California Democrats tried on Thursday to dissuade Secretary of
the Interior Doug Burgum from cuts to water
infrastructure funding. Instead, they got a clear view
of the Trump administration’s priorities. The water security
programs may be working, but budget cuts are more important,
Burgum told lawmakers during a House hearing on President
Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the Department of the
Interior. … Congress is supposed to have the final say
in federal funding, but the administration’s budget proposal,
which would eliminate WaterSMART, is raising
red flags for some House Democrats, especially given the
approach DOGE has taken to federal funding. Burgum was
responding to Rep. Luz Rivas, who represents the San Fernando
Valley. Rivas said WaterSMART, which funds water management
improvements, drought planning and more throughout the American
West, was successful in mitigating water shortages in her
district. It’s received billions in federal funding since 2010,
with billions more matched by state and local partners.
Join us Sept. 8-12 as we examine water issues along the
263-mile Klamath River, from its spring-fed headwaters in
south-central Oregon to its redwood-lined estuary on the
Pacific Ocean in California. In anticipation of high
demand, the Foundation will begin allocating tickets for the
Klamath River
Tour via a lottery method on June 12. To enter
before limited bus seating is gone, review the tour details
here and submit the entry form linked at the
top of the tour page at your earliest convenience. Attend the
Water
Summit, Water Education Foundation’s premier
annual event, Oct. 1 in Sacramento with leading policymakers
and experts addressing critical water issues in California and
across the West. Registration opens June
18.
Nevada, the driest state in the nation, faces a water crisis in
the years to come. To help save the precious resources for
future generations, the governor just signed two bills A.B. 104
and S.B. 36 with bipartisan support including a new, statewide
program to pay people to voluntarily give up their water
rights. One would only need to look to Lake
Mead to understand that Nevada’s water supply is
dwindling while its population is booming. Now those with
entitlements to water, like multigenerational ranchers and
farmers, can exchange those rights for money. … The
statewide initiative enables groundwater rights holders like
agricultural producers to voluntarily retire or give up their
claim to water in exchange for cash in areas where use exceeds
long-term water availability. Once retired, the rights are
permanently removed from use. … While the law has been
passed, it is unclear where the money will come to pay those
willing to voluntarily give up water rights.
Senate lawmakers blasted the Trump administration’s fiscal 2026
budget proposal for agencies charged with major water
infrastructure projects, and they vowed to secure more money
for both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of
Reclamation. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy
and Water Development on Wednesday reviewed proposed budgets
for both agencies, with senators from both parties criticizing
the president’s desired cuts. “We’re probably going to have to
start over with this budget, gentlemen. I’m not telling you
anything that you don’t know,” Louisiana Republican Sen. John
Kenendy, who chairs the subcommittee, said as he ended
Tuesday’s hearing. “It’s just not realistic,” he added,
noting he otherwise supports cuts put forth by the Office of
Management and Budget. “I just know that the appetite for the
work that you all do and the necessity of it. I’m just being
realistic.”
Lake Tahoe is famous for its clear blue waters — but new
research suggests that clarity may come with a catch. A study
from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center,
published in the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and
Oceanography, shows that ultraviolet radiation in Lake Tahoe
can vary by up to 100 times between wet and dry years. The
findings are based on 18 years of underwater data through 2023
and highlight how climate-driven weather swings — especially
between drought and heavy precipitation — are changing the
light that reaches beneath the surface, according to a release
from the University of California, Davis. The data shows
that during dry years, clearer water allows ultraviolet rays to
reach far deeper into the lake. … That shift has big
implications: UV radiation influences the lake’s carbon cycle,
affects aquatic organisms like zooplankton and fish and can
suppress photosynthesis, the foundation of the lake’s food web.
The City of Rio Dell, in partnership with Caltrans and the
Clean California program has connected multiple communities
with a new trail path along the bank of the Eel River. A
ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted today at the Edwards trailhead
celebrated the natural beauty of the waterway and unveiled a
transformed portion of the riverfront. This $2.3 million Clean
California grant project installed a new quarter-mile paved
nonmotorized path that runs along the west bank of the Eel
River, linking previously unconnected city streets and
providing the first designated public access point to the
river. Interpretive monuments placed along the trail highlight
the river’s ecological and cultural importance, offering an
educational experience for residents and visitors. The City of
Rio Dell was also awarded nearly $198,000 in Clean California
grant funding for landscaping and recreation upgrades along
Wildwood Avenue.
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to
abolish California’s two newest national monuments, Sáttítla
Highlands National Monument in the state’s far north and
Chuckwalla National Monument near Joshua Tree. The push to
eliminate the designations, issued earlier this year by former
President Joe Biden, was revealed in a U.S. Justice Department
memo this week, responding to legal questions from the
administration about rolling back the California
monuments. Sáttítla Highlands monument was established in
January to protect a remote 224,000-acre volcanic landscape
northeast of Mount Shasta, known for lava beds and caves. The
designation was sought by Northern California’s Pit River Tribe
to prevent geothermal power production at
tribally sacred sites. … In a statement, White House
spokesperson Harrison Fields cited the president’s pledge to
“liberate our federal lands and waters to oil, gas, coal,
geothermal and mineral leasing.”
In celebration of the largest dam removal project in U.S.
history, a group of native youths will embark today on a
kayaking descent of the Klamath River from its headwaters in
Southern Oregon 250 miles to its mouth in Northern California —
the first source-to-sea journey on the newly undammed river.
Decommissioning and razing four of the six dams along the
Klamath, which stood for more than a century and generated
hydroelectric power, took decades of advocacy from
environmentalists, fishing groups and in particular the
region’s indigenous tribes, who regard the mighty waterway,
with its historic salmon runs, as the pillar of life. Two
remaining dams on the river, both in Oregon, are being left
alone due to their importance managing flood water and
supporting agriculture. … Now, to commemorate the
milestone, about 30 young people belonging to tribal
communities across the Klamath River Basin are launching on a
monthlong expedition to see the powerful, freeflowing river in
its entirety.
Just weeks before completion of construction, Northern Water
has confirmed uranium has been discovered at the site of the
Chimney Hollow Reservoir and Dam. … Now
near-complete, the Chimney Hollow Dam is the fourth largest dam
in Colorado and the largest built in the United States since
the year 2000. Northern Water is now working with the
Environmental Protection Agency to monitor the levels of
uranium being detected. … Northern Water currently
plans to begin filling the reservoir in August. (Northern Water
spokesperson Jeff) Stahla said the discovery of the uranium is
not enough to derail the project. Citing the reservoir’s
eventual capacity of hundreds of billions of gallons of water,
Stahla said there is a possibility the initial fill of the
reservoir will wash the uranium off the dam and dilute it.
Eventually, as water cycles in and out of the reservoir, the
concern of the uranium may not longer be an issue.
The plight of a tiny community in eastern Colorado will soon be
the subject of a congressional hearing. Colorado U.S.
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is coming to the aid of a small
water district in Morgan County, where toxic black sludge
passes for drinking water. The Prairie View Ranch Water
District is 50 miles northeast of the Denver metro area, and it
has been a colossal disaster 20 years in the making. Residents
say without drinkable water, their homes are
worthless. Boebert — who represents the residents in
Washington D.C. — is asking the House Appropriations Committee
for a $5 million grant to help overhaul the water
system. … Morgan County Board of County
Commissioners approved the water district as a private
for-profit company despite special districts being tax-exempt
public entities, allowing developers to run the district for 16
years while residents were in the dark.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s attempt to fast track the construction of
the Delta Conveyance Project had a setback Tuesday. The
governor’s strategy of inserting a bundle of policy changes
into the state budget was rejected by a budget subcommittee,
essentially sending a message to Newsom that the Legislature
would rather discuss his suggestions using the normal
legislative process. The Delta Conveyance Project is a proposal
for a 45-mile gravity-fed canal that would carry excess water
from the Sacramento River to join the preexisting aqueduct
system that provides water to millions of users in Central and
Southern California. Three members of the Senate Budget
Subcommittee 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and
Energy voted to reject the fast-tracking proposal.
… Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said the governor
received letters of support from 28 bipartisan legislators, as
well as from water agency and community leaders, including the
State Building and Construction Trades Council and the Soboba
Band of Luiseno Indians in San Jacinto in Riverside County.
… Having reported on water on the Monterey Peninsula for the
better part of the last decade, it’s remarkable to reflect on
what has transpired in that time: A political movement for
public water, a political movement to stop Cal Am’s
desal project in Marina, an innovative
recycled water project and its expansion, and
a conditional approval for Cal Am’s desal project, which is
still being litigated on multiple fronts. … How much
supply there is, and how much demand there will be by 2050, are
among the things still being debated regarding Cal Am’s desal
project (per a condition of approval from the California
Coastal Commission). It was finally scheduled to be voted upon
by the California Public Utilities Commission at a meeting in
Sacramento tomorrow, June 12. Late yesterday, Commissioner
Darcie Houck, who’s presiding over the proceeding, pulled it
from tomorrow’s meeting and rescheduled it for June
26. … The whole purpose behind these efforts has
been to lift the state’s cease-and-desist order that prohibits
Cal Am from setting new water meters. But it’s the State Water
Control Board that decides that. –Written by Monterey County Now columnist David
Schmalz.
… Mesic meadows are often overlooked, especially when the
background consists of Colorado’s Alpine vistas, but these
seasonally wet areas serve as nature’s sponges throughout
habitats dominated by sagebrush. By holding water in the soil
and slowly releasing it throughout the growing season, they
help sustain the land long after the snow has melted and runoff
has subsided. … In a region increasingly affected by drought,
wildfires and climate uncertainty, these wet meadow systems are
more important than ever. … Unfortunately, many mesic
and riparian areas have suffered from decades of land use
practices that have left them scarred with erosion, incised
gullies and dropping water tables. The result? Drying meadows,
reduced wildlife habitat, and diminished forage for livestock.
Fortunately, local restoration initiatives aim to preserve
these mesic meadows and riparian zones in a pocket of the
greater Castle Peak area called Bohr Flats. –Written by Peder Franson, the watershed restoration
manager for the Eagle River Coalition.
Industries that need ultra-pure water — including
semiconductor, battery, pharmaceutical, food and beverage
companies — are expanding in Arizona. One of the most
overlooked challenges for these businesses is what gets left
behind in the pursuit of clean water: brine, the salty
byproduct of processes like reverse osmosis. For Shahnawaz
Sinha, an associate research professor in civil and
environmental engineering at Arizona State University, brine
isn’t just waste, it’s an opportunity. Through a partnership
with Nestlé and supported by ASU’s Arizona Water
Innovation Initiative and the Global Center for Water
Technology, Sinha is developing a mobile, closed-loop water
recovery demonstration facility that could change how
industries in the metro Phoenix area deal with brine. By
recovering another 50%–90% of previously unusable water from
industrial brine and reducing the remainder to solid salt, the
project aims to minimize waste and extract freshwater to
support Arizona’s economy and water resilience.
The Port of Los Angeles will need to clean up widespread water
contamination in the city’s harbor by shoring up sewage
treatment operations, according to a settlement approved by a
federal judge. The settlement was the result of
a lawsuit filed by the organization Environment
California last summer accusing the port of violating the
Clean Water Act by unleashing toxic pollutants
into the San Pedro Bay. The group maintained that the port
had conducted more than 2,000 illegal wastewater discharges in
the previous five years alone — releases that
routinely surpassed limits on fecal bacteria, copper and
other contaminants. The settlement approved on Tuesday
tasks the port with improving its management and treatment of
stormwater and groundwater,
through provisions requiring the elimination of fecal bacteria
from the groundwater.
The drama between two Kings County water entities continued
earlier this month as the manager of one threw shade on the
recharge policies of the other. Kings County Water District’s
boundaries are intertwined with the Mid-Kings River Groundwater
Sustainability Agency (GSA) but isn’t a member of the GSA after
an ugly break up last year when the water district pulled out
of a joint operating agreement, leaving Kings County and the
City of Hanford to pick up the pieces for a large chunk of the
subbasin. At the water district’s June 5 meeting, its General
Manager Dennis Mills questioned and criticized recharge
policies recently enacted by the re-formed Mid-Kings GSA board.
Adding to the complexity of the situation, two Kings County
Water District’s board members also sit on the Mid-Kings GSA
advisory group that vetted the very policies Mills was
concerned with.
Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration say he has
the authority to abolish national monuments meant to protect
historical and archaeological sites across broad landscapes,
including two in California created by his
predecessor at the request of Native American tribes. …
Trump in his first term reduced the size of Bears Ears and
Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments in Utah, calling
them a “massive land grab.” … Trump’s moves to shrink
the Utah monuments in his first term were challenged by
environmental groups that said protections for the sites
safeguard water supplies and wildlife while
preserving cultural sites.
U.S. Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, alongside Senator Jim
Justice of West Virginia, has introduced a new bill to reduce
exposure to lead in old water pipes. According to senators, the
FLOW Act will help cities and public water utilities issue
tax-exempt bonds to help pay for removing and replacing both
public and private lead service lines. … A 2024
statewide study by Water Education Colorado showed that 23
Colorado cities have roughly 20,000 aging lead water delivery
pipes that could taint drinking water. Bennet and Justice say
that privately owned pipes serving residences have been slower
to remove and replace lines than public utility lines due to
the cost of replacing lead service lines. Bennet explains
that the legislation is based on the experience of Denver
Water, a public water utility that finances the removal of all
public and private lead service lines within its service area
by issuing tax-exempt bonds at no cost to its customers.
However, issuing tax-exempt bonds for this purpose can be both
costly and time-consuming for water utility companies.
The Biden Administration took a firm approach when it came to
regulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The
administration set Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for
certain PFAS chemicals in drinking water, designated PFOA and
PFOS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive
Environment Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA),
and proposed listing PFAS as hazardous constituents under the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to
rescind and reconsider some of the MCLs, but the two strictest,
PFOA and PFOS, are expected to remain. The compliance deadline
for drinking water systems to meet these MCLs has been extended
by two years, from 2029 to 2031. This extension is still an
announcement and not a final rule. … Potential funding
sources for PFAS treatment include federal grants, settlements
from class actions against PFAS manufacturers, and separate
litigation under CERCLA against polluters.
Latin America is at a pivotal moment in its water
infrastructure development. Historically hindered by limited
public funding and rigid policies, investment in sanitation,
wastewater treatment, and desalination is now gaining momentum
due to population growth, climate pressures, and rising
industrial demand. Chile, Peru, Brazil, and Mexico are at the
forefront of this shift, each driven by unique socio-economic
needs. … Mexico faces severe water
scarcity due to droughts, air pollution, and structural
challenges, particularly in northern states like Chihuahua,
Sonora, Sinaloa, and Baja California. Financial constraints
have further hampered efforts to address the crisis. … In
April 2025, the government also announced a US$1.5 billion
investment for 37 water infrastructure projects, focusing on
irrigation, hydro agriculture, and potable water improvements.
Key projects include a desalination plant in
Rosarito, Baja California, and aqueducts in Colima and
Veracruz.
