Utah state officials last month approved the creation of a new
city near Moab that has been the focus of intense scrutiny and
controversy, ostensibly paving the way for the new locale in
the outdoor recreation mecca to take shape. … Foes, though,
filed a lawsuit late last week against the project sponsors to
halt development of the new municipality, Echo Canyon, charging
that they don’t have the needed water rights. They also
maintain that the new city, abutting the Colorado
River, would “diametrically change” the character of
the zone. … While the city’s potential impact on the nature
of the area — a major recreational draw in Utah — is a big
point of concern for project critics, the suit, filed last
Friday, June 27, in Utah’s 7th District Court in Moab, focuses
on water rights issues. More specifically,
Kane Creek Development Watch and Living Rivers, the nonprofit
groups behind the suit, charge that the developers’ water
rights have essentially lapsed due to lack of use and the
passage of time.
… On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills
that scale back CEQA—curtailing local power to stop urban
development, and particularly housing, on environmental
grounds. After more than a decade of reform talk, the state’s
housing and homelessness crisis has finally prompted an
overhaul of a development procedure that a state study compared
to “urban warfare—contested block by block, building by
building.” CEQA reform is not really a defeat for
environmentalism—as the New York Times insisted on framing it.
Rather, it reflects a 21st-century understanding of the
environmental movement, one that recognizes that an existing
neighborhood is the greenest place for housing to be built. (Of
note, one of the bills also permits a variety of non-housing
stuff to be built in cities without environmental review,
including day cares, food banks, water
infrastructure, and critically, “advanced
manufacturing” plants, in industrial zones.)
United Water Conservation District (UWCD) recently completed
the first phase of its Laguna Road Pipeline Project, bringing
it one step closer to replacing groundwater as the primary
source for agricultural irrigation. This new interconnection
links Pleasant Valley County Water District’s (PVCWD)
infrastructure with UWCD’s Pumping Trough Pipeline (PTP) System
to deliver recycled water and help conserve local water
resources. … The $7.9 million project, supported by
nearly $5 million in grants, has been in development since 2022
and is being completed in two phases: first, the recent
construction of approximately 3,300 linear feet of pipeline
north of Laguna Road; and second, the upcoming installation of
a new booster pump station to expand the use of recycled
water.
Harmful “forever chemicals” flow from wastewater treatment
plants into surface water across the U.S., according to a new
report by a clean-water advocacy group. Weekslong sampling by
the Waterkeeper Alliance both upstream and downstream of 22
wastewater treatment facilities in 19 states saw total per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) concentrations increase in 95
percent of tested waterways after receiving discharge from the
facilities. … While advanced treatment technology to remove
PFAS from wastewater exists, most facilities do not have it.
None of the 22 facilities included in the study employed PFAS
removal technology, the Waterkeeper Alliance said.
Beavers have a habit of building dams and burrowing into banks.
That behavior can cause flooding and damage to infrastructure.
But in the right place and with the right process, those same
habits can make beavers powerful allies in ecological
restoration. That’s why Arizona Game and Fish Department
(AZGFD) biologists are testing a beaver translocation protocol
to turn problem beavers into habitat helpers. … The
first beaver to go through the new protocol was a female
trapped at the Arlington Wildlife Area where she was causing
land management issues. … Once the beaver had a clean bill of
health and a GPS tracker, she was released into southern
Arizona’s Lower San Pedro River Wildlife Area. The beaver
quickly adapted to her new surroundings, making the beaver dam
analog structures and an artificial lodge constructed by AZGFD
biologists her home –– and her own. … The beaver’s
efforts will build on the work that AZGFD biologists have been
doing to improve the area for the past two years.
The National Park service is warning people about swimming or
boating in Lake Powell over the holiday weekend. The department
is advising people to be extra cautious of algae blooms after
cyanotoxins were detected in the water of the Glen Canyon
National Recreation Area. Cyanotoxins are toxins produced by
blue-green algae in water. These algae blooms
can cause symptoms from mild rashes to serve illness. Lake
Powell was deemed at the high end of safe exposure by the
National Parks Service, but officials still advise people to
take precautions when in or around the water. Visitors are
advised to not go boating in scummy water or areas with algae
blooms. Officials say to clean and drain boats and gear when
done. Officials also advise against swimming in murky or algae
filled water.
At the beginning of the year, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs
introduced a plan to conserve shrinking rural groundwater
supplies. But that, and similar efforts, died in the
GOP-controlled Legislature. In rural areas of the state, many
communities rely on dwindling groundwater supplies where there
are no restrictions on water pumping. Rural Republicans stood
with Hobbs in January when she announced her plan to address
the problem by creating rural management areas around
endangered groundwater basins where pumping would be
restricted. But it didn’t get consideration by legislative
Republicans. Hobbs said Tuesday she hasn’t given up. “We made
progress and we’ve clearly shown the support for this kind of
legislation exists across the state and that rural Arizonans
want something done and we’ll continue to find a way to get
that done,” she said.
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved another
increase to the contract for the Lithium Valley Specific Plan
on Tuesday, July 1, adding more than $170,000 to the project’s
budget as both costs and frustrations continue to climb. The
board’s carrying vote brings the total contract amount to just
over $3.2 million. … The project, funded through Senate
Bill 125, includes the development of the Lithium Valley
Specific Plan, a Programmatic Environmental Impact Report, and
a supporting infrastructure assessment for the area surrounding
the Salton Sea’s southern edge. State
lawmakers approved $5 million for Imperial County in 2022 to
help prepare for lithium and renewable energy development in
the region. … In addition to the traffic modeling, Dudek
completed a hydrogeological study earlier this year to evaluate
groundwater availability and potential impacts
from industrial development in the area.
Fishing fans, here’s your chance to cast a line for a good
cause—and maybe reel in some prize money while you’re at it.
The Eel River Pikeminnow Fishing Derby is now underway, running
from July 1 through August 31, and organizers are inviting
anglers of all ages to join in. The idea? Catch as many
non-native Sacramento pikeminnow as you can from the Eel River
system and submit your catch for a chance to win part of $2,500
in cash prizes. … So why target Sacramento pikeminnow?
Although they’re native to parts of California, pikeminnow were
introduced into the Eel River in the 1970s, where they now pose
a serious threat to native fish. As voracious predators,
pikeminnow eat native salmonids and lamprey—both already under
pressure from habitat loss, drought, and climate change.
Reducing pikeminnow numbers can help protect these struggling
native populations.
President Donald Trump’s push to expand domestic oil and gas
production may bring new drilling to California’s Central Coast
— including parts of Santa Barbara County. More than
400,000 acres of federal land — managed by the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) and stretching from Fresno to Ventura counties
— are now being eyed for new oil and gas leasing and
development, as the president calls for “Unleashing American
Energy.” … The BLM announcement itself acknowledged that
preliminary issues may include, but are not limited to,
negative effects on air and water quality and
untold impacts on “special status species, archaeology, oil and
gas resources, and social and economic conditions.” However, it
also noted that resuming oil and gas leasing may “provide for
additional economic growth and jobs associated with the oil and
gas development within the planning area” as well as generate
additional revenues from oil and gas production.
Residents of a development hundreds of miles north of Kern
County on Saturday approved a massive water rate hike in hopes
of appeasing a local agency that has provided them water for
the past 24 years under a convoluted exchange deal. They will
go from paying about $200 a month for the base connection fee
to $568 a month. The money will go to the Western Hills Water
District so it can repay the Kern County Water Agency a debt of
$13 million that KCWA says it owes in unpaid water charges.
KCWA had said it would cut off supplies to Western Hills, which
serves the Diablo Grande development in the foothills west of
Patterson, by June 30 if residents didn’t agree to the rate
hike. But on June 26, KCWA board members, apparently in closed
session, extended that deadline to Sept. 30 to allow Western
Hills to “develop an alternate supply,” according to a letter
KCWA sent Western Hills on June 27.
Tulare Lake was drained by farmers more than a century ago, and
it has reappeared only rarely when floods have reclaimed
farmlands in its ancient lake bed in the San Joaquin Valley.
Now, a coalition of tribal leaders, community activists and
environmental advocates has begun an effort to restore the
lake. They have been discussing a proposal to bring back a
portion of its once-vast waters by building a reservoir fringed
with wetlands on the west side of the valley, within sight of
Interstate 5. … An engineering proposal that was
recently submitted to state officials calls for acquiring
nearly 24,000 acres of farmland near Kettleman City and
building levees to contain the new lake and wetlands. Turning
the proposal into a viable plan, however, would require
addressing various challenges, including securing funds,
acquiring property from landowners and obtaining water that
would consistently flow to the lake.
… In December, the Biden administration awarded a $20 million
Community Change grant designed to help disadvantaged
communities address environmental and climate justice
challenges to the nonprofit Community Water Center, founded 20
years ago to help underserved rural communities without access
to clean drinking water. … But the project barely had a
chance to get off the ground. On May 1, the same day
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin
claimed the Trump administration was “ensuring America has the
cleanest air, land and water on the planet,” the EPA canceled
the Community Water Center’s grant. Now, community
organizations are scrambling to find ways to fill the
gap. The State Water Resources Control Board really came
through for the first phase of the project. …. State funding
will allow about 400 residents to get safe drinking water by
upgrading the Springfield Water System, which has struggled
with unsafe levels of nitrates and the cancer-causing chemical
1,2,3-trichloropropane, or 1,2,3-TCP, a contaminant in
pesticides.
In 2025, NFWF launched the first Sacramento Valley Floodplain
Enhancement for Salmon and Shorebirds funding opportunity. A
partnership with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this funding
supports multi-benefit floodplain restoration projects that
enhance habitat for anadromous fish and migratory shorebirds
while also advancing the long-term health of the Sacramento
River Basin and the communities who live and work
there. … In addition to providing benefits for a wide
array of species, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is also an
area of enormous agricultural value, with about 500,000 acres
of land in rice production that is estimated to contribute $1
billion to California’s economy.
With the worst of wildfire season ahead, Gov. Gavin Newsom
urged President Donald Trump on Tuesday to direct the federal
government to dramatically increase its investment in forest
management. At the Mount Howell lookout tower in Colfax, Newsom
spoke to reporters about a model executive order sent to the
White House that he said would bring federal firefighting and
forest management efforts more in line with California’s.
… The draft order would make it federal policy for the
U.S. to match the capabilities and investments of “the most
advanced states and local governments with respect to forest
management and firefighting capabilities.” It would direct the
Office of Management and Budget to develop spending plans to do
so, including the reversal of recent staffing and funding
cuts. … The U.S. Forest Service has lost 10% of all
positions, which will likely “impact wildfire response this
year,” Newsom said, adding that noncompetitive federal
firefighter pay has led to further staffing shortages.
After five years of dedicated leadership, Joel Metzger has
announced his resignation as General Manager of the Utica Water
and Power Authority (Utica), effective July 13, 2025. Metzger
has accepted a senior leadership position at the California
Department of Water Resources (DWR), where he will serve as
Deputy Director, Statewide Water Resources Planning and
Enterprise Project Management. … In his new role at DWR,
Metzger will lead the division updating California’s Water
Plan, oversee enterprise project delivery, and support the
state’s efforts to address challenges such as extreme drought,
floods, and aging infrastructure. … Metzger is a graduate of
the Water Education Foundation’s Water Leaders
program.
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered setbacks to environmental
interests in a series of recent rulings including by further
restricting the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority and
relaxing requirements for environmental impact studies for
proposed projects. While cases involving President Donald
Trump’s policies on immigration and other issues captured
attention during its just-completed nine-month term, the court
also continued its years-long trend of narrowing federal
protections for the environment in several rulings that could
be a boon for businesses. Wendy Park, a lawyer with the
Center for Biological Diversity environmentalist group, said
those rulings “dealt huge blows to the environment and public
health and safety.” “We’ll all suffer from unhealthier air,
less safe water and more climate warming,” Park
added. Park’s organization was on the losing side of
perhaps the term’s biggest environmental decision, one that
involved a proposed Utah railway intended to transport crude
oil.
The Trump administration wants to zero out climate research at
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
according to a newly released budget document. The
document calls for no funding to go to the agency’s climate
laboratories or regional climate data and information. It also
wants to zero out research at NOAA’s weather research program
and weather laboratories, as well as its tornado and severe
storm research. The budget document also calls for a shutdown
of weather and climate laboratories around the country,
including a lab in Mauna Loa, Hawaii, that tracks greenhouse
gas emissions and another in Miami whose research includes
hurricane studies. Overall, the document calls for
reducing the agency’s full-time staff by 2,061 people when
compared with fiscal 2024, a 17 percent cut.
Other climate research and weather forecasting news:
Water levels at some of the United States’ largest reservoirs
are well below average for this time of year, according to data
from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). Lake
Mead was 31 percent full as of June 29, with just over
eight million acre-feet of water in storage, according to the
data. This equated to 52 percent of the average storage level
for this date between October 1, 1990 and August 30, 2020.
… The USBR’s June 29 data revealed that Lake
Powell, situated on the Colorado River in Utah and
Arizona, fared only marginally better than Lake Mead, at 32
percent of full capacity. However, this was just 49 percent of
the average storage level for this date. In contrast,
California’s Shasta Lake contained more than
3.8 million acre-feet of water, reaching 84 percent of its
total capacity of 4,552,000 acre-feet — about seven percent
above its historical average for this time of year.
Hackers working on behalf of the Iranian government are likely
to target industrial control systems used at water
treatment plants and other critical infrastructure to
retaliate against recent military strikes by Israel and the US,
federal government agencies are warning. … Of particular
interest to the would-be hackers are control systems that
automate industrial processes inside water treatment plants,
dams, and other critical infrastructure,
particularly when those systems are manufactured by
Israel-based companies. Between November 2023 and January 2024,
near the onset of the conflict between Israel and Hamas,
federal agencies said hackers affiliated with the Iranian
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps actively targeted and
compromised Israeli-made programmable-logic controllers and
human-machine interfaces used in multiple sectors, including US
water and wastewater systems facilities.
