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.
Subscribe to our weekday emails to have news delivered to your inbox at about 9 a.m. Monday through Friday except for holidays.
Please Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing. Also, 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.
When Christy Zamani received word late last year that her
nonprofit, Day One, was awarded a $20 million federal grant, it
was a shot in the arm for a group that, for nearly 40 years,
has served marginalized communities in the San Gabriel Valley.
… Then, two weeks ago, bad news. Word came that the grant had
been cancelled, part of the Trump administration’s broader
pullback of hundreds of what are called “environmental justice”
grants, money initially aimed at efforts to improve minority
communities impacted by pollution, climate change and air and
water quality issues. Those included nearly
$300 million for more than 60 projects in California, according
to a review of the canceled grants provided by California Sen.
Adam Schiff’s office. More than $67 million was set to go to
more than a dozen projects spearheaded by organizations in Los
Angeles and Orange counties, as well as the Inland
Empire.
The Trump administration’s nominee to oversee the Forest
Service is facing a new dispute over his use of land managed by
the agency. Michael Boren, the pick for
Agriculture Department undersecretary for natural resources and
environment, is clashing with the Forest Service for building a
cabin and clearing land in the Sawtooth National Forest near
Stanley, Idaho, according to agency correspondence and people
familiar with the situation. … Boren’s nomination hearing has
been scheduled for Tuesday in the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition
and Forestry Committee. The dispute about the cabin and other
work including diverting a stream is the
latest issue between Boren and the Forest Service over how he
manages land in and around the national forest. It also speaks
to broader questions about how the Forest Service deals with
communities and neighboring property owners, as well as how the
agency handles special-use permits for a variety of activities.
After nearly eight months of delays, malfunctions and
redesigns, the San Antonio de los Buenos Wastewater Treatment
Plant partially came online recently and has begun treating raw
sewage that comes from the city of Tijuana. The facility, built
near the coast about 6 miles south of the border, is still not
operating at full capacity. Mexican officials say they are
still conducting tests and going through the certification
process before the plant can be geared up to treat 18 million
gallons of raw sewage per day — its maximum
capacity. Despite going into partial service, communities
north of the border, where much of that sewage ends up, have
seen little to no relief. Beach closures in Imperial Beach and
the city of Coronado to the north, remain in effect. In
Imperial Beach, beaches have been off limits for more than
three years.
With the Mendocino coast a popular tourist destination, many
Northern Californians are aware of the water scarcity that
caused thousands of gallons of water to be trucked in from
Ukiah during the drought of 2021-2022. But inland regions in
the county suffered dry wells and severe water rationing in
that same drought. More of the same is ahead according to
the final report prepared by the county’s Drought Task Force, a
committee formed to fulfill the state’s 2021-22 mandate that
every county must draft and submit a drought resilience plan.
Mendocino County’s committee included several county
departments, major public water suppliers, such as the cities
of Ukiah, Willits, and Fort Bragg, the Ukiah Valley Water
Authority, eleven tribal groups, the State Water Resources
Control Board, special water districts, and others. The task
force chaired two public meetings, one in Ukiah and one in Fort
Bragg, and created a survey on the group’s website.
Fresno does not have to look far for successful examples of how
to bring locals and visitors to a river parkway. In
Bakersfield, the Kern River Parkway boasts the longest
municipally-owned bike trail in the country. In Sacramento, the
American River Parkway hosts archery tournaments, a “Burger
Battle” between local chefs and firefighters, and large
festivals for rock and country music fans. … But, in
Fresno, access to the water and revenue-generating activities
along the parkway or adjacent to it are limited in comparison
to other Central Valley cities. And a lot of Fresnans still
don’t know that they can enjoy their river. According to
existing plans, the Fresno-Madera parkway will one day offer a
full trail system along 22 miles of the San Joaquin
River from Friant Dam to Highway 99. However, the path
to completion has been far from simple, or speedy.
New research from Colorado State University and Cornell
University shows that the presence of solar panels in
Colorado’s grasslands may reduce water stress, improve soil
moisture levels and – particularly during dry years – increase
plant growth by about 20% or more compared to open fields. The
findings were published in Environmental Research Letters this
week. The paper outlines the potential benefits and challenges
when photovoltaic (PV) arrays are located in grassland
ecosystems. The findings are particularly relevant when
considering drought in the arid west and the
potential for future climate change.
… Colorado’s semi-arid grasslands often need more water
than is available through precipitation in each season. The
team found that plants beneath and around the solar systems in
that environment benefited from partial shading and additional
water that collects on panels – aiding in their fight to
survive during the harsh summer months.
… Local agencies are hosting community workshops to explain
how the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
works—and why it matters to you. The act, also known as SGMA,
is a California law that requires local water agencies to
manage groundwater to prevent overuse and water scarcity.
… Dan Bartel, Engineer Manager at RRB, says: “SGMA
requires that we coordinate not just amongst the public
agencies, but with the public—because in the public, there are
so many private pumpers. We’re required to get input from those
beneficial users and incorporate their opinions, thoughts,
questions, and concerns into our plans so we can, as a
community, reach sustainability by 2040.” Starting last summer,
GSAs held workshops across Kern County. More recently, they’ve
been hosting pop-up events—going to the community rather than
waiting for the community to come to them.
In early 2025, California faced a series of devastating
wildfires that ravaged vast areas of the state—particularly its
southern regions. Two weeks after the fires broke out in Los
Angeles, President Donald Trump issued an executive order
mandating the release of 2.2 billion gallons of water from
reservoirs in the Central Valley. This directive was presented
as a measure to combat the wildfires. However, a closer
examination reveals that the action was motivated more by
politics than by emergency, ultimately undermining California’s
water management authority, favoring agribusiness interests,
and jeopardizing the state’s environmental and water resources.
Fifteen states, led by California, are suing the
White House over its April executive order
to protect American energy from state overreach. They
claim the order is an unconstitutional interference in state
affairs. But they’re wrong. President Trump is doing what the
Constitution empowers him to do — protect interstate commerce
and ensure that America’s energy security is not compromised by
a patchwork of state-led, politically motivated lawsuits. For
years, progressive attorneys general — led by
California’s — have kowtowed to the environmental lobby, waging
lawfare through coordinated lawsuits against American
companies for “causing” climate change. These suits are
designed to bankrupt the energy sector, force Americans onto
unreliable grids, and shift power to unelected climate
czars. –Written by Mimi Walters, who represented California in
the U.S. Congress and served on the House Judiciary and Energy
& Commerce Committees.
Concerningly low amounts of water are flowing from Rocky
Mountain snowpack this spring, a summer of drought looms across
swaths of the West, and the negotiators tasked with devising a
sustainable long-term water plan for the 40 million people who
rely on the Colorado River are running out of time.
Commissioners from the seven states in the Colorado River Basin
— Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, California and
Nevada — must create a plan that will govern how those states
divvy up the river’s water after the current guidelines expire
at the end of 2026. As the river shrinks due to drought and
climate change, the negotiators must decide who will take less
water — and they need to do so in the next few months. … The
negotiators, who met in Las Vegas this week, have repeatedly
said they are committed to finding a consensus solution, but
have not yet done so and have already blown past previous
deadlines set by federal authorities more than a year ago.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling on the Trump administration to do
more to harden California’s forests to fire as the state
fast-tracks plans of its own to confront the wildfire threat.
On Friday, the governor announced $72 million of funding for a
slew of large-scale forest resiliency projects, primarily
tree-thinning and prescribed burns. All of the projects qualify
for an expedited environmental review process initiated by
Newsom in March for fire safety work. … The state funding
announced this week will go to 12 forestry projects, from
pulling out highly combustible weeds and planting
fire-resistant trees in San Bernardino County to paring back
overgrown forests with proactive burns in Humboldt County. One
$7 million project would create a “ring” of protected space
around communities in Santa Cruz County. Another project,
costing $4.2 million, seeks to improve the health of forests in
the upper Mokelumne River watershed in the
central Sierra Nevada.
The San Diego County Water Authority and Metropolitan Water
District are set to announce a historic settlement of decades
of legal disputes following the 2003 deal to purchase water
from Imperial Valley farmers. The disputes are insanely
complex and they have cost San Diego ratepayers an estimated
$20 million in legal fees. … The Water Authority agreed to
purchase water for several decades from IID. It also invested
heavily in lining the canals that bring water from the
Colorado River, saving significant amounts of
water that had been lost to seepage. … The settlement
will set a framework for the Water Authority to sell water to
other Southern California water agencies or to Metropolitan
itself. And Metropolitan has agreed to even allow the Water
Authority to sell water out of state, if it’s not needed here.
The Trump administration’s proposed budget for 2026 slashes
about 90 percent of the funding for one of the country’s
cornerstone biological and ecological research programs. Known
as the Ecosystems Mission Area, the program is part of the U.S.
Geological Survey and studies nearly every aspect of the
ecology and biology of natural and human-altered landscapes and
waters around the country. The 2026 proposed budget allocates
$29 million for the project, a cut from its current funding
level of $293 million. The budget proposal also reduces funds
for other programs in the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as
other federal science agencies. … The E.M.A. is also a
core part of federal climate research. The Trump administration
has sharply reduced or eliminated funds for climate science
across federal agencies, calling the study of climate change
part of “social agenda” research in an earlier version of the
budget proposal.
Other water and environmental project funding news:
The flood plains of Sacramento are a geologic
world away from the more cinematic California of coastal crags
and lofty peaks. Yet that sometimes overlooked region could be
home to one of California’s great disasters waiting to happen,
according to a February report from First Street, a prominent
climate risk prediction firm. The firm’s models suggest
that the mounting risks of catastrophic
flooding will drive Sacramento County — the heart of
California’s fourth-largest metro area, at about 2.4 million
people — to lose, in the average scenario, 28% of its
population by 2055. … Few places in the U.S., if any,
are more at risk of catastrophic flood than
Sacramento. … In modern times, water has been
corralled into aqueducts and dams and not allowed to pool into
the fertile soil, drying out the wetlands and leaving hard,
dusty earth that offers no buffer against floodwater.
A Town Hall convened Thursday aimed at protecting a vital water
resource that has, and could again, prove critical to fighting
wildfires, but also to sustain the economy and enhance
recreational opportunities for an isolated, yet popular
destination point for longtime residents. The Lake County
Chamber of Commerce hosted the event at the Soper Reese
Theater, Thursday. Master of Ceremonies was Amanda Martin,
Chief Economic Officer of the Chamber. Martin said the
presentation was to promote awareness and to educate the
community on the critical issue of a potential removal of
Scotts Dam from the Potter Valley Project. … Should the
dam be torn down, Lake County Treasurer estimated there could
be a loss of $850,000 in tax revenue. Additionally, property
values of $40 million could depreciate. … Meanwhile the
decommissioning of Scotts Dam is estimated at $500 million and
probably more, by the time the work is completed, based on a
study by The Eel River Power Authority.
Santa Clara leaders are raising concerns about how the city’s
dozens of data centers affect residents and the environment.
Santa Clara has more standalone data centers than any other
California city — 55 in operation and three in the pipeline,
according to the city. Demand is growing as more people use the
internet and digitally demanding technology advances, such as
artificial intelligence. With data centers providing the city
with millions in revenue, officials are questioning impacts to
water and the electrical grid. … (Planning
Commissioner Priya) Cherukuru, who is the executive director of
space planning for Stanford Health Care, said Santa Clara needs
to conduct a deeper study on the strain data centers put on
city resources, such as electricity and water. Data centers use
water to cool their densely packed servers. Ahmed Aly, the
city’s principal engineer for water and sewer utilities, said
more data centers are starting to use water efficient cooling
systems, and 31 data centers in the city use recycled
water.
Solano County’s congressional representatives teamed up with
collegues representing Sacramento, San Joaquin and Contra Costa
counties to fire off a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom protesting
his latest proposal to use the budget process to fast-track the
Delta Conveyance Project, also known as the Delta Tunnel. The
controversial project is a $20 billion plan to funnel more
water south. U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson and John Garamendi teamed
with representatives Doris Matsui, Mark DeSaulnier and Josh
Harder to issue the letter to the governor and state
legislative leadership reaffirming their strong opposition to
the proposed tunnel. … Noting that the Bay-Delta is one
of the most ecologically significant estuaries on the West
Coast, and that it supports thousands of fishing jobs, vital
agricultural lands, tribal and environmental justice
communities as well as some of the most vulnerable ecosystems
in the state, the legislators said the tunnel plan would be
devastating for the region.
Researchers at Stanford are hoping to jump start a water
revolution in California. The goal is to rapidly expand the
areas where we store water – not by building reservoirs,
but by returning millions of gallons back into the ground in a
new and efficient way. … A recent study found the
elevation of San Jose has risen slightly over the decades,
while dozens of other cities around the country are steadily
sinking. One common factor is groundwater. … Valley
Water manages a sophisticated system of ponds and groundwater
injection wells to help replenish the area’s aquifers. While
sites, like the Laguna Seca basin at Coyote Valley are being
conserved as open space, allowing additional stormwater to sink
into the water table. These are long term strategies that are
paying off. … And now, researchers at Stanford’s Doerr
School of Sustainability are hoping to use ground-breaking
technology to expand groundwater recharge across California’s
Central Valley.
Democratic senators are pressing the Interior Department to
determine whether significant staff losses at the Bureau of
Reclamation could put water infrastructure at risk as well as
derail the agency’s ability to fulfill congressional mandates.
In a Friday letter to Interior acting Inspector General Caryl
Brzymialkiewicz, eight senators asked for a review of staff
reductions at Reclamation, pointing to an estimated loss of up
to 25 percent of the agency’s staff under the Trump
administration. “We are concerned that the administration’s
actions to gut the agency of qualified public servants could
leave critical water infrastructure and communities vulnerable
to operational disruptions,” states the letter, led by Sen.
Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), ranking member on the Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Committee.
Coronado’s northern beaches are open again after the city’s
entire shoreline closed over Memorial Day weekend as wastewater
from the ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis pushed bacteria
into coastal waters. The reopenings came as Mexico completed
work on its two-phase International Collector project. …
Mexico completed the second and final phase of its
International Collector project on May 21. During the two
phases of the construction, excess sewage was pushed into the
Tijuana River, causing beach closures in Coronado in April and
in May. However, Mexico used temporary bypasses to prevent
about 75 million gallons of untreated sewage from entering the
river during phase two, the US International Boundary and Water
Commission (IBWC) said. The International Collector is a
pipeline that carries raw sewage from Tijuana to treatment
plants, and it was aging and prone to leaks. Mexico has now
relined the pipeline.
