A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation Writer Matt Jenkins.
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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.
With a strong El Niño increasing the odds of big storms this
fall and winter, California is on alert for possible
flooding. But if it delivers a wet punch, it will also
bring an upside: a bonanza of water. How
prepared is the state to capitalize on El Niño? And what more
can it do to take advantage of an extremely wet year? Experts
say California has made progress capturing more
stormwater, but there is still more it can
do. Los Angeles County uses a network of 27
spreading grounds, where artificial basins fill up when storms
send torrents cascading down from the mountains into the San
Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. The water sinks into porous
soil and replenishes the groundwater.
… Southwestern states for years have sought to find new
sources of water in a drying region, and
desalination, the process of removing salt
from ocean water to make it potable, is one of the
solutions they’re studying. Arizona advanced one such
project on Sept. 16, which proposes to provide water for Mexico
in exchange for part of the state’s share of Colorado River
water. The proposed Northern Gulf of California Desalination
Project calls for Arizona to build a plant in the Gulf
of California to supply drinking water to residents in
Baja California, Mexico. Arizona would then use some of
Mexico’s supply of Colorado River water to augment its
own. But the project faces the same challenge
threatening water throughout the region — too little Colorado
River water to go around.
Following nearly a decade of investment in the agrarian
Suisun Valley, Caymus Vineyards is fighting
a state water conservation policy that it sees
as a threat to the burgeoning wine region. Solano County’s
23-square-mile Suisun Valley has been recognized as an American
Viticultural Area since 1982, but it was largely unknown as a
wine destination before Caymus …. Over the last year, [Caymus
Vice President Michael] Carlson has worked to raise local
awareness of a state policy change that would restrict
the amount of water that the county can tap from nearby Putah
Creek. Caymus says the new policy could stunt the
region’s growth by limiting the water available for grape
growing, wine production and urban development. Carlson’s
concern stems from a pending update to the Bay Delta
Plan, which governs the flow of water from California
streams into the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta.
A tech developer has asked a Nye County judge to toss out a
ban on data centers in one of the state’s most
overstressed water basins that serves Pahrump. In a
statement, developer Sean Dalesandro said his company is asking
for a judge to uphold a principle of fairness, adding that he
believes the ban unlawfully disregarded a significant
investment into zoning. His company’s previously proposed data
center project, the Manse Technology Campus, drew protests from
hundreds of residents. … The legal petition is in
response to a ban on data centers in basin 162, the
Pahrump Valley Hydrographic Basin, where water rights
committed on paper to property owners outweigh
the annual yield by more than three to one.
A flotilla of boats cruising the San Joaquin
River Friday gave nearly 90 scientists, water
management officials and leaders from 19 U.S. states and four
Canadian provinces a closer look at the threat posed by
golden mussels. The Western Regional Panel on Aquatic
Nuisance Species ended its annual meeting with the tour
embarking from Stockton. The group got a firsthand look at
the mussels’ impacts in San Joaquin County,
including how the species clings to boats, water pumps, pipes
and other infrastructure. … Meanwhile, elected officials
from San Joaquin County were in Washington, D.C., this week in
part to drum up more federal support for the golden
mussel problem.
When water managers in Arizona are trying to plan for how much
water they’ll get from rivers and reservoirs, they look to the
mountain snow. A new study compares
different programs for measuring that
snow, and found that they produce
wildly different estimates. The study, published in
the journal Water Resources Research, mostly found problems
with long-term models, and said most water managers in
the Southwest are using more accurate systems for
predicting the amount of water in reservoirs in the near term.
High-altitude snow is far more important to the
Southwest’s water supply than summer rains, so getting
accurate data about that snow is pivotal for the people who
make plans for the water that flows to cities and farms across
the region.
About a mile downstream from Guerneville, Sarah Dale’s Russian
River dock is marooned on a silty, bone-dry riverbed. …
Normally, a branch of the Russian River would be coursing past
their dock in their Neeley Road hamlet and teeming with otters,
herons, kayakers and swimmers. But for the past two summers,
this part of the river has run dry. In August 2024, an
I-beam failed on a seasonal dam downstream in a community
called Vacation Beach, and repairs have
lagged. … When the dam broke in August 2024, the
district initially seemed on track to fix the problem, but by
spring 2025 had announced that the dam would not be installed
in June after the state Division of Safety of Dams barred its
reinstallation without environmental reviews and other
permits.
From September 28–30, researchers from the Center for Watershed
Sciences (CWS) will join colleagues from across California at
the 2026 Bay-Delta Science Conference in Sacramento. The
conference brings together scientists, policymakers, engineers,
resource managers, knowledge holders, community advocates,
artists, and others to think about the future of California’s
Bay-Delta. This year’s theme, “The Opportunity of Change:
Building and Being the Future Together,” focuses on envisioning
a more connected and resilient California system where science
is central to solutions in the Bay-Delta. Here’s a glance
at what to expect!
Microplastics are occurring at a higher concentration in the
Truckee River than in Lake Tahoe by a factor of 3-4, according
to a recently published study. Researchers say this could mean
the extra pollution is coming from the river’s surrounding
landscape and emphasize that reducing single-use plastics is
critical to protecting the river’s water quality. It’s another
study within the last few years seeking to understand this
ubiquitous material and how it impacts human and environmental
health. … Adding further context, the Truckee River’s
concentrations are comparable to those found in studies of
other Western rivers. The Truckee River’s role in
providing drinking water to half a million people is just one
implication of this data.
Proposition 45 would create streamlined procedures for a range
of construction projects, from transportation and water
infrastructure to green energy development, to receive approval
under the California Environmental Quality Act, the state’s
signature land use law. The measure is pushed by business,
construction and affordable housing advocacy groups who say the
state’s burdensome regulations and the lawsuits that often dog
development projects are causing California to fall behind in
building essential infrastructure. A large coalition of
environmental groups, joined by some labor unions and the
California Democratic Party, oppose the measure, saying that
Proposition 45 would lead to less local control over building
projects and more environmental degradation.
From Humboldt Bay south to San Diego Bay, California is home to
about 1.3 million acres of bays and estuaries, including three
of national significance: Morro Bay, Santa Monica Bay and the
San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Often referred
to as “nurseries of the sea,” estuaries provide nutrient-rich
habitat for native plants and animals. They are also vital to
California’s economy, protecting the quality of water needed
for drinking, agriculture and commercial and recreational
fishing. … “Estuaries are ecological hotspots that
provide habitat for wildlife, act as natural filters that trap
pollutants and help prevent saltwater intrusion,” said Nick
Martorano, assistant deputy director for the State Water
Resources Control Board’s Division of Water Quality.
… After a scorching summer with temperatures climbing above
100 degrees, nearly 70% of California is now
experiencing either abnormal dryness or drought,
according to the latest date from the U.S. Drought Monitor.
… In January, none of California was experiencing
drought conditions, marking the first time in 25 years that the
state had been completely drought-free, according to the U.S.
Drought Monitor. … At the same time, a potentially
historic “El Niño is strengthening” in the Pacific, according
to federal forecasters. This could bring wetter
conditions to parts of California later this fall and
winter. Here’s a look at California’s current
drought conditions, water supplies and what El Niño could bring
in the months ahead.
Two water storage projects in Kern and Tulare
counties received $34 million in federal grants
through the Bureau of Reclamation’s Small Storage Grant
Program, according to an announcement Thursday. The
lion’s share of that funding, about $25 million, will go to the
Kern Fan Project, a 1,300-acre groundwater banking
project with an environmental “twist” that has been
under construction since 2024. Specifically, this latest
federal grant will help pay for a canal within the Kern
Fan Project to bring excess water off the California Aqueduct
in wet years into the bank. … The remainder of
the recent Bureau of Reclamation grant funding, about $9.28
million, will help repurpose an old gravel mine in
Tulare County to develop a 235-acre reservoir.
The Colorado River Conservation Water District’s multi-year bid
to acquire the historic Shoshone water rights on the
Colorado River has required collaboration, strange
bedfellows, bipartisan support and intense
fellowship. While the River District wants this spirit of
partnership to continue as the deal moves through
Colorado Water Court, it won’t compromise values — nor
those of the 17 Western Slope counties the district represents
— to do so, according to General Manager Andy Mueller.
… The Shoshone water rights are among the oldest
non-consumptive rights on the Colorado River, dating back to
1902 and 1929. …With the 1902 Shoshone right senior
to many others on the Colorado River, it gets priority
over junior rights — including those on the Western Slope and
many transmountain diversions that carry water to the Front
Range — when flows drop below 1,480 cubic feet per second.
… Nearly two years ago, as flames from the
catastrophic Eaton and Palisades fires
devoured Los Angeles County communities, everyone from wealthy
developer Rick Caruso to then-President-elect Donald Trump
wanted to know: where was the water? … The report that
dropped last November concluded Los Angeles’ water supplies
were robust but local water systems aren’t designed to
suppress “firestorm conditions impacting an entire
neighborhood of homes at the same time.” Nearly a year later,
though, state agencies haven’t issued specific
recommendations or guidance beyond the basics. … The
gap has left local fire services and water suppliers on
their own to figure out how to fight the growing
threat of wildfires in their own communities.
A new report from Pew Research finds cyberattacks
targeting U.S. water systems are on the rise including
incidents this summer tracked by the FBI which threatened
operations across seven states. While federal law enforcement
officials did not identify states impacted by a rash of
intrusion attempts in July, Utah facilities were among
those in the crosshairs of cyber criminals in recent
attacks. That includes a series of incidents outlined in an
intelligence note reviewed by ABC News that confirmed Utah
public safety officials “identified targeted reconnaissance”
against the state’s water infrastructure last fall.
… Cyberattacks on water systems can include
ransomware incidents, breaches of customer data and
intrusions into operational technology that can
disrupt service, damage infrastructure or compromise
technologies used to operate and monitor water systems.
U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) on Thursday issued a
call for a “pause” on data centers in New Mexico, and released
a set of standards she said such developments should meet
before receiving approval. … Leger Fernández’s
announcement also comes as state lawmakers gear up to consider
a data center moratorium during next year’s legislative
session. … Leger Fernández, in a news release, said data
centers should abide by certain provisions if elected, which
she titled the No Blank Checks for Data Centers Principles.
Those principles include being able to demonstrate that a data
center won’t increase electricity bills or negatively impact
water resources and must meet the state’s renewable energy
requirements.
NOAA’s National Weather Service announced today that Flood
Inundation Mapping (FIM), a revolutionary tool for predicting
river flooding, is now available on an experimental basis to
nearly 100% of the U.S. population. This is a massive expansion
from FIM’s prior coverage of 60% of the country. FIM
produces estimates of land area covered in water based on model
forecast river flows and current conditions that predict where
flooding impacts may occur in the following days. It’s a tool
for forecasters, emergency managers and the public that alerts
users to the latest river and stream flooding conditions.
… It depicts flooding potential along 3.3 million river
miles throughout the continental U.S., U.S. territories and
Hawaii.
Nearly $7 million in grant funding is boosting a project to
restore marshlands and add sea-level protections in San
Rafael’s Canal neighborhood. The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency awarded a $5 million grant to the Marin Audubon Society
this week to support the rehabilitation of Tiscornia Marsh, a
project years in the making. The marsh occupies 20 acres north
of Pickleweed Park and the Albert J. Boro Community Center.
… The funding announcement came just days after the
California Ocean Protection Council approved a $1.9 million
grant to the nonprofit for the same project. [Marin Audubon
Society president Barbara] Salzman said the project team has
hit its funding goal and is seeking permits to begin
construction in 2027.
Days before El Dorado County’s new Mosquito Road Bridge is set
to open to the public, residents are raising concerns about
construction debris they say they found scattered along the
banks and in the South Fork of the American River below the
project. … [Resident Cory] Blair said the group saw plastic,
buckets, pieces of wood, foam and other materials along the
riverbank. In the water, he said they found items including
rebar, wire, metal pins and plates. … After receiving
additional information describing rebar and construction
equipment, the Department of Transportation notified the
project’s contractor on Sept. 16 and directed it to plan for
the removal of project-related material, the county said.
