be as
California’s climate changes.
With watering restrictions in place in many communities
across the Denver metro area, more people are considering
different ways to conserve water and use it in their lawns.
Installing a rain barrel can be a great option, but there are
some rules in place for how you can use that water.
… Under Colorado state law, homeowners can install up to
two rain barrels with a combined storage of 110 gallons of
water or less. … Rainwater that’s collected can be used
only for outdoor use, like watering your lawns, plants, or
gardens. … The rainwater collected must also be used
outdoors on the same property it was collected on.
As thirsty downstream states along the Colorado
River drainage continue to clamor for water,
Wyoming is having problems of its own, as
indicated by low levels at Fontenelle Reservoir in
Lincoln County. As of early April, Fontenelle Reservoir was at
49% of its full storage capacity, according to the Bureau of
Reclamation — despite March inflows roughly 99% of average.
Downstream from Fontenelle, Flaming Gorge Reservoir will be
drawn down between 660,000 and up to 1 million
acre-feet between now and April 2027, according to the Bureau
of Reclamation. … So far, there are not any plans for
similar drawdowns at Fontenelle Reservoir. But some Wyomingites
wonder if that’s inevitable as drought conditions persist
across the West.
A Northern California member of Congress is opening an inquiry
into the Trump administration’s bid to stop dam removal on the
Eel River, citing potential legal,
environmental, economic and water-supply problems. Rep. Jared
Huffman, D-San Rafael, wants details on why Agriculture
Secretary Brooke Rollins is advocating for a Southern
California water agency to buy the century-old Potter Valley
hydroelectric project in Mendocino and Lake counties,
including its two dams, and continue operating
it. … “My concern is that this is part of a bigger
water play,” Huffman told the Chronicle. … “There’s also a
history here that can’t be divorced from this moment: Folks in
Southern California and the Central Valley have had their eye
on Eel River water for a long time.”
San Joaquin County leaders are declaring a local state of
emergency due to the impact of golden mussels in the area. The
San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors passed a motion Tuesday
to declare the local emergency on golden mussels, an invasive
species that officials say are threatening the local
ecosystem and infrastructure in Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. By declaring the resolution, the board of
supervisors are requesting that Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaim a
state of emergency and multiple state agencies, including the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Water
of Resources and State Water Resources Control Board, provide
assistance on the issue.
… [T]he second-largest new data center being considered
statewide … would be less than half a mile from … the
center of Imperial Valley. If finished by 2028, as the
developer expects, the at least 950,000-square-foot, two-story
data center could be the largest operating statewide, taking up
17 football fields’ worth of land. The roughly $10
billion, 330-megawatt data center would require 750,000 gallons
of water a day to operate, said developer Sebastian Rucci, who
insists electricity and water costs won’t rise due to the data
center. … On top of the data center boom in California,
the hundreds of water districts, a deepening
Southwestern megadrought and the diminishing of the Colorado
River increasingly complicate water issues.
On Tuesday, April 28, Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz (CA-25) pressed
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Administrator
Lee Zeldin at the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on
Environment hearing on the FY2027 EPA Budget, securing a
commitment from the administrator to visit the New River
region, engage with the binational water quality study, and
apply the same federal model used to address the Tijuana River
crisis to the New River in the Imperial Valley. … Ruiz
detailed the severe conditions facing communities along the New
River, which originates south of Mexicali carrying raw sewage,
industrial waste, pesticides, and heavy metals across the
border into Calexico before traveling sixty miles through
Imperial County and emptying into the Salton
Sea.
Large swaths of the United States are in desperate need of
soaking rainfall as drought continues to deepen. … The
driest state compared with its average has been
Utah, where there has been a 59 percent
reduction in precipitation since October. Not far behind are
Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, seeing a 46,
43 and 39 percent reduction, respectively. “The West’s
hydrology and climate are very much out of sync with the
historical rhythm,” said assistant Utah state climatologist Jon
Meyer. … Record low winter snowfall and record high
March temperatures resulted in extremely premature snowpack
melt and dismal water runoff volumes. That is also the case in
Colorado, where “the mountain snowpack is in historically bad
shape,” Colorado state climatologist Russ Schumacher wrote
earlier this month.
A bill that would have effectively weakened protections for
animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was
pulled last-minute before a vote by the U.S. House of
Representatives on Earth Day (April 22). For endangered
California condors and steelhead trout
recovering in the backcountry canopies and streams of Los
Padres National Forest, no vote is good news, according to
Central Coast environmental groups. … It would have
slowed the process of listing species and fast-tracked
delisting — meaning, if the federal government wished to remove
any species from protection, it would have been able to
do so more quickly.
