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.
… Efforts in Montecito have become an emblem of how
communities can come together after storms to rebuild a
resilient town ahead of future climate-driven disasters. …
Montecito officials and residents took a multifaceted response
to rebuilding after the 2018 debris flow, including a
realisation that new safety initiatives had to be adopted.
… The Flood Control District started regularly walking
debris basins that had been built in the 1960s after the
previous damaging mudslides, and using drones to spot any
debris needed for removal by bulldozers and trucks. Sediment
would have normally washed to the sea on its own but now gets
stuck in the basins. The county implemented a routine of
removing some of the larger sediment flows to nearby beaches as
part of an “emergency beach nourishment” programme, to help
keep the basins clear. They are also in touch with other
communities that might need sediment for uses such as a coastal
dune restoration site. While it was at first met with
criticism … because it de-beautified some of the community’s
beaches, the removal allowed the basins to stay open for future
storms.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated an
administrative order on consent with Radius Recycling Inc. in
response to alleged Clean Water Act violations at the
company’s metal recycling facility in West Oakland, California.
The order targets the site’s discharge of pollutants into the
Oakland Inner Harbor and San Francisco Bay in violation of the
facility’s permit under the Clean Water Act. In January,
EPA signed a memorandum of understanding with Radius Recycling,
the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), other
state regulators and a community organization to address the
impacts of the company’s metal shredding operation on the West
Oakland community. … Radius will install a granular activated
carbon treatment unit capable of reducing metals below effluent
limitations. Radius also will develop and implement a Water
Pollution Prevention Plan that increases inspections of the
site and strengthens cleaning and maintenance measures.
On May 29, 2025, in a decision long-awaited by project
developers, the Supreme Court issued Seven County
Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, which
clarified the proper scope of review and deference to be
afforded to agency decisionmaking under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This decision reinforces
longstanding Supreme Court holdings and may help improve the
NEPA process by providing support for agencies to focus their
NEPA reviews on impacts associated with their authorizations.
… The decision is also noteworthy for its commentary on
how NEPA litigation has negatively impacted project
development. The Court noted that project opponents may not
always be motivated by their concern for the environment,
instead using NEPA to prevent new infrastructure
projects.
Nearly two-thirds of California was “abnormally dry” as the
state braced for more hot, dry weather and strong winds,
according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s latest update. About a
third of the Golden State was experiencing “moderate” to
“exceptional” drought conditions as of Thursday, June 19, the
U.S. Drought Monitor said, with Southern California and parts
of the Central Valley getting hit the
hardest. … Recent hot spells and dryness have
“manifested in rapidly developing soil moisture shortages,
declining prospects for summer water supplies, an elevated
wildfire threat, a boost in irrigation demands and increased
stress on rain-fed crops,” researchers wrote in a weekly
national drought summary. Bouts of warm weather have resulted
in the rapid drying and early melting of the snow pack, leading
to “a variety of agricultural and water-supply issues and
concerns.”
The Senate on Wednesday approved a package of bills from the
Energy and Natural Resources Committee, including legislation
to shore up Colorado River water supplies and
to expand a national park. Both Nevada Democratic Sen.
Catherine Cortez Masto and Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa
Murkowski praised the bipartisan package. “I am hopeful that
the Senate can pass more of these similar, very
noncontroversial bills through the unanimous consent process,”
Murkowski said on the Senate floor. … The measures include S.
154, the “Colorado River Basin System Conservation
Extension Act,” from Colorado Democratic Sens. John
Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet. That bill would renew a $125
million effort to reduce water use in the Upper Basin of the
Colorado River. That region covers parts of Colorado, New
Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
The Arizona House is taking up the so-called “Ag to Urban
bill.” The Senate approved the bipartisan measure Thursday.
Also known as Senate Bill 1611, the measure provides what
Senate Natural Resources Chair Thomas “T.J.” Shope calls
solutions to Arizona’s most pressing issues: groundwater
protection and skyrocketing home prices due to low supply.
Under the bill, farmers would be allowed to sell their land and
water rights to developers who will in turn build for-sale
housing to meet the needs of Arizona’s growing population. In a
press release, Shope, who’s also the Senate president pro
tempore, called this “the most consequential piece of
groundwater legislation” in decades. ”An analysis of the
Ag-to-Urban program by the Arizona Department of Water
Resources reveals our state will save 9.6-million-acre feet of
water over the next 100 years,” said the Republican senator.
Wildfires can dramatically alter water quality, resulting in
severe implications for human and freshwater systems. However,
regional-scale assessments of these impacts are often limited
by data scarcity. Here, we unify observations from 1984–2021 in
245 burned watersheds across the western United States,
comparing post-fire signals to baseline levels from 293
unburned basins. … Overall, this analysis provides
strong evidence of multi-year water quality degradation
following wildfires in the western United States and highlights
the influence of basin and wildfire features. These insights
may aid water managers in preparation efforts, increasing
resilience of water systems to wildfire impacts.
The Nimbus Fish Hatchery, a longtime regional hub for fish
conservation and education along the American River, will close
its visitor center, fish ponds and parking lot beginning July 1
due to budget constraints, officials announced Friday. The
California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which operates the
hatchery, shared the news in a statement posted to social
media. The closure, they said, is due to “reductions in
funding” and will remain in effect until further notice.
… It was originally constructed to offset habitat losses
caused by the development of the Folsom-Nimbus water project,
which severely limited access to upstream spawning areas for
anadromous fish. The Nimbus Hatchery raises Chinook salmon
and steelhead trout, releasing them into the American River
annually. Its visitor center and adjacent fish ponds have long
served as an educational destination for school groups and
nature enthusiasts, especially during the fall spawning season.
On a warm, Wednesday afternoon, scientists, community members
and local leaders gathered at the Grange Hall in San Luis
Obispo to discuss the Trump administration’s attempts to weaken
laws protecting public land and waters — and how those policies
could impact the Central Coast. … From an attempt
to reduce the scope of the Endangered Species Act to an effort
to allow the president to eliminate national monuments, here
are three issues to keep an eye on for the Central Coast.
… “Our nation’s public lands provide tangible goods that
we all depend on — things like water, safety from wildfire,
timber, grazing for cattle,” (Los Padres National Forest
wildlife biologist Ben) Vizzachero said. “We need to support
those things, and as a biologist, I’m making sure that our
forest can provide those without sacrificing wildlife habitat.”
… The state Senate passed two bills by Sen. Steve Padilla
aimed at protecting the polluted Tijuana River
Valley. One would authorize using funds from the
new East Otay Mesa toll road for the South Bay International
Boundary and Water Commission sewage treatment facility, which
filters sewage from Mexico and discharges the treated water to
the Pacific Ocean. The other would prohibit a state agency
from approving a new landfill, until the local agency that
oversees waste facilities has held a public hearing on the
project and certified that it won’t harm an environmentally
burdened community. It’s aimed at the East Otay Mesa Recycling
Collection Center and Landfill, which was passed by ballot
measure 15 years ago. This is Padilla’s second stab at
this issue. Last year he proposed a related bill that would
have prohibited a regional water board from issuing a waste
discharge permit for a new landfill in the Tijuana River
Valley. That bill failed on the Assembly floor, but
Padilla is trying again.
… The Supreme Court’s reasoning in Seven
County encourages judicial restraint in NEPA cases.
Thus, Seven County may prompt federal agencies to
conduct NEPA reviews with less fear of judicial oversight than
they may have had prior to the decision. For proponents of
water infrastructure projects involving the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (Corps), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), or
other federal agencies, this shift could create a less onerous
permitting process. However, these project proponents remain
exposed to regulatory uncertainty — especially in projects
involving multiple federal agencies — because of the recent
rollback of the Council on Environmental Quality’s unified NEPA
framework. The proponents also face litigation risk at the
state level, and under statutes that, unlike NEPA, impose
substantive constraints on development decisions. In fact,
approval of the project at the heart of Seven
County remains vacated under some such authorities at this
time. Therefore, all stakeholders — project proponents and
opposers alike — should proceed cautiously as this area of law
continues to evolve.
The first day of summer in Lake Tahoe began under blue skies,
but the sunny Saturday suddenly turned dark when a thunderstorm
whipped up strong winds and waves of 6 to 8 feet high. At least
six people died when a boat capsized near D.L. Bliss State Park
around 3 p.m. … Gusts up to 45 mph were measured by a
NASA-maintained buoy in the middle of the lake when the cold
front hit. It’s likely that stronger winds materialized over a
smaller portion of the lake in a phenomenon known as a
downburst. Downbursts are caused by rain-cooled air that
falls out of a cloud into a drier environment below, often
accelerating as it reaches the ground. Once the downdraft
reaches the ground, winds spread out in all directions, like
water out of a faucet hitting a sink. Weather models estimated
favorable conditions for downburst winds over Lake Tahoe on
Saturday afternoon, with a mix of dry and moist air amid an
unstable atmosphere.
… We are the Round Valley Indian Tribes. In the early
20th century, without our consent, the Potter Valley Project
dammed our river and started diverting significant portions to
generate electricity, after which the water was made available,
at no cost, to users in the Russian River watershed. All the
while, our community endured the loss of a critical part of our
economy and culture: the decimated Eel River salmon fishery.
… We also understand, however, that we are part of the larger
region, and our members live, work and study in the surrounding
communities, which support our tribal economy. These
communities, in turn, depend on the river. Thus, while removal
of the project facilities and the return of a healthy river is
our goal, we must achieve this goal mindful of how this may
affect others. The Round Valley Indian Tribes support the
Two-Basin Solution, which shares this limited resource between
both basins by pairing fishery restoration with continued
diversions that do not harm the fishery. –Written by Joe Parker, president of the Round Valley
Indian Tribes.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said his vote approving potential wind
development on state land in Niobrara and Converse counties
isn’t a slight to the state’s other industries, but a nod to
private property rights and economic development. The wind
projects garnering headlines and causing tension among
neighbors will produce energy to convert to clean
hydrogen. … The larger issue for many
is water, Gordon said. “What I’ve hear
more from Niobrara County folks is that our water is really
precious, and if we’re going to be turning it into hydrogen,
it’s going to be one more use and it’s going to take water away
from us and we already don’t have enough water,” he said. “I
understand that issue as well. People are forgetting that
water rights are sacred in Wyoming, and you
can’t just show up and build something and expect to get the
water.” That portion of the project, he said, is still in
development and wasn’t within the scope of what the state land
board voted upon.
Nature-based solutions that include conservation are an
increasingly important arena for advancing climate action.
Conservation planning decisions can depend on what kinds of
tradeoffs are made and which benefits need to be prioritized.
What then does local implementation look like when governance
of land use planning tradeoffs is confronted by potentially
competing priorities in climate, nature, and development? In
this paper, we analyze institutional instruments – namely,
local and state plans from across California – to better
understand how nature-based solutions include conservation
strategies to deliver co-benefits. … Our analysis of
local planning documents shows that subnational governments,
such as California, are experimenting with different governance
arrangements to decipher co-benefits and to manage trade-offs.
Specifically, we find the presence of supportive citizen
coalitions, funding and financing, and regional collaborations
as notable enablers of nature-based solutions in California.
Julian Fulton followed his curiosity about water to
California’s rivers and oceans, eventually flowing to
Sacramento State. In the decade since he began teaching
Environmental Studies at the riverside campus, Fulton has
integrated science and technology with broader questions of
sustainability and how humans can coexist with nature. … His
research looks at how to protect California waterways, and he
often collaborates with faculty from other departments. He also
engages students in his work, including on grant-funded
projects like cleaning up San Francisco Bay or studying green
stormwater systems designed to filter toxins out of water
flowing from campus into the American River. “We’re using it as
a learning lab,” he said. “It helps students to understand all
these different environmental challenges we have, and to notice
sustainability features in the landscape and how they fit into
their daily lives.”
Olivenhain Municipal Water District has completed construction
of several recycled water pipelines in Carlsbad and Encinitas.
The installation of over 5,600 feet of new pipelines will allow
several HOA communities in the project area to convert their
irrigation systems to recycled water, resulting in more than
12.5 million gallons of drinking water saved every year,
according to a news release. … OMWD secured more than
$900,000 in grant funding to make the project cost-effective
for ratepayers. Specifically, both the US Bureau of
Reclamation’s Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Program,
and the California Department of Water Resources’ Integrated
Regional Water Management Program contributed grant funds
to offset project costs, the news release stated. … The
project was completed on time and with no interruptions to
customers’ water supplies.
In an interview with Nick Papagni, “The Ag Meter”, on AgNet
West, Ryan Jacobsen, CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau,
provided critical insight into California’s persistent water
challenges—and a glimmer of hope for the future. When asked
whether California’s water issues can ever be resolved,
Jacobsen called it a “loaded question,” acknowledging the
mounting difficulties while still seeing opportunity ahead. “It
just keeps getting tougher and tougher as far as a reliable
water supply,” he said, referencing the impact of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and federal
reductions. … “Whatever happens during this administration
can be undone by the next,” he warned. “That’s why Congress
must act to create long-term solutions—particularly in the
Delta.”
Eighty years ago, in the heart of rural Shasta County,
thousands of workers came together to build something
extraordinary—Shasta Dam. Born out of the Great Depression,
this engineering marvel not only brought much-needed jobs to
the region but transformed the area’s future forever.
Construction on Shasta Dam began in 1937 and continued through
World War II, officially wrapping up in 1944—an impressive 26
months ahead of schedule. … Standing 602 feet tall,
Shasta Dam is the ninth tallest dam in the country and holds
back the largest reservoir in California. Today, it’s not just
a piece of history—it’s a beloved local destination offering
stunning views of Mt. Shasta, fishing spots, scenic walks, and
peaceful picnic areas. … So here’s to 80 years of Shasta
Dam—a symbol of strength, resilience, and NorCal pride.
… What could have been more California than dipping my paddle
into the waters being fought over by multiple states,
Indigenous tribes, farmers, ranchers, conservation groups, and
so on? We are, after all, on the verge of yet another new
chapter flowing out of the Colorado River, whose silty waves,
east beyond Death Valley, undulate California’s southeast
border and which, in the fullness of thirst, became L.A.’s main
water source. Parsing those waters has been bogged down for
years, seemingly because California has been hogging more than
its realistic share—even the mighty Colorado has shrunk, first
from an overly optimistic estimation of its volume and now from
drought. Welcome to the New West. T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”
springs to mind:
Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
