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 San Juan River crested below historic levels officials had
feared, but flooding continued across southwestern Colorado on
Monday as saturated ground and additional rain heightened the
risk of more water inundating communities and roads. As of 6
a.m. Monday, the San Juan River stood about 16 feet,
which is above major flooding levels but below the levels
forecast Sunday. … With the ground already
saturated and infrastructure damaged by last week’s storm,
Sunday’s rain compounded flooding problems across the region.
… Rain is forecast to continue to fall Monday
and widespread flooding and washed-out roads will make
travel nearly impossible, the National Weather Service said.
The agency also warned of a high risk of landslides,
rockfalls and debris flows.
Kern County water managers and officials were left scratching
their heads after the California Governor’s Office of Emergency
Services (CalOES) refused to declare an
emergency due to golden mussels because
“…there is no identified long-term solution to eliminate or
control the continuation of the Golden Mussel
Invasion,” according to a letter from CalOES. Without
an emergency declaration, local water agencies aren’t eligible
for California Disaster Assistance Act funding to help defray
what’s conservatively estimated to be more than $36
million in annual costs to combat the invasive pest.
… Meanwhile, the best locals can do is tamp down
infestations within their own systems, which has become an
expensive ongoing game of Whac-a-Mole for some.
Microplastics are everywhere — including in Nevada’s snowpack.
After years of skiing on freshly fallen snow in remote
locations across the Sierra Nevada, Aleksandra Karapetrov — an
environmental toxicologist at the University of California,
Riverside — wondered how pristine the snow really
was. Over six months, Karapetrov and a team of University
of California, Riverside scientists tested fresh
snowfall at seven sites across the Sierra Nevada and found
something they did not expect: a steady delivery of tiny
plastic fibers, even in the most remote locations.
… The study, published this month in the journal
Environmental Science and Technology, found significant
amounts of microplastics in fresh snowfall at both remote and
populated sites across the Sierra Nevada, which
supplies about 60% of freshwater in northern Nevada.
Arizona is turning up the heat on a new federal plan for
managing the Colorado River. Major cutbacks are coming for the
state’s water supply. Top water officials say the cuts are
unfair and illegal. Now, they’re taking that argument to court.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources filed a motion to
intervene in Nevada’s lawsuit against the federal government.
The Central Arizona Project — which operates a 336-mile canal
system that carries Colorado River Water to the Phoenix and
Tucson areas — did the same less than two weeks later. …
Water law experts say this case will take a while to
play out, and reading between the lines of its
argument, states are propping the door open for a much
more consequential court battle some call the “nuclear
option.” So, what does the latest lawsuit do, what
doesn’t it do, and what does it mean for the future of
Arizona’s water?
The rivers in the sky hold the key. The
strength, location and duration of atmospheric rivers – ribbons
of water vapor that extend thousands of miles from the tropics
to the western United States – will be the deciding
factor in how much rain and snow falls in California this
winter, and whether a disastrous “ARkStorm” flood could
conceivably occur, experts told USA TODAY. … ”I
am concerned about this winter,” Daniel Swain, a climate
scientist with the University of California Agriculture and
Natural Resources, told USA TODAY. “Due to the very strong El
Niño, the risk of a severe ARkStorm-like flood resulting from
weeks of heavy precipitation is more likely in a year like this
one.” …The original ARkStorm scenario was developed in 2010
by scientists mostly from the U.S. Geological Survey, and
reflected the potential for a flood event of truly
biblical proportions.
California water regulators approved a sweeping, yet
controversial plan to manage the use of water in the state’s
rivers on Thursday, with the goal of halting the
ecological decline of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta. Known as the Bay Delta Plan, the
years-in-the-making policy lays out new terms for how much
river water can be taken for cities and farms, from the Bay
Area to Southern California, so enough is left to flow to
the delta, a vast estuary and water supply hub for 30
million people. The plan, backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom,
is centered on a novel arrangement that has spurred endless
debate: Urban and agricultural water agencies can avoid the
strictest of water regulations by agreeing to help restore
overburdened rivers. The agreed-upon restoration work is seen
as a way to win buy-in for the plan while improving river
health, and ultimately the state of the delta.
Water managers throughout the San Joaquin Valley are closely
watching the latest groundwater twist in the Merced subbasin,
which could see the region headed back under the enforcement
thumb of the [State] Water Resources Control Board. Even
though Merced’s groundwater plan initially got the green light
from the Department of Water Resources in 2023,
subsidence still isn’t being dealt with to the state’s
liking. Consequently, the subbasin’s plan got an
“incomplete” rating on a recent five-year
review. That’s just one step away from “inadequate,” which
would send it back to the Water Board and possible
probation, which comes with a host of fees and
reporting requirements. Merced’s three groundwater
sustainability agencies (GSAs) have 180 days to address
deficiencies outlined in an Oct. 8 letter from the
DWR.
The Karuk Tribe is urging California’s U.S. Senators to oppose
legislation that would make changes to federal permitting,
historic preservation protections, and environmental review
requirements. The legislation, known as the Bipartisan American
Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, or S. 5653, would make
broad changes thattribal organizations, including the Karuk
Tribe, say would alter the way federal agencies assess the
impacts of projects on tribal cultural sites and historic
properties, change water quality certification requirements,
extend the term of pollution permits, and alter certain aspects
of the endangered species review. … [Karuk Tribes natural
resources policy consultant Craig] Tucker said several
provisions the bill targets relate to the laws tribes and
environmental groups relied on during the Klamath dam removal
process. … [Karuk Vice Chair Kenneth] Brink said
weakening those authorities could make similar outcomes more
difficult to achieve in the future.
… [T]he Los Angeles Department of Water and Power continues
to divert water from the Mono Basin, even after the city has
pledged to source 70% of its water locally by 2035 and is in
the process of building up expansive resources to recycle
water. … Now, the Mono Lake Committee is petitioning
California water authorities to stop Los Angeles from taking
any water from the Mono Basin at all. They argue that if Los
Angeles stops diverting water, more water would go back to Mono
Lake faster. … The movement to save Mono Lake is
rekindling, preparing to fight big city interests once more at
an upcoming hearing held by the California State Water
Resources Control Board. At the heart of the contentious,
ongoing clash is a similar question to the one David [Gaines,
founder of the Mono Lake Committee] asked 50 years ago: Can we
sustain the natural resources that prop up the biggest cities
in the West? Or will climate change force us to choose?
A Marin County neighborhood with a deteriorating coastal
barrier is already feeling the impacts of king tides and
coastal flooding sweeping into the Bay Area this
week. … The North Bay started to feel the effects
earlier this week when flooded roadways stranded a driver in
Mill Valley, and now officials are focusing on a deteriorating
2-mile levee protecting 700 homes in an unincorporated
community of San Rafael. … Bordering Gallinas Creek near
where it empties into San Francisco Bay, the neighborhood was
originally built as a luxury canal development modeled after
Venice, Italy. … In September, the Marin County
Flood Control District submitted an additional environmental
review for the proposed Santa Venetia floodwall — a massive
upgrade to replace the current levee system. It has also asked
property owners to consider donating an easement so it can use
their property to “construct, inspect, maintain, repair or
replace flood protection infrastructure.”
Ocean waters off Long Beach were closed to swimmers Saturday
after a sewer main break, and it’s unclear when the water will
be considered safe to enter. … About 29,000 gallons of
sewage was discharged near Livingston Drive and 2nd Street
beginning around 6:30 p.m. Friday, the Long Beach Utilities
Department reported. The spill was caused by a break in a
“force main,” a pressurized pipe used to convey wastewater
across flat or upward terrain. Long Beach Utilities rerouted
the sewage flow with a bypass line and called in emergency
contractor Ocean Blue to assist with spill cleanup efforts. Of
the 29,000-gallon total spill volume, 15,000 gallons of sewage
was recovered, and 14,000 gallons was discharged to the ocean,
the city said. Repairs on the broken pipe are underway.
… [T]here truly is a Drowned California – underwater remains
of villages, towns, sacred sites, burial areas, roads, bridges,
train tunnels, and more flooded by dams and other waterworks
throughout California’s long history of controlling water
flows. … The removal of dams along the Klamath River
exposed previously flooded places like the Shasta Villages that
were once under Copco Lake (Alexander, 2024), while the
proposed Sites Reservoir will flood new areas including the
town of Sites and cultural sites and burial areas of the
Grindstone Indian Rancheria of Wintun-Wailaki Indians, Paskenta
Band of Nomlaki Indians, Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun, Kletsel
Dehe Wintun Nation, and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation (Sites
Project Authority & U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 2023). Along
with environmental and ecological damages, the tremendous
changes dams bring to the local areas, towns, and tribes are
astounding.
… A controversial plan that dramatically changes how the
state governs the pumping of water out of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta — the heart
of the state water system — was adopted by California
regulators late Thursday after two days of debate involving
more than 200 people. The plan adopted by the five-member State
Water Resources Control Board breaks from the
traditional approach of requiring all water agencies to limit
pumping to maintain required minimum levels of water
in rivers and the estuary. Instead, it allows
agencies the option of negotiated deals in
which they commit to ensuring certain river flows for the
environment and contribute funds for projects that restore
habitat for fish in the Delta.
The edges of the San Francisco Bay are flooding this week. …
And it’s just the beginning. “We have not seen the worst
coastal flooding this year that we’re likely to see later,”
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UC Agriculture and
Natural Resources, said. “This is probably, unfortunately for
those who are dealing with it, just a preview of what
is to come.” The National Weather Service extended a
moderate coastal flood advisory through Saturday for
nearly 2 feet of flooding in low-lying spots throughout the Bay
Area and Central Coast. Several factors are
driving the extra-high water, including the influence of the
full moon earlier this week and warming water caused by
El Niño expanding and pushing local and sea levels up.
Some of the state’s most powerful and influential people
huddled around tables in a conference room on Utah’s Capitol
Hill for a “war games” exercise over the Colorado
River. … Thursday’s tabletop exercise put
political leaders, experts, advocates and others in a room for
hours, working through scenarios for getting more water
into the Colorado River Basin in Utah. While the
Colorado River’s issues are multi-state, Thursday’s exercise
kept it focused on Utah. … Congresswoman Celeste Maloy,
whose congressional district includes the Colorado River, said
the war games exercise considered a whole gamut of ideas like
piping water into Utah, desalination exchanges with
other states, expanded conservation measures and water
re-use. She said it can have real-world policy
implications.
California voters considering Proposition 45 will decide the
fate of a sweeping infrastructure measure that opponents warn
could render the state’s brand-new data center laws
virtually toothless. … [S]ome legal scholars and
environmental advocates say that the proposition’s
technical language creates a loophole. By expediting
environmental reviews under the California Environmental
Quality Act for broad categories of projects … the measure
could quietly allow data centers to bypass recent state
safeguards and local scrutiny. … The debate
over Prop. 45’s data center impact comes at a pivotal moment in
California’s AI infrastructure boom. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently
signed seven landmark data center laws aimed at forcing
operators to disclose water usage, pay for their own
grid upgrades, and undergo environmental review.
A Clark County judge is considering whether water managers must
halt their enforcement of a 2021 law requiring the
removal of grass that they have deemed
“nonfunctional.” Judge Anna Albertson will decide,
too, if she will certify the lawsuit as a class action. …
Though attorneys argued two motions in court on Wednesday and
Thursday, the judge has yet to make a ruling. … The law
takes effect at the beginning of next year,
and the Las Vegas Valley Water District — one of the water
authority’s member agencies — has floated water
use fines for those who violate the law and continue to
water nonfunctional turf. … Outdoor landscaping
irrigation, water managers say, is the single largest
use of water from Lake Mead that cannot be captured and
recycled through Southern Nevada’s wastewater
capture and treatment systems.
San Joaquin County lawmakers are urging state and federal
officials to expand research and prevention efforts to
combat invasive golden mussels threatening the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and the region’s waterways. During a
discussion Monday at Hilton Stockton with water managers and
other stakeholders, Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, D-Tracy,
and U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Tracy, discussed state and federal
legislation aimed at addressing the infestation and the need to
identify effective solutions. … Both lawmakers
emphasized the need to share findings from research into
potential solutions. Harder said a centralized system
for collecting research findings could help agencies avoid
duplicating work and identify effective strategies. He
said developing a coordinated research plan involving
UC Davis is a priority for his proposed federal
legislation.
Utah’s run of moisture over the past three and a half months
continues to chip away at its drought. Over 90% of the
state remains in drought, but the percentage in severe
or worse drought slid from 62% to 51% over the past week, the
U.S. Drought Monitor reported on Thursday. Only 13.5%
remains in extreme drought. The ongoing reduction
comes as Utah’s mountain snowpack sites have, on
average, now collected more than 12 inches of precipitation
since July 15. … Higher soil moisture levels
can improve snowpack runoff efficiency in the spring, and
snowpack accounts for 95% of the state’s water
supply. … As for drought conditions, nearly 95%
of the state was in severe or worse drought by mid-July,
including almost 40% in extreme or exceptional drought. … So
why has it taken so long to chip away at drought conditions
with all this rain? The answer is both simple and incredibly
complex, the authors of the U.S. Drought Monitor explained, as
they pulled back their virtual curtain to explain
exactly how drought is calculated.
Five alternative designs could reconnect the Klamath River and
Lower Klamath refuge, restoring water flows and improving
habitat for birds and fish. A project to reconnect the Klamath
River to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge has
completed its first design phase. The partners presented the
concept at a public meeting at Oregon Tech on Tuesday night.
“There’s been enough engineering, modeling, and ingenuity to
help us understand that this is a possibility, and we can move
forward,” said DJ Bandrowski, civil engineer and program
manager at the Yurok Tribe. The Lower Klamath Lake Reconnection
Project would allow water to ebb and flow between the river and
the refuge, emulating how the ecosystem functioned before it
was altered for agriculture. Partners say restoring the
connection would provide reliable habitat for thousands of
migratory birds.
