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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City and county officials, labor unions, and environmentalists
packed the intimate Loma Linda City Council chamber to share
their views at the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control
Board’s Friday meeting on proposed new sweeping water runoff
regulations. Part of the state’s environmental agency, the
Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board is
proposing new regulations to decrease pollution in
water from storm drains and flood control channels
across large areas of the Santa Ana River Basin, with what is
known as the “Regional MS4 Permit.” … Though the Santa Ana
Water Board members did not vote to adopt MS4 – the
vote is scheduled for a Sept. 11 meeting – several
city and county officials made it clear in the City Council
chamber that they disapproved of the proposed
regulations.
The U.S. Forest Service acknowledged that its plan to roll back
protections on 45 million acres of national forest land could
impact endangered species, water supplies and
wildlife habitat across Arizona and the Southwest. The
agency filed a proposal on Aug. 18 to rescind the “roadless
rule,” which set aside over 60 million acres of forests and
grasslands within national forests as roadless areas.
… The Forest Service’s plan notes that rescinding the
roadless rule would increase soil erosion and sediment
pollution for about 24 million Americans. In the
Southwest, the repeal could affect 739 water intake
locations and nearly 2 million people, according to the
plan.
Irrigators in the Klamath Basin moved fast to stop an avian
botulism outbreak that threatened to kill up to 140,000 ducks,
saving most of the birds by using the basin’s
flow-through system. The outbreak killed around 13,000
birds. Irrigators used part of the basin’s flow-through system
to circulate water and prevent the disease from spreading
further. “Our managers and our staff have done a phenomenal job
of moving water around, circulating it, trying to keep water
moving,” said Scott Seus, president of the Klamath Water Users
Association. “Dead water is dead ducks.” Low water
levels created stagnant conditions that allowed the botulism to
develop. By moving water into refuges, irrigators
began solving the problem.
For California’s most endangered salmon, the difference between
surviving and dying may come down to just 15 days. In a study
published Friday in Science Advances, researchers say the
chance of juveniles surviving fell by about 73% for every
1.8-degree Fahrenheit increase in average river temperature
during those first 15 days. Sacramento River winter-run Chinook
have only one surviving population, with an average of a few
thousand fish returning in recent decades. Shasta Dam keeps the
salmon from returning to their original cold-water habitat
around Mount Shasta in Northern California. Instead, they spawn
in the Sacramento River, where warmer summer water can threaten
their developing eggs. Cold water is released from Shasta
Reservoir to keep the river cool enough for salmon eggs to
survive, but that water is also needed by farms and
cities.
A closely watched legal battle has erupted over what could
become one of California’s largest data centers — and
whether a county can pursue emergency measures to halt
development. The fight is centered in Imperial County, where
Huntington Beach-based developer Sebastian Rucci has been
pursuing a plan to build a data center half the size of Levi’s
Stadium. … After community outcry, the county passed a
moratorium on new data centers — preventing Rucci’s
application, and all others, from being approved. … Imperial
County is one of at least a dozen California localities that
have passed moratoriums on new data centers in response to
public fears that the developments could cause pollution, drive
up utility rates or suck up water.
Researchers from University of California San Diego and
University of California, Berkeley have found that certain
landscapes surrounding California communities are associated
with differing rates of Valley fever, a fungal respiratory
infection caused by inhaling spores carried in windblown dust.
Naturally dry, sparsely vegetated landscapes and some types of
farmland were associated with higher disease rates, while other
agricultural land uses were associated with lower rates. The
findings also suggest that fallowing farmland
may influence Valley fever rates in some circumstances. The
study was published on August 21, 2026, in Science Advances.
… These findings could have implications as
California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act accelerates
the fallowing of agricultural land in parts of the San Joaquin
Valley.
If not managed properly, invasive species in California could
further harm local ecology, damage infrastructure and impact
economic activity, state officials and experts said during a
virtual briefing Thursday. The golden mussel and the
glassy-winged sharpshooter were among invasive species
discussed in the briefing by representatives from the
California Natural Resources Agency, Department of Water
Resources, Department of Food and Agriculture, and the
Department of Pesticide Regulation. Golden mussels are an
invasive freshwater species of mussel, originally from
Southeast Asia. The species was first detected in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in October 2024, and authorities
do not know how they arrived in California, said Kristopher
Jones, an assistant manager at the California Department of
Water Resources.
Every civilization had to organize the management of water
across diverse populations and generations. Their
histories offer perspective and relevance for water management
today and in the future. … Perhaps the earliest human
civilization to manage water intensively over a region was the
Liangzhu civilization from 5,100 – 4,300 years before present
(3,100 – 2,300 BC), north of Hangzhou, China, in the southern
part of the larger Yangtze Delta region. Different from other
early water projects in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the
Indus Valley, the Liangzhu system goes beyond river diversions
and has a group of water storage dams at its core, with flood
control, transportation, and defense purposes as well as water
supply to provide more comprehensive basin management.
The Trump administration won’t force Utah and other Upper Basin
states to cut their Colorado River water use over the next two
years, but Lower Basin states like California will collectively
slash their consumption by over 1 million acre-feet per
year. The Bureau of Reclamation on Friday released its
two-year operating plan that details how the
agency will manage the Colorado River and the nation’s two
largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead. It also released
a record of decision to finalize a 10-year framework that
includes ranges for future operating plans and flexibility if
states eventually come to a long-sought consensus deal in the
future.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority has agreed to leave some of
its water in Lake Mead this year in exchange for cash to comply
with what water managers expect to be a firm
requirement to do so through 2028. At a board meeting
Thursday, directors ratified an agreement between the water
authority and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that gives Nevada
$16.25 million in federal funds for conserving an
amount equal to one-sixth of its total Colorado River
allocation. In 2026, the authority will leave 50,000
acre-feet in Lake Mead — the struggling reservoir that supplies
about 90 percent of Southern Nevada’s water supply and
is falling to new record lows each month.
California water regulators are moving forward with a plan
backed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom that would
overhaul water quality and flow rules in the sensitive
ecosystem of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Bay
Delta. The State Water Resources Control Board released a new
version of its Bay-Delta plan on Wednesday. The plan lets
participating water agencies meet protections for species like
chinook salmon and Delta smelt through a 2022 deal Newsom
struck with cities and farmers to keep more water in rivers and
restore habitat, rather than the state’s tougher default flow
rules. The board also announced it would consider
adopting the plan at its Oct. 28 and 29 board meeting,
putting one of Newsom’s signature water deals on track for
adoption before he leaves office.
A deadly botulism outbreak has killed at least 13,730 birds in
the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge near the
Oregon-California border. The refuge, part of the Klamath
National Wildlife Refuge Complex, is one of the most
important stopover and breeding sites for waterfowl and
waterbirds migrating along the Pacific Flyway.
… [Biologist Teresa] Wicks said the scale of outbreaks
in recent years is unnatural, driven by human-caused changes to
the wetlands. … In early August, 14 conservation groups,
including Bird Alliance of Oregon, urged the Bureau of
Reclamation to quickly deliver water to the refuge to slow the
spread of the botulism outbreak. They requested the
release of 15,000 acre-feet of water, enough to flood one acre
of land one foot deep. [Biologist Teresa] Wicks said
this wouldn’t stop the outbreak, but could significantly slow
it down and give refuge staff a chance to catch up on
collecting dead birds.
A water commissioner for the Blue River Basin gave an update on
the state of water resources to Dillon Town Council Aug. 18.
Troy Wineland told the council that about 99% of the state has
been in some stage of drought throughout the summer after
Colorado saw its worst snowpack year on record last winter. …
Weather patterns have shifted from a La Niña to an El Niño,
Wineland said, where temperatures over the Pacific Ocean
increase and affect wind and precipitation behaviors globally.
While El Niño typically brings above-average snowfall to the
coasts and southern United States, Wineland said it
consistently brings higher temperatures to Colorado’s
central Rockies. “People are saying, ‘We had a
bad year, we’re going to rebound, and we’re going to have a
record snowback,’” Wineland said. “Please, please, please do
not put any money on it.”
Concerns over how much groundwater artificial
intelligence data centers could extract prompted the Tulare
County Board of Supervisors to adopt an ordinance Tuesday that
bans consideration of any new data center development for 45
days. The ban could be extended up to a
year. “We all sit on (groundwater sustainability
agency) boards, and we know the issues going on and the impact
they have on our farming,” Supervisor Larry Micari
said. He referred to pumping restrictions in place
throughout Tulare County, required under the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The
ban gives county planners time to alter zoning regulations,
which are ill-prepared to consider the water, energy
and infrastructure demands of AI data centers that
come in a variety of configurations.
Drought conditions continue to expand across Colorado and the
West as forecasters predict above-average temperatures for at
least the next two weeks. A Thursday drought status update from
the National Integrated Drought Information System describes
how record-breaking July temperatures and a “lackluster
monsoon” have left nearly 95% of the intermountain West
in drought. So far, this year has been the hottest on
record for nearly every county for the region. … Across
the West, the drought update states that the combination of
a record-low snowpack, record hot temperatures
and the unremarkable start to the monsoon season are
stressing water supplies.
Kings County farmers are either underreporting how much
groundwater they pump – by a lot. Or bad data is to blame.
According to the state Water Resources Control Board, farmers
in the Tulare Lake subbasin, most of Kings County, have
reported less than 35% of their actual groundwater extractions
under a mandate aimed at measuring how much is being pumped in
the critically over drafted region. Baloney, said one
groundwater agency, pegging compliance at closer to 90%. “Bad
data would be my official statement,” said El Rico Groundwater
Sustainability Agency chair Jeof Wyrick at the board’s August
11 meeting. … The data dispute has arisen over pumping
that was required to be reported to the Water Board via its
online portal called GEARS.
A day after touring the New River in Calexico, Rep. Dr. Raul
Ruiz joined U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff in opposing
a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposal to deauthorize the New
River and Imperial County environmental infrastructure
projects. In a letter submitted Wednesday, Aug. 19, the
lawmakers urged Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
Adam Telle to remove the projects from the proposed
deauthorization list, citing ongoing public health concerns and
continued local support for the projects. The letter was
submitted on the deadline for public comment on the Army Corps’
proposed deauthorization list. The lawmakers said the projects
do not meet the criteria for deauthorization because there is
local support, available federal and nonfederal resources and
an ongoing public purpose for the projects.
The California Natural Resources Agency and Department of Water
Resources officials gathered Thursday to discuss the growing
threat of invasive species across the state, with golden
mussels among their biggest concerns. … Officials say
the mussels can attach to water intakes, screens and pipelines,
turning the infestation into both an environmental and water
infrastructure concern. … The state is testing hot water,
ultraviolet light, chemical treatments and other methods while
trying to keep the mussels from reaching new waterways. …
[K]eeping golden mussels out of waterways they haven’t yet
reached is now a priority, and Californians can play a role.
Water officials in Beulah have sent a plea for federal help
after the Aspen Acres fire devastated the southern Colorado
community and damaged its water supply, putting its recovery in
peril. … [T]he fire scorched hillsides in all directions,
including all of those watersheds. The water district treats
the water, uses pumps to move it uphill to three sites with
underground distribution tanks, then lets it flow down to
residents’ houses. But the fire also blazed around the
district’s treatment plant and over all three of its
underground distribution tank sites. When it destroyed
homes, it left open taps, and by Day 2 of the fire, the
district’s system was dry. The residents who still have homes
haven’t had running water for more than a month.
A longtime Santa Clara Valley Water District manager has sued
the agency and its former CEO, alleging Rick Callender denied
her a promotion in retaliation for a sexual harassment
complaint she filed against him years earlier — a connection
the district’s outside investigators found was more likely than
not. A lawsuit filed Monday in Santa Clara County Superior
Court alleged Callender “acted with oppression, fraud, malice
and in conscious disregard” of the rights of Jessica Collins, a
business planning and analysis unit manager who has worked at
the water district since 2006. It also alleged that “Valley
Water failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent
discrimination in its workplace.” On Wednesday, Callender
denied any wrongdoing.
