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 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.
A string of early-season storms that drenched Californians last
week lifted much of the state out of drought and significantly
reduced the risk of wildfires, experts say. … Overall,
the state is at 186% of its average rain so
far this water year, according to the Department of
Water Resources. … The [Central Sierra Snow Lab]
research station at Donner Pass has recorded 22 inches
of snow. Although that’s about 89% of normal for this
date, warmer temperatures mean that much of it has already
melted. … The snow water equivalent, which measures how
much water the snow would produce if it were to melt, now
stands at 50%.
Other weather and water supply news around the West:
The Trump administration is struggling to head off a crisis
along the West’s most critical river, but the pollution
regulation it proposed last week could make the problems worse,
according to water experts. The EPA proposal would dramatically
restrict the number of streams and wetlands that receive
protection under the federal Clean Water Act
even though the agency itself acknowledges it would exclude
many of the mountain streams and wetlands that are the source
of more than 70 percent of the flow of the Colorado
River. … If the EPA proposal moves forward, those
diminishing supplies could face increased pollution.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released a
comprehensive new assessment of water conveyance in the San
Joaquin Valley. … The study, an action in Governor Newsom’s
2020 Water Resilience Portfolio, finds that the top priority
for improving conveyance in the San Joaquin Valley is stopping
or minimizing land subsidence, especially near State
Water Project and Central Valley
Project conveyance facilities. This can only be
achieved over the long term by raising groundwater levels above
critical thresholds. The study also finds that repair of
existing conveyance infrastructure is more important than
expanding or building new conveyance because the region has
limited surface water supplies.
Data centers are notoriously thirsty. Researchers at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory have found that, in 2023, the
facilities consumed roughly 17 billion gallons of water for
their operations in the U.S. alone. But that’s only a small
part of the picture: A much, much larger share of data center
water-intensity is indirect, a byproduct of the facilities’
enormous appetites for energy. … However, new research
from Cornell University shows that there’s a way to mitigate
both the climate and water footprints of these
facilities: Build them in places with lots of wind and solar
energy.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs joined governors from Hawaii,
Montana, Idaho and Utah to talk about water, energy,
agriculture and healthcare at Western Governor’s Association’s
winter meeting in the Phoenix area on Thursday, Nov.
20. The conference brought state leaders together less
than two weeks after the seven basin states who rely on
Colorado River water failed to come to an
agreement on new management guidelines. … ”I’m sure I
would have the exact same views as Governor Hobbs if I was a
Lower Basin state,” [Utah Gov. Spencer] Cox said during the
press conference. … While Cox has pushed for resolving a new
agreement without federal intervention–despite the missed
federal deadline–Hobbs continued campaigning in favor of it.
Efforts to improve the revitalization of Battle Creek were
recently achieved through River Partners’ acquisition of the
historic 1,721-acre Battle Creek Ranch in Tehama County. The
acquisition was made possible through a $15.05 million grant
approved by the California Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB),
which also awarded nearly $600,000 to retire a water-right
diversion associated with the property. The goal is to restore
one of California’s most important salmon-bearing waterways,
according to WCB. The acquisition will conserve the last
unprotected lands along lower Battle Creek, which would
complete a nearly three-decade-long effort to preserve all
properties along the waterway’s 7.5-mile lower reach.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife wants to see more beavers back at
their historic range in the state. That’s clear from the
“overarching goal” stated in a recently released draft
strategy: “Increase beaver populations and beaver-occupied
wetland habitats in Colorado until social or ecological
carrying capacity is reached.” Those social and ecological
factors are complicated — also clear from the 125-page document
called the Beaver Conservation and Management Strategy.
… In building dams, beavers are known to affect stream
flows in a way that guards against flooding, protects
water quality by controlling debris and combats drought by
recharging groundwater.
… In my district in California’s Central Valley, we see
the need for massive investments in new water infrastructure to
meet the needs of our growers and disadvantaged communities,
yet we seem incapable of moving beyond the endless planning and
discussion phases. … A clear example is the Los
Banos Creek Detention Project in western Merced
County. … Instead of being fast-tracked, the project,
first proposed in 2012, has since wound its way through
separate approval processes at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,
California Department of Water Resources and State Water
Resources Control Board. –Written by Rep. Adam Gray, who represents the 13th
District of California in Congress.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has expanded the area of the
Colorado River labelled “infested” with zebra mussels. The area
extends from the confluence of the Eagle River down to the
Colorado-Utah border. The designation comes after CPW sampled
four Western Slope rivers — the Eagle, Gunnison, Roaring Fork
and Colorado rivers — on Oct. 29. The Yampa River feeds the
Colorado through the Green River, and faces threats of its own,
apart from zebra mussels. …. Of the five main aquatic
nuisance species closely monitored by CPW — Eurasian
watermilfoil, New Zealand mudsnails, quagga
mussels, rusty crayfish and zebra mussels — only the crayfish
is identified in the Yampa, and has been since 2009.
Threats due to drought and overuse continue to threaten water
availability in the Rio Grande River Basin in Southern Colorado
and all along its entire 1,900-mile-long course. That’s
according to a new study by the World Wildlife Fund,
Sustainable Waters and various universities.
… Researchers say 52 percent of the basin’s water used
directly for human activities isn’t replenishable from
renewable sources like snow melt. The study points to irrigated
agriculture, which comprises about 87 percent of the use in the
entire river basin, combined with lower snowfall, as the
primary causes of depletion.
The city of Antioch is doing what many Bay Area communities
have only talked about: turning salt water into drinking water.
The city’s new $120 million desalination
plant, which began operating in September, was built
to ensure that the local water supply, from the vast
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, would
remain drinkable despite its rising salinity. The city now can
get up to 30% of its total water from desalination. …
Across California, communities are looking to firm up their
water supplies in the face of myriad climate pressures,
including increasing droughts and decreasing
snowpack. Several water agencies are turning to desal.
For Las Vegas to keep its taps flowing, Rep. Susie Lee says
this one drought measure must survive federal spending purges:
water recycling. Lee, D-Nev., and Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.,
introduced the Large-Scale Water Recycling Reauthorization Act
in Congress on Thursday to reauthorize a federal grant program
that will sunset in 2026. While it doesn’t currently add any
more money to the program, Lee said it would allow the Bureau
of Reclamation to dole out $125 million in unused funds,
extending the program to 2031.
California reservoir water levels are in “incredible shape,”
with all of the state’s major reservoirs at or above 100
percent of historical average for this time of year, according
to data from the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR).
… California’s water storage levels have surged to some of
the highest seen in recent years, providing critical relief
after years of persistent drought. All of the state’s major
reservoirs, which serve as key water sources for nearly
40 million residents and vast agricultural operations,
now hold 100 percent of the average capacity for this time of
year or above, helping to safeguard water supplies for the
hotter, drier months ahead.
… On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to
strip federal protections from millions of acres of wetlands
and streams, narrowing the reach of the Clean Water
Act. On Wednesday, federal wildlife agencies announced
changes to the Endangered Species Act that
could make it harder to rescue endangered species from the
brink of extinction. And on Thursday, the Interior Department
moved to allow new oil and gas drilling across nearly 1.3
billion acres of U.S. coastal waters, including a remote region
in the high Arctic where drilling has never before taken place.
If the Trump administration’s proposals are finalized and
upheld in court, they could reshape U.S. environmental policy
for years to come, environmental lawyers and activists said.
Other federal water and environmental policy news:
Leaping over small man-made jumps and swimming determinedly
upstream in Alameda Creek, a small group of bright red chinook
salmon are back from the Pacific Ocean and ready to
spawn. … Once native to the stream, chinook salmon
have been unable to reach the upper portion of Alameda Creek
for decades due to concrete barriers and other water supply
infrastructure blocking their path. … But over the past
three decades, the Alameda County water and flood control
districts and other agencies — urged on by environmental groups
— have completed restoration projects meant to encourage fish
migration.
A new report released today by the Pacific Institute and the
Center for Water Security and Cooperation (CWSC) provides the
most comprehensive framework to date for assessing and
improving whether laws enable climate-resilient U.S. water and
sanitation systems. The report, “Actionable Criteria for
Achieving Equitable, Climate-Resilient Water and Sanitation
Laws and Policies,” is the fourth publication in
the Water, Sanitation, and Climate Change in the United
States series. It is intended as a resource for frontline
communities and their supporters – including local and state
legislators – to identify new or improved legal strategies for
building more equitable, climate-resilient water and
sanitation.
Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, found
that health impacts from pollution associated with California’s
computer processing data centers tripled from 2019 to 2023 —
and could rise by another 72% by 2028 unless mitigation
policies are enacted. … From 2019 to 2023, the total
evaporated water — including both direct evaporation for
cooling and indirect evaporation for electricity generation —
used by California data centers increased by more than
96%, reaching 49.9 billion liters, mostly from
indirect evaporation. By 2028, that number could rise to
116 billion liters annually — a concern in a state that
regularly faces drought and water shortages.
A city consultant recently discovered PFAS chemicals in the
soil and groundwater of the Livermore Municipal Airport,
spurring the regional water board to call for additional
evaluation of the site. The PFAS Investigation Report published
Oct. 13 by Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. was meant to determine
whether PFAS — an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and
polyfluoroalkyl substances — have been released at the airport
and whether a discharge has contributed to PFAS plumes in the
Livermore Valley Main Basin or contamination in municipal
drinking water supply wells operated by the Zone 7 Water
Agency.
The California State Coastal Conservancy awarded more than $7.3
million in grants Thursday to help restore, protect and improve
access to coastal areas in the greater Bay Area and on the
North Coast. Most of the projects support forest and
vegetation management and wildfire abatement, funded by
Proposition 4. … Friends of the Eel River will receive
$181,400 to create the Eel River Native Plant Project, a
regional native plant network that will support habitat
restoration in the upper Eel River basin in Mendocino, Lake and
Humboldt counties in response to the anticipated removal of the
Scott and Cape Horn dams — known collectively as the Potter
Valley Project — in 2028.
A feared hike in water costs for local farmers won’t be as bad
as first expected following a reversal from the San Diego
County Water Authority. Water officials have bailed on earlier
plans to sharply reduce a special water-rate discount enjoyed
by many San Diego-area farmers — a discount the agricultural
sector sees as a key policy keeping their struggling industry
afloat. In May, the authority had warned it might have to roll
back the special discount because of falling demand for its
water and other financial challenges. But on Thursday, the
authority’s board unanimously backed a plan to spend millions
in property tax revenue each year to keep farmers’ water costs
down.
