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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… A measly 1% of Earth’s freshwater is on the surface, where
it can be seen and measured with relative ease. But beneath
that, measurements vary massively depending on water table
depth and ground porosity we can’t directly see. …
But a new groundwater map by
[Princeton University hydrologist Reed] Maxwell and colleagues
offers the highest-resolution estimate so far of the amount of
groundwater in the contiguous United States: about 306,500
cubic kilometers. That’s 13 times the volume of all the Great
Lakes combined, almost 7 times the amount of water discharged
by all rivers on Earth in a year.
Governor Spencer Cox (R-Utah) is traveling to Washington this
week for a high-stakes meeting on the future of the Colorado
River. Cox will meet on Friday with leaders from the seven
Colorado River states and Secretary of the Interior Doug
Burgum. … “Federal intervention will be necessary if the
states do not agree on a solution, and it will have winners and
losers, with Utah almost certainly on the losing side. The only
new Colorado River water available for Utah to divert is if
water users on the Wasatch front cut their water supplies or
Uinta basin farmers cut their water use more than they already
have,” [Utah Rivers Council Executive Director Zach] Frankel
said.
The Tahoe Water for Fire Suppression Partnership today
celebrated the enactment of the Fiscal Year 2026 federal
appropriations “minibus” funding package, marking a major
milestone for Lake Tahoe’s wildfire resilience and emergency
preparedness efforts. Included in H.R. 6938, the Commerce,
Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior &
Environment Appropriations Act, 2026, this legislation provides
more than $20 million in federal funding for long-standing Lake
Tahoe Restoration Act (LTRA) priorities, including watershed
protection, forest health, aquatic invasive species mitigation,
water infrastructure improvements, and climate resilience
projects that reduce wildfire risk and protect water quality.
San Diego County supervisors will vote Wednesday on a $4.75
million funding proposal aimed at studying health impacts and
reducing toxic emissions from the ongoing Tijuana River
pollution crisis. The proposal, presented by the Ad Hoc
Subcommittee on the Tijuana River Sewage Crisis, includes
funding for epidemiological studies and a temporary
infrastructure fix at Saturn Boulevard, identified as a major
hotspot for airborne pollutants. … The funding, which
would be drawn from county reserves, includes $2 million for a
long-term health study, contingent on $4 million being raised
from other sources such as state and federal partners.
… Over the first few days of the year, water levels in the
San Francisco Bay Area hit record highs as the winter storms
collided with king tides. Marin County, one of the
hardest-hit areas, tallied over $4.3 million in
damage from coastal and inland flooding across its central and
southern zones, including a costly levee failure.
… Efforts to upgrade Santa Venetia’s levee
infrastructure, estimated to cost $25 million, have stalled for
years due to a variety of funding issues, including lukewarm
community support for a parcel tax. The county is still seeking
federal, state and local funding to build a new
floodwall. In order to conduct the project, the county
also still needs to purchase easements from all the people with
bordering properties.
… The Mid Klamath Watershed Council conducts generational
work. The mine tailings they restore to salmon habitat are from
multiple generations ago. The full remediation of those
tailings, and a return to a healthy fishery, might not take
hold fully until generations from now. The glaciers in the area
— if having glaciers in greater Humboldt is news to you, it was
news to me too — that have been there for generations may not
last another, but the climate MKWC plans for, one without
glaciers, will be there for many years. All of this region is
historically abundant, and it has every ability to continue to
be that, but it will be different in the future. –Written by Northern California Association of Nonprofits
volunteer Michael Kraft.
… California relies on a patchwork of local rules — like
“dry-out” periods that require boaters to wait before using new
waterbodies — to ward against the proliferation of invasive
aquatic species. These measures frustrate recreationists and
hurt rural economies. And, unfortunately, they have not stopped
the spread. … California must shift from a “closed-gate”
model to active suppression and coordination. We can use
promising tools — like UV disinfection systems and copper-based
treatments — to kill larvae at major water hubs before they
reach rural systems. These investments protect infrastructure,
fisheries and recreation economies. –Written by Calaveras County Supervisor Amanda
Folendorf.
In 1971, with an increasing global focus on protecting the
environment, a treaty was signed at the Ramsar Convention in
Iran to highlight the significance of wetlands and strive
toward conservation. … In California alone, the state has
lost an estimated 90% of its wetlands, according to the
California Water Quality Monitoring Council. … Watsonville,
having some of the largest freshwater wetlands on the Central
Coast, has naturally been taking part in World Wetlands Day for
17 years. It will do so again Feb. 7 with a cleanup and
planting at Struve Slough. Volunteers will be removing invasive
plants and installing native species, picking up litter and
learning about the local wetlands.
A massive public art installation along Table Mountain
Boulevard in Oroville, now stands as a testament to community
collaboration and environmental appreciation. The Feather River
Art Wall, led by Daniel Evers, founder and CEO of the
Rainforest Art Project, features 60 mosaic panels stretching
over 600 feet. The artwork visually narrates the
Feather River’s journey from the Sierra Nevada to the
Sacramento River. … The project, believed to be
the largest of its kind in the United States, involved more
than 2,000 participants, primarily students from local schools.
… Located near the Feather River Fish Hatchery, the
installation is open to the public.
The Trump administration gave the OK for California’s Sites
Reservoir on Friday, clearing a major hurdle for what would be
the state’s largest water project in decades. … The
“record of decision” issued by the U.S. Interior Department on
Friday grants formal federal approval for the reservoir, with
the agency having completed the required environmental review.
The move also authorizes the federal government to fund up to
25% of the reservoir’s cost. The federal government,
through the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, will be entitled to a
share of the reservoir’s water in proportion to what it pays
toward the endeavor.
While they don’t appear to see eye to eye on anything, Colorado
River officials do agree on this much: The courtroom is the
last place that technical decisions should be made about how to
share a drying river that serves 40 million people. Two states,
however, are publicly anticipating they will need to defend
their interests in what would be a high-profile,
taxpayer-funded court battle. … At a committee hearing
Tuesday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said the state
has invested in hiring more staff water law attorneys and said
his office is preparing for a fight he increasingly sees as
inevitable. … The other state prepping for an impending
lawsuit out in the open is Arizona.
… As of Jan. 23, the snowpack at the [UC Berkeley’s Central
Sierra Snow] lab stood at 61% of average for this time of
year, with about 2 feet of snow covering the ground around the
facility. Other areas are faring worse. In parts of
Utah, Colorado and other Western states,
federal data show snow levels at some locations are at or near
record lows. Across the Sierra Nevada,
measurements show that California’s snowpack stands at 66% of
average for this time of year. There are regional differences,
with the northern Sierra measuring 50% of average and the
southern Sierra at 86% of average. … California’s
snowpack has traditionally provided nearly a third of the
state’s water supply.
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
One of several “causes of action” was cut out of the ongoing
Kern River case in a ruling issued Jan. 22 by Kern County
Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp. Plaintiffs Bring Back
the Kern and Water Audit California had claimed in their
lawsuit against the City of Bakersfield that … it was
illegally flouting California Fish and Game Code 5901, which
states that it’s illegal to put anything in a river,
such as a dam or a weir, that impedes fish passage.
Late last fall, agricultural water districts … filed a
motion to boot that particular cause of action from the overall
case. They argued that Section 5901 can only be enforced at the
discretion of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, not private
parties. Judge Pulskamp agreed and removed that issue from the
upcoming trial, which is scheduled for Feb, 8, 2027.
Johnny Amaral, a veteran of California water politics, was
named as Friant Water Authority’s new chief executive officer
at its Jan. 22 meeting. His appointment is effective
immediately. … Amaral said wrapping up litigation
is one of many issues facing Friant. But he is also looking to
maintain Friant’s “core team” of water operators, many of whom
hold expert knowledge in their fields. … Amaral also
said he is looking forward to leveraging his previous career
experiences to Friant’s benefit. He worked as a deputy general
manager at Westlands Water District for four years and as a
chief of staff for former Rep. Devin Nunes for 13 years.
Data centers are popping up around the United States, and in
more arid areas like Colorado, experts say the huge complexes
should come with a warning label when it comes to water use.
… The boom in data centers is already raising concerns
about ripple effects in other industries, including agriculture
which is the largest water user in Colorado. … On-site
water use at data centers in five Western states — Arizona,
Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah — might grow by about
21,600 acre-feet by 2035. But if you count off-site water use
by power plants, a data center’s total water use balloons to
over 89,700 by 3025.
Invasive golden mussels have now been found in the Wheeler
Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District system, Engineer Manager
Sheridan Nicholas reported at the board’s Jan. 14 meeting. This
was the first detection for the district. … Nicholas
told the board that he had informed the Kern County Water
Agency about the mussel discoveries and urged that board to
create a region-wide task force as many districts are finding
the equipment- and pipe-clogging critters but fighting it
individually. At the Kern County Water Agency’s Jan. 22
meeting, staff confirmed they are creating a task force to
include local water districts as well as others that receive
water through the Central Valley Project that extends to
Millerton Lake.
Drought-plagued Arizona could see state-funded drones spraying
microscopic silver iodide particles into mountain clouds to
boost snowfall if proponents get their way. The state
Legislature is considering allowing the use of money earmarked
for boosting rural water supplies to pay for “cloud seeding”
operations to increase precipitation in the state’s high
country. But the proposal sponsored by Rep. Gail Griffin,
R-Hereford, may have a tough road ahead. That’s because even
some majority Republicans on the committee that heard her
proposal expressed concern about the safety and efficacy of
cloud seeding. It passed Griffin’s committee on Jan. 13 with a
bare majority.
The federal government awarded a $1.1 million contract to an
Ohio company to conduct a pilot project deploying
a technology to kill bacteria and eliminate odors in the
sewage-tainted Tijuana River. It failed, in large part because
the company had never used the technology in an environment
with such a large amount of solid waste pollution and with
unpredictable changes in water flow. The company, Greenwater
Services, uses a nanobubble ozone technology (NBOT) primarily
to attack harmful algae blooms in slow-moving or still water,
such as lakes and ponds. The project at the international
border showed the company’s equipment was ill-prepared for the
conditions that plague the region.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has taken a major step to stabilize
water use in the state’s rural desert, where a Saudi-owned
company established a massive farming operation more than a
decade ago. During her State of the State Address earlier this
month, Hobbs announced she was placing the Saudi alfalfa farm
within an “active management area,” a technical designation
that allows Arizona to slow and possibly even reverse the
growth of groundwater use in a remote desert area of western
Arizona. … In the short term, the designation by itself
cannot reduce the amount of water being used by foreign
megafarms, but it can at least stop new ones from coming in—and
current ones from expanding their operations—in addition to
encouraging farms to reduce their withdrawals.
One of the Bay Area’s most expensive enclaves relies on a
two-lane road that will be covered by rising seas in the coming
decades. … A recent Marin County sea level rise
report for Stinson Beach recommended the road, which is
county-owned, be raised soon, because it’s often impassable
during annual king tides now and is expected to flood during
major storms by around 2050, when storm surge swells the
lagoon, and during monthly high tides by around 2060 to 2075.
… The issue is harder to ignore after record high tides
and flooding hit Marin in early January, probably exacerbated
by sea level rise. It’s part of a broader debate across the Bay
Area over who will pay to shore up public infrastructure.
