… Every summer across the state, the atmosphere dries up and
the temperatures turn warm, sucking moisture from the landscape
and turning the parched vegetation into kindling, ready to burn
under the right conditions. This year, forecasters are already
seeing signs that the pattern could be more intense than usual.
The snow in the Sierra Nevada, the frozen reservoir
that moistens the landscape through the spring, is nearly gone;
it melted off earlier than normal. This year’s grass
crop is plentiful, especially in Northern California, which
received more rain than the southern part of the state, and
it’s already fueling fires as it dries out. And forecasters
predict the summer will be exceptionally hot. All of this adds
up to a higher probability of more large wildfires than usual
this summer, with the possibility that even the smallest spark
could explode into a significant wildfire if not stopped
quickly.
Last year, legislators passed, the governor signed, and
California voters approved, a ten billion dollar climate bond
(the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought
Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, SB 867
(Allen), which appeared on the November ballot as Proposition
4). While the bond act’s full title largely tells the story of
its contents, the water- and resilience-focused spending may
not be what all Californians expected from the state’s first
self-proclaimed climate bond. … The negotiations will
continue to unfold, but in the meantime, it is helpful to look
at the contents of the bond’s legislative language. Some may be
surprised to learn, for example, that the bond primarily
addresses climate adaptation and resilience, rather than
climate mitigation such as clean energy infrastructure. This
post outlines some major areas, projects, and funding within
the language passed in 2024.
During the first semiannual meeting of the North American
Development Bank (NADBank) in 2025, the Governments of the
United States and Mexico, through the Board of
Directors, agreed to invest up to US$400 million in
priority water conservation and diversification infrastructure
in response to prolonged drought conditions throughout the
U.S.-Mexico border region. NADBank will welcome input from the
public on the Water Resilience Fund (WRF) during a 30-day
public comment period, after which the Board will consider its
final approval. Through the WRF, NADBank will allocate up
to US$100 million in retained earnings over the next five years
for concessional financing, as well as make up to US$300
million available for low-interest loans from its established
lending resources. NADBank may also supplement these
instruments with market-rate financing to further expand the
reach and impact of available resources.
… Eastern San Joaquin County, like the rest of the Central
Valley, is facing an uncertain future due to the looming state
groundwater mandate that requires basins not
to pump more water from an aquifer than is replenished in a
given year. It is safe to say Milton will feel the pain
when it comes big time. To prevent a similar fate, the SSJID
has developed a long range water plan critical in its fight to
keep the state from ignoring historical front-of-the-line
legally adjudicated water rights to commandeer water from the
Stanislaus River basin to use as they see fit. That,
coupled with the groundwater mandate, would have a major
negative impact on Manteca, Ripon, Escalon and the surrounding
countryside as well as Lathrop and Tracy. While it wouldn’t
send the South County back to the 1880s, it would still be
devastating. And if you think this is only a problem for
farmers, guess again. Choke off the water supply based on
average or above average precipitation years, and you will
devalue existing homes. –Written by Manteca Bulletin editor Dennis Wyatt.
… Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom
Buschatzke said at a recent roundtable that under the Trump
administration, the state could be better positioned than it
was under the Biden administration. … Under the Biden
administration, the Lower Basin states sent a proposal to the
federal government offering to take 1.5 million acre-feet of
water cuts per year. Arizona would cut the most, at 750,000
acre-feet. The Biden government rejected the Lower Basin’s
proposal and issued an “alternative report” on Jan. 17, almost
the last day of the administration. … Arizona Senate
President Warren Petersen went on to say he also wants the
federal government to tie in expensive infrastructure projects
to the negotiations, and not just river-related infrastructure,
but maybe even a desalination plant in
California. Petersen said if Arizona were to help pay
for that, then Arizona could take some of California’s Colorado
River allocation.
A move to boot Kern County Superior Court Gregory Pulskamp off
the long-running Kern River lawsuit was denied, according to
a ruling issued Tuesday by the assistant presiding
judge of the court. The Kern County Water Agency filed
a motion May 30 to remove Pulskamp citing its belief
the judge would be biased against the agency because a
preliminary injunction he had issued requiring enough water be
kept in the river for fish was overturned by the 5th District
Court of Appeal. … Typically, disqualification motions
come after a trial outcome is reversed, not in the middle of an
ongoing lawsuit, according to attorney Adam Keats, who
represents Bring Back the Kern and several other public
interest groups fighting to get water back in the riverbed
through Bakersfield. The agency, however, argued in its motion
that the injunction and reversal should be considered similar
to a trial. No, they are not similar, states a motion by the
City of Bakersfield urging Kern’s presiding judge to deny the
agency’s motion.
Before enjoying Ruth Lake this summer, be sure to clean, drain
and dry all gear, boats and trailers to prevent the spread of
the invasive golden mussel. The golden mussel, native to East
and Southeast Asia, was first documented in California in 2024.
Like quagga and zebra mussels, the golden mussel is capable of
rapidly spreading, wreaking ecological health and threatening
water infrastructure and water quality. Thomas Jabusch of the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Michiko Mares of
the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District join the program to
golden mussels, their threat, and what you can do to stop the
spread of this invasive species.
The regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”)
in drinking water remains one of the primary focuses for
legislatures and agencies at both the state and federal levels.
In May 2025, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(“EPA”) affirmed Maximum Contaminant Levels (“MCLs”) of 4 parts
per trillion (“ppt”) for two PFAS substances, perfluorooctanoic
acid (“PFOA”) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (“PFOS”). Many
states have already regulated PFAS compounds in drinking water
but have done so in a variety of different ways, and at
different levels. The result is a patchwork of regulations and
standards which presents significant operational and compliance
challenges to impacted drinking water systems. This client
alert surveys MCLs, as well as guidance and notification
levels, for PFAS compounds in drinking water across the United
States.
Along the Klamath River in Northern California, where logging
companies once cut ancient redwood trees, vast tracts of land
have been returned to the Yurok Tribe in a years-long effort
that tribal leaders say will enable the restoration of forests
and the protection of a watershed that is
vital for salmon. The effort, which unfolded gradually over the
last 23 years, culminated in May as Western Rivers Conservancy
turned over 14,968 acres to the Yurok Tribe. It was the last
portion of 47,097 acres that the nonprofit group acquired and
transferred to the tribe in what is thought to be the largest
“land back” deal in California history. Members of the tribe
say they are celebrating the return of their ancestral lands
along Blue Creek, a major tributary that meets
the Klamath about 40 miles south of the Oregon border. Blue
Creek holds cultural and spiritual significance for the Yurok,
and its cold, clear waters provide a refuge for salmon.
A newly published U.S. Justice Department memo could open a
path for President Donald Trump to roll back protections for
millions of acres of federal lands and oceans. … The 50-page
legal opinion provides guidance on the Antiquities Act,
concluding the president has grounds to abolish two national
monuments in California established in January by his
predecessor Joe Biden. The Justice Department determined an
opinion from the U.S. Attorney General nearly a century ago was
incorrect. The DOJ found Trump has the power to abolish or
reduce the size of national monuments established by other
presidents. … Opponents (of the Antiquities Act) say it
gives the federal government too much control over the
resources within hundreds of thousands of acres of land and
ocean and is sometimes inconsistent with other federal laws
that require more public involvement. … Proponents say
it allows presidents to move swiftly to protect vulnerable
lands and waters, and it has broad public support due to the
benefits of designating a site a monument.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee is bringing back a proposal that would allow
the federal government to sell off several million acres of
public land in Utah and other Western states.
… Introduced Wednesday evening, Lee’s amendment to
congressional Republicans’ budget bill, nicknamed the “big,
beautiful bill,” renews an effort initially spearheaded by Rep.
Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, and Mark Amodei, R-Nevada, that sought
to dispose of 11,500 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in
southwestern Utah and some 450,000 acres of federal land in
Nevada. … Though the scope is much bigger, Lee’s
reasoning behind the proposal is the same as Maloy and Amodei’s
— identify parcels of federal land near high-growth areas, and
sell them at market value to local governments to use for
housing, water infrastructure, roads and other
development.
Since January, the Trump administration has made sweeping cuts
to science and research at federal agencies, slashing funding,
laying off workers and terminating grants. A minority staff
report from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee released in May called the administration’s actions a
“war on science.” But amid these cuts, the administration plans
to prioritize an environmental program that cleans up toxic
waste dumps, also known as Superfund sites. … Some U.S.
lawmakers, however, have expressed concerns that mass layoffs
within the EPA and a dramatically reduced budget will hinder
the agency’s ability to accelerate Superfund cleanups. …
The Trump administration has justified Superfund budget cuts by
highlighting taxes on the chemical industry that help finance
the program. The Superfund program also received $3.5 billion
in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law under the
Biden administration.
President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled the U.S. out of an
agreement with Washington, Oregon and four American Indian
tribes to work together to restore salmon populations and boost
tribal clean energy development in the Pacific Northwest,
deriding the plan as “radical environmentalism” that could have
resulted in the breaching of four controversial dams on the
Snake River. The deal, known as the Resilient Columbia Basin
Agreement, was reached in late 2023 and heralded by the Biden
administration, tribes and conservationists as historic. It
allowed for a pause in decades of litigation over the harm the
federal government’s operation of dams in the Northwest has
done to the fish. Under it, the federal government said it
planned to spend more than $1 billion over a decade to help
recover depleted salmon runs. The government also said
that it would build enough new clean energy projects in the
Pacific Northwest to replace the hydropower generated by the
Lower Snake River dams … should Congress ever agree to remove
them.
A sensor on the International Space Station that helps map
minerals was able to help track water contaminants off the San
Diego coast. According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
researchers involved in a study of the instrument’s
capabilities found that it could potentially help track some
water contaminants faster than traditional means. The
instrument is called the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source
Investigation (EMIT) and it observes sunlight reflecting off
the Earth. Recently, EMIT was used to examine the
wastewater from the Tijuana
River as it emptied into the Pacific Ocean off the
coast of Imperial Beach. … Researchers examined EMIT’s images
pixel by pixel and were able to identify signs that indicated
certain molecules present in specific areas of the image. When
they cross-referenced their findings with water testing done on
those same areas of the Pacific Ocean, the findings lined up,
helping detect phycocyanin, a pigment in cyanobacteria, which
can make humans and animals sick.
A major new restoration initiative is launching across Northern
California to protect imperiled aquatic species and improve the
health of sediment-impaired watersheds historically impacted by
cannabis cultivation and rural development. The project,
Sediment Reduction on Cannabis Farms in Priority Northern
Watersheds, is funded through the California Dept. of Fish and
Wildlife’s Cannabis Restoration Grant Program, and was awarded
to Cannabis for Conservation (CFC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose
programs conserve wildlife and restore habitats in
cannabis-impacted landscapes. The project will reduce harmful
sediment production and restore degraded watercourses across
the Mattole, Eel, Mad, and Trinity River watersheds. These
vital river systems are home to some of California’s most
threatened and endangered species, including Coho and Chinook
Salmon, Northern California steelhead, and newly proposed
northwestern pond turtle.
Atmospheric rivers are responsible for most flooding on the
West Coast of the U.S., but they also bring much-needed
moisture to the region. The size of these storms doesn’t always
translate to flood risk, however, as other factors on the
ground play important roles. Now, a new study helps untangle
the other drivers of flooding to help communities and water
managers better prepare. The research, published June 4 in
the Journal of Hydrometeorology, analyzed more than 43,000
atmospheric river storms across 122 watersheds on the West
Coast between 1980 and 2023. The researchers found that one of
the primary driving forces of flooding is wet soils that can’t
absorb more water when a storm hits. They showed that flood
peaks were 2–4.5 times higher, on average, when soils were
already wet. These findings can help explain why some
atmospheric river storms cause catastrophic flooding while
others of comparable intensity do not.
Golden mussels are an invasive aquatic species that disrupt
ecosystems, filter away nutrients and damage shorelines
– and they were recently spotted on a boat trying to enter
Lake Tahoe. … This season, boating in California’s
Folsom Lake State Recreation Area requires a mandatory 30-day
quarantine or decontamination, while other water bodies like
Shasta Lake do not require any pre-launch inspection. No matter
the protocol, the spread of the golden mussel has raised alarm
among scientists and advocates, and its spotting in the Tahoe
basin is no small scare. … In the past, some
marinas shut down completely after the discovery of a new
invasive species – this happened in Lake Mead after the 2007
introduction of zebra mussels. Because Tahoe is so intertwined
with outdoor recreation, though, enhanced enforcements need to
be thoughtfully crafted.
In the desert of landlocked Arizona, where the Colorado
River crisis has put water use under a microscope,
Mainstream Aquaculture has a fish farm where it’s growing the
tropical species barramundi, also known as Asian sea bass, for
American restaurants. … But some experts question whether
growing fish on a large scale in an arid region can work
without high environmental costs. That question comes down to
what people collectively decide is a good use of water.
… The farm uses groundwater, not
Colorado River water. … Arizona has seven areas around the
state where groundwater is rigorously managed. Dateland doesn’t
fall into one of those, so the only rule that really governs it
is a law saying if you land own there, you can pump a
“reasonable” amount of groundwater. … What might be
considered “reasonable” depends from crop to crop, and there’s
really no precedent for aquaculture, an industry that hasn’t
yet spread commercially statewide.
It’s been a wet several weeks in Colorado, but as Coloradans
know, moisture tends to come in the form of rain at this point
in the year. And as snowpack continues to dwindle around the
state, several regions are far behind their snowpack norm for
the date. According to data provided by the USDA, the state of
Colorado is at just 36 percent of the snowpack norm for June
12. … Meanwhile, western Colorado is hurting for
snowpack, too, with the Colorado Headwaters river basin
at just 28 percent of what’s typical. … It’s also
worth noting that places where the snow has disappeared the
fastest are also where some of the state’s most serious drought
conditions are found. Currently, it’s estimated that about 60
percent of the state is ‘abnormally dry’ or in a phase of
drought, compared to 38 percent at the same point last
year.
It can be difficult determining the best lakes in a country as
large as America. But the people have spoken, and it turns out,
California is home to two. Big Bear Lake in San Bernardino
County was voted the best lake in the United States by USA
TODAY 10Best, in which an expert panel nominates their picks
for readers to vote on. It’s a popular destination for visitors
eager to get out on the water; Fishing, boating, waterskiing,
paddleboarding and summertime swimming are just some of the
ways people can enjoy the stunning lake located in the San
Bernardino National Forest of Southern California. … But
Big Bear Lake isn’t the only body of water in California to
make the list of 10 best lakes in the nation. Coming in at No.
10 is the popular Lake Havasu, which straddles both California
and Arizona.