Today Californians face increased risks from flooding, water
shortages, unhealthy water quality, ecosystem decline and
infrastructure degradation. Many federal and state legislative
acts address ways to improve water resource management, ecosystem
restoration, as well as water rights settlements and strategies
to oversee groundwater and surface water.
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an 8-0 opinion
that clarifies the scope of environmental effects analysis
under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and requires
substantial judicial deference to federal agencies in NEPA
cases. This decision has broad implications for public agencies
and Tribal Nations involved in infrastructure and economic
development projects, natural resources management, water
supply project operations and other matters where there is a
federal nexus. … For local communities, water agencies,
and Tribal Nations with projects that depend on the NEPA
process, this ruling offers a couple of key takeaways. The
first is straightforward. The scope of environmental effects
analyzed in an EIS will continue to be limited by the authority
of the federal agency. … A more complex implication
relates to judicial deference—particularly deference to a
federal agency’s choice of alternatives and its feasibility
analysis.
Four bills authored by State Sen. Melissa Hurtado
(D-Bakersfield) have cleared the California Senate, advancing
to the State Assembly as part of what she calls her “Common
Sense Plan” to address affordability, infrastructure, and
corporate accountability in the Central Valley. … The
advancing legislation includes Senate Bill 224, the Preventing
Artificial Water Shortages Act, which would require the
Department of Water Resources to adopt better
forecasting tools to avoid unnecessary water releases.
Hurtado said the bill is aimed at avoiding the kind of
mismanagement that led to skyrocketing water prices in some
communities. … Senate Bill 556, the Flood Protection and
Groundwater Recharge Act, would direct funding toward
floodplain restoration projects in flood-prone
areas such as McFarland. The measure is intended to reduce
flood risks while helping to replenish groundwater supplies in
Kern, Kings and Tulare counties.
Other California water and environmental legislation news:
State health officials will face tighter deadlines and more
scrutiny of a water quality permitting program that has been
plagued by massive backlogs and criticized by some small
communities who say they can’t afford their state-mandated
water treatment systems. The changes would come under a new
bipartisan law Senate Bill 305 approved last month. Gov. Jared
Polis is expected to sign the bill this week, according to
state Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Democrat from Greenwood Village who
is one of the bill’s sponsors and chairs the Joint Budget
Committee. …The measure is designed to help the CDPHE battle
a permitting backlog that has left dozens of communities
without a current wastewater discharge permit. Those
communities can still discharge under a special administrative
rule, but the backlog means the communities aren’t complying
with the most current wastewater treatment standards that seek
to reduce the various contaminants, such as ammonia and
nitrates, being discharged into streams.
Getting federal approval for permits to build bridges, wind
farms, highways and other major infrastructure projects has
long been a complicated and time-consuming process. Despite
growing calls from both parties for Congress and federal
agencies to reform that process, there had been few significant
revisions – until now. In one fell swoop, the U.S. Supreme
Court has changed a big part of the game. Whether the effects
are good or bad depends on the viewer’s perspective. Either
way, there is a new interpretation in place for the law that is
the centerpiece of the debate about permitting – the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, known as NEPA. … The
challenge for federal agencies was knowing how much of that
potentially limitless series of indirect effects courts would
require them to evaluate. … With the court’s ruling, federal
agencies’ days of uncertainty are over.
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.
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 federal government has rescinded termination notices for
eight of nine USDA offices slated for closure in California.
The decision comes after California lawmakers argued that
closing the offices would burden farmers. The Trump
administration has reversed its decision to shutter eight
California outposts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
according to a letter from agency head Brooke Rollins. The
about-face came at the urging of a group of Democratic
California lawmakers led by Sen. Adam Schiff, who decried plans
from the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency to
close USDA offices in Bakerserfield, Blythe, Los Angeles,
Madera, Mt. Shasta, Oxnard, Salinas, Woodland and Yreka.
… The original closure plans came amid sweeping layoffs
and lease terminations at government agencies across the
country led by Elon Musk’s DOGE team — including nearly two
dozen California offices related to science, agriculture and
the environment. Musk has since stepped down.
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:
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.
The Supreme Court on Thursday sharply limited the reach of
environmental impact statements in a victory for developers. In
an 8-0 decision, the justices said these claims of the
potential impact on the environment have been used too often to
delay or block new projects. … In Thursday’s unanimous
decision, the high court ruled for the developers of a proposed
88-mile railroad in northeastern Utah, a spur line that could
carry crude oil that would be refined along the Gulf Coast.
… Sections of the rail line would run along the
Colorado River. … Agency officials said they
haven’t yet had a chance to study the Supreme Court’s decision,
and so it is unclear what the ruling’s effect will be (on
California high-speed rail), if any. The same is true for
the Delta Conveyance Project — a proposed $20-billion
tunnel that would move water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta to cities and farmlands to the south that
is undergoing NEPA review.
The final listening session focusing on a controversial water
rule will be held Thursday in Salt Lake City to give Utah
residents a chance to weigh in. Called the Waters of the United
States, or WOTUS, the hotly contested issue
has wrangled its way up to the U.S. Supreme
Court. … An Obama-era rule issued in 2015 as an
outgrowth of a Supreme Court decision was lauded by
environmental activists and conservation groups as the most
significant and impressive overhaul of the Clean Water
Act in 42 years. … Supporters of WOTUS say it
is meant to protect the benefits of water for all people of the
United States to enjoy, not just individual property owners.
The rule, however, was derided by states, private property
owners and ranchers as regulatory overreach that stretched the
meaning of words like navigable, near or adjacent.
Launching the PPIC Water Policy Center ten years ago was a
risk. How was a small team going to have a big impact on such
intractable problems? After a decade, the proof is in the
pudding. We’ve done it by being interdisciplinary, seeking out
facts amid controversy, and really trying to understand the
challenges and opportunities in each water sector. Despite the
many difficulties and complexities of California’s water, the
state has made tremendous progress on water management in the
last decade, and the Water Policy Center has worked hard to
support that progress with forward-looking, nonpartisan
research. We follow where the facts lead, and that commitment
to the facts—even if the results are not popular—has made us a
trusted voice on some of the thorniest challenges in the field.
Since the center launched ten years ago, we’ve released a wide
range of impactful research. Here are just four major areas of
research we’ve conducted on issues that matter deeply to all
Californians.
The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a tax and
spending bill on May 22, 2025, with a 215-214 vote. The Senate
is next in line to review the budget package. … The
FY2026 budget proposal initially showed a $2.46 billion
reduction in Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving
Funds compared to 2025 – however specific details about the
State Revolving Fund reductions are not prominent in publicly
available documents surround the spending bill. In a May
21 Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing,
Chairman Shelley Moore Capito stated that the State Revolving
Funds (SRFs) would be a part of the cuts. … Administrator
Zeldin stated he wants to investigate congressionally directed
earmarks that take away from the SRFs, but didn’t expand on
what the cuts would mean for the agency and water
infrastructure.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin warned states and tribes Thursday
not to “leverage” the Clean Water Act to block or impede energy
projects approved by the Trump administration. The agency
issued a memorandum reiterating states’ and tribes’ “specific
and limited” authority to review infrastructure projects for
potential water quality effects and announced it would soon
propose a regulation on the topic. “Under the last
administration, certain states attempted to leverage the Clean
Water Act to undercut projects that would boost national and
regional development and unleash American energy resources,”
Zeldin said in a statement. “With this memorandum, EPA is
reinforcing the limits on Clean Water Act section 401
certification to support energy, critical mineral, and
infrastructure projects that are key to economic growth and
Power the Great American Comeback.”
All 1,200 scientists and staff at the U.S. Geological Survey’s
biological research arm are on edge this week as they wait to
learn whether they’ll still have jobs come Monday. For weeks,
the biologists who work in the division, known as the
Ecosystems Mission Area, have watched two parallel threats
unfold. Most immediate is the expected firing of most division
staff as soon as next week. … The second threat is even more
serious: If the White House has its way, its proposed 2026
budget would eliminate the Ecosystems Mission Area, or EMA,
altogether. … The elimination of EMA would have profound
consequences. … It would erase bipartisan and widely
respected programs that, for example, monitor waterfowl
populations for game agencies, track contamination in
drinking water, convene time- and cost-saving
collaborations between agencies, universities and nonprofits,
and foster the next generation of fish and wildlife
professionals. … EMA scientists also monitor toxic
chemicals in water, and are one of the only groups looking in
private wells.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency clashed with
Democratic senators Wednesday, accusing one of being an
“aspiring fiction writer” and saying another does not “care
about wasting money.’’ … The heated exchanges, at a
Senate hearing to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposal to
slash the agency’s budget in half, showed the sharp partisan
differences over Zeldin’s deregulatory approach. … Sen.
Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told Zeldin that a plan to cut EPA
spending by 55% means that, to Zeldin and Trump, “more than
half of the environmental efforts of the EPA … to make sure
Americans have clean air and clean water are
just a waste.” If approved by Congress, the budget cuts “will
mean there’s more diesel and more other particulate matter in
the air” and that “water that Americans drink is going to have
more chemicals,” Schiff said.
A controversial provision backed by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) to
sell hundreds of thousands of acres of federally owned land in
Nevada and Utah to generate revenue for Republicans’ tax and
spending bill has been stripped out of the legislation by GOP
leadership at the behest of Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT). … To
that end, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) introduced an amendment during
the Rules Committee’s marathon markup Wednesday to strip the
Clark County acreage from the bill, while Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV)
offered an amendment to take out land sales for parcels in Utah
that run alongside a proposed water pipeline
route that concerned water managers in other Colorado
River states, including Nevada.
Wastewater and drinking water systems in small and rural
communities across America will receive an extra funding boost
to improve water quality, per an announcement from the
Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday. The EPA will
distribute $30.7 million in technical assistance grants to help
small, underfunded public water systems comply with the Safe
Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act. The funds can also be
used to help private well owners in rural areas improve their
water quality and update small public wastewater septic
systems. “Small and rural communities are the backbone of our
country, and they face unique challenges when it comes to
ensuring clean and safe water,” EPA Senior Advisor Jessica
Kramer said.
The Trump administration significantly cut funding for flood
prevention projects in blue states across the country while
creating new water construction opportunities in red states,
undoing a Biden-era budget proposal that would have allocated
money more evenly, according to a data analysis prepared by
Democratic staffers. California and the state
of Washington lost the most funds, with the administration
cutting water construction budget for those states by a
combined $606 million, according to the analysis, which was
shared with CNN. Texas, meanwhile, gained $206 million. …
Collectively, states with Democratic senators lost over $436
million in funding compared to what they would have received
under the last proposed budget of President Joe Biden’s
administration, the data analysis shows. Republican-led states
gained more than $257 million, the analysis shows.
Fifteen California lawmakers from both parties are up in arms
over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest proposal to to use the budget
process to fast-track the Delta tunnel — a deeply
controversial, $20 billion plan to replumb the estuary and
funnel more water south. With the clock ticking for the
Legislature to pass a budget bill tackling the state’s $12
billion deficit, Newsom dropped a spending plan last week that
would add sweeping changes to permitting, litigation,
financing, and eminent domain and land acquisition issues aimed
at speeding approval of the massive
project. … Assembly and Senate Democrats and
Republicans representing Delta counties, including Sacramento,
Yolo, Contra Costa and San Joaquin, fired back in a letter last
week, saying it would “change several, separate parts of state
law to benefit only a portion of California, to the detriment
of Californians north of the Delta.”
Hunters and anglers are voicing concerns about the possible
sale of hundreds of thousands of acres of public land in Utah
and Nevada. U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-UT, and U.S. Rep. Mark
Amodei, R-NV, have introduced a last-minute provision to a
federal budget reconciliation package which would allow public
lands in both states to be sold to local governments or private
buyers. Supporters say it would help address the housing
shortage, improve public infrastructure, and it would allow
industries to expand their presence. But Devin O’Dea,
Western Policy & Conservation Manager with Backcountry Hunters
and Anglers, said the decision sets a negative precedent.
… Maloy says her amendment is a small provision in what
has been termed Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” She added that,
unlike Nevada, lands in Utah would be used to build needed
water projects and infrastructure as the
state’s population grows.
Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief,
(testified) Tuesday morning before the House Energy and
Commerce Committee on the agency’s fiscal 2026 budget request.
Zeldin has been a vocal supporter of President Trump’s efforts
to roll back Biden-era climate policies and cut
down on spending. The administration’s request includes an
increase in funding for “critical drinking water.” The hearing
comes after the EPA announced earlier this month that it
would pare down federal limits of “forever chemicals”
and as House Republicans press forward with Trump’s domestic
agenda, which would slash a number of green programs
and regulations.
Democrats bashed the Trump administration Friday for cutting
funding for water infrastructure in several blue states,
calling the move politically motivated. The Army Corps of
Engineers has zeroed out of its budget hundreds of millions of
dollars for ports, dams and other projects in
California, Washington state and Hawaii, while
giving projects in some red states a funding boost, according
to top Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations
committees. The shuffling of funds was revealed this week in
the Army Corps’ work plan for this year. Because of the
continuing resolution that Congress passed in March, President
Donald Trump has more discretion on spending decisions than
would normally be allowed.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin returned to Capitol Hill this week
to testify before House and Senate appropriators in defense of
the Trump administration’s bid to slash EPA’s budget by more
than half, from $9.1 billion this year, to $4.2 billion in
fiscal 2026, which begins in October. Because the White House
has thus far released only a skeletal “skinny” version of its
budget request, lawmakers don’t have a lot to work with. But it
was Zeldin’s first appearance before Congress since he won
Senate confirmation in late January and took charge of a deeply
polarizing agenda that critics say will decimate the agency.
Here are four takeaways from this week’s hearings. During
Trump’s first term, lawmakers repeatedly rebuffed deep cuts to
EPA spending. They are now poised to do so again.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin will make a water policy
announcement Thursday with members of Arizona’s congressional
delegation, the agency said Wednesday. The event will feature
Arizona Republican Reps. Andy Biggs and Rep. Paul Gosar and
take place at EPA headquarters. It will include a “signing
ceremony,” the agency said. … EPA previously held a
water policy announcement and signing ceremony with officials
from West Virginia. At that event, EPA granted the
state’s request for authority over carbon dioxide injection
wells, which are regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Arizona has also applied for that same authority from EPA.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, is part of a bipartisan bill
to unlock federal funding for water infrastructure in the West.
Working alongside U.S. Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, Kelly has
introduced the Restoring WIFIA Eligibility Act. It’s part of
efforts by their states, Washington state and California to get
federal dollars. Established in 2014, the Water Infrastructure
Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) created a program to provide
credit assistance to wastewater, drinking water, and stormwater
projects, both public and private. With terms that included
low, fixed-interest rates and repayment schedules, WIFIA loans
allowed applicants to draw funds when needed. Still,
Kelly’s office said “certain interpretations of the program”
created hurdles for any projects with federal involvement.
That, said the senator, made them ineligible for WIFIA loans
because of language that made them available only to
non-federal borrowers.
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff on Tuesday urged Commerce
Secretary Howard Lutnick and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s acting secretary to restore a
database that tracked billion-dollar U.S. disasters. He said
its removal prevented lawmakers, insurance companies and
taxpayers from seeing the growing cost of more frequent natural
disasters and from planning for future extreme weather
events. … Schiff, who represents California, also warned
that sweeping job cuts at NOAA have left the agency
understaffed ahead of hurricane season, which begins June 1,
saying that 30 of 122 weather forecast offices at the National
Weather Service lack chief meteorologists.
The Senate is poised to vote in the coming days on President
Donald Trump’s nominee to be EPA’s top attorney. Senate
Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) took steps Monday to wind
down debate on Sean Donahue’s bid for EPA general counsel.
Democrats have accused Donahue — who served at EPA during
Trump’s first term and also worked at a solar company and a New
York law firm — of not having enough qualifications or
experience for the position. Donahue has practiced law for
less than three years and has supervised only a handful of
attorneys — far fewer than the 200 who work at EPA’s Office of
General Counsel.
House Republicans added a provision to their sweeping tax cut
package authorizing sales of hundreds of thousands of acres of
public lands in Nevada and Utah, prompting outrage from
Democrats and environmentalists who called it a betrayal that
could lead to drilling, mining and logging in sensitive areas.
Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee adopted
the land sales proposal early Wednesday morning. The initial
draft had not included it amid bipartisan opposition. The land
sale provision was put forward by Republican Reps. Mark Amodei
of Nevada and Celeste Maloy of Utah. The parcels could be used
for economic development, mining and infrastructure projects
such as the expansion of an airport and a
reservoir in Utah, according to local
officials and plans for the areas.
Interior Department employees are preparing for notices of
layoffs as soon as next week, as the Trump administration
appears to ready further cuts at bureaus and agencies that have
already seen hundreds of employees voluntarily leave their
posts. Interior indicated in mid-April that it would pursue
staff reductions — continuing efforts initiated by the
so-called Department of Government Efficiency to slash
executive branch agencies — when it issued staffers a list of
“competitive areas” that could be subject to cuts.
… Interior declined to detail how many of its employees
— which numbered more than 69,000 individuals in September 2024
— have already accepted early retirement offers or enrolled in
the “deferred resignation program.” But according to
individuals with knowledge of reductions at
the Bureau of Reclamation, for example,
reductions have reached as many as 25 percent of the agency, or
1,400 people.
Tulare County Board of Supervisors made its annual trip to
Sacramento to advocate for issues important to the county. The
two days of meetings were held on April 22-23, immediately
before the 2025 California State Association of Counties
Legislative Conference. … “We talked to everybody about
kind of the same issues,” (Supervisor Larry) Micari said,
explaining that the main focus of the advocating effort was
water. “The biggest thing that we talked about is the
Airborne Snow Observatories,” he said. … “There’s talk
of them reducing funding, so we spoke to them to try to get
that funding to stay, and to actually increase it,” he
said.
A proposal by the Trump administration to reorganize the
Environmental Protection Agency targets divisions that house
its climate change offices as well as Energy Star, a widely
popular program designed to help lower energy costs for
American households. A chart of the proposed reorganization
reviewed by The Times on Tuesday showed plans for vast changes
to the Office of Air and Radiation, where the programs are
currently held, among several other divisions. … And
yet, perhaps the most dramatic cuts may be to the agency’s main
office devoted to understanding, tracking and combating climate
change, which is housed under the same division set for a
shuffle.
Berkeley resident Daniel Fahey, recently hired by the
Environmental Protection Agency to administer Bay Area grants
aimed at improving water quality and restoring wetlands, is
among the thousands of so-called “probationary” federal workers
who received an email in mid-February announcing they’d been
fired. … The full impacts of the cuts are yet to be
seen. Already, the EPA has suspended anticipated grants for
North Richmond, putting $19 million in projects meant to
improve the environment in limbo. More than 60 California
grants are on a list of 400 that the EPA has targeted for
termination, according to a list obtained by the San Francisco
Chronicle.
Interior Department veteran Andrea Travnicek on Wednesday
identified Colorado River policies, critical minerals
development and infrastructure as her top three priorities if
she is confirmed as Interior’s assistant secretary for water
and science. With a background that includes service in the
first Trump administration’s Interior Department and leadership
of North Dakota’s Department of Water Resources, Travnicek
noted that there are “a lot of discussions right now” related
to the 1,450-mile river and the allocation of its water. “We’ve
got some looming deadlines that are in front of us next year,
so we’re going to have to work really closely with those seven
states in the [Colorado River] basin,” Travnicek told the
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
A bill requiring the State Water Quality Control Board or
regional water quality control board to describe and consider
the impact on tribes of proposed water projects subject to
their approval was approved (Wednesday) by the Assembly
Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials.
Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino) introduced the
bill, AB 362, that also requires the state and local boards to
adopt, when applicable, water quality standards to protect
reasonable protections of tribal water uses. … In
managing water quality and access, the State Water Board
designates certain uses such as recreation, navigation, and
preservation and protection of aquatic resources and wildlife
as beneficial uses of water that are defined in the California
Code of Regulations.
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to cancel a total of
781 grants issued under President Joe Biden, EPA lawyers wrote
in a little-noticed court filing last week, almost twice the
number previously reported. The filing in Woonasquatucket
River Watershed Council v. Department of Agriculture marks the
first time the agency has publicly acknowledged the total
number of grants set for termination, which includes all of its
environmental justice grants. It comes during court fights over
whether the EPA has violated its legal obligations when clawing
back the funds. … The canceled grants would have funded
a range of projects aimed at helping communities cope with the
worsening effects of climate change.
Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency got another
nudge toward the door in an email offering a second chance at
voluntary retirement or deferred resignation. The agency
is encouraging thousands of workers who remain after
several rounds of buyouts and layoffs to voluntarily leave the
agency, according to an April 28 email received by USA TODAY.
The ongoing staff reductions are part of a sweeping effort by
President Donald Trump’s administration to slash the size of
the federal work force and reduce federal spending and the
federal deficit. … The two departure programs are being
offered to most employees, with some exclusions, according to
the April 28 notice.
Cities across California and the Southwest are significantly
increasing and diversifying their use of recycled wastewater as
traditional water supplies grow tighter.
The 5th edition of our Layperson’s Guide to Water Recycling
covers the latest trends and statistics on water reuse as a
strategic defense against prolonged drought and climate change.
Seeking to prevent the California State Water Resources Control
Board from stepping in to regulate groundwater in critically
overdrafted subbasins, local agencies are working to correct
deficiencies in their plans to protect groundwater. With
groundwater sustainability agencies formed and groundwater
sustainability plans evaluated, the state water board has moved
to implement the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
or SGMA. … Under probation, groundwater extractors in
the Tulare Lake subbasin face annual fees of $300 per well and
$20 per acre-foot pumped, plus a late reporting fee of 25%.
SGMA also requires well owners to file annual groundwater
extraction reports.
California has unveiled an ambitious plan to help combat the
worsening climate crisis with one of its invaluable assets: its
land. Over the next 20 years, the state will work to transform
more than half of its 100 million acres into multi-benefit
landscapes that can absorb more carbon than they release,
officials announced Monday. … The plan also calls for
11.9 million acres of forestland to be managed for biodiversity
protection, carbon storage and water supply protection by 2045,
and 2.7 million acres of shrublands and chaparral to be managed
for carbon storage, resilience and habitat connectivity, among
other efforts.
Today, Congresswoman Norma Torres and Congressman David Valadao
– members of the House Appropriations Committee – announced the
introduction of the bipartisan Removing Nitrate and Arsenic in
Drinking Water Act. This bill would amend the Safe Drinking
Water Act to provide grants for nitrate and arsenic reduction,
by providing $15 million for FY25 and every fiscal year
thereafter. The bill also directs the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to take into consideration the needs of
economically disadvantaged populations impacted by drinking
water contamination. The California State Water Resources
Control Board found the Inland Empire to have the highest
levels of contamination of nitrate throughout the state
including 82 sources in San Bernardino, 67 sources in Riverside
County, and 123 sources in Los Angeles County.
A much-anticipated water bill brought by one of the most
powerful lawmakers on Capitol Hill became public Thursday.
Senate President Stuart Adams’s SB 211, titled “Generational
Water Infrastructure Amendments,” seeks to secure a water
supply for decades to come. It forms a new council comprised of
leadership from the state’s biggest water districts that will
figure out Utah’s water needs for the next 50 to 75 years. It
also creates a new governor-appointed “Utah Water Agent” with a
$1 million annual budget that will “coordinate with the council
to ensure Utah’s generational water needs are met,” according
to a news release. But combing through the text of the bill
reveals the water agent’s main job will be finding an
out-of-state water supply. … The bill also notes the
water agent won’t meddle with existing water compacts with
other states on the Bear and Colorado rivers.
Last week, Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria introduced AB 2060 to
help divert local floodwater into regional groundwater
basins. AB 2060 seeks to streamline the permitting process
to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in support of
Flood-MAR activities when a stream or river has reached
flood-monitor or flood stage as determined by the California
Nevada River Forecast Center or the State Water Resources
Control Board (SWRCB). This expedited approval process would be
temporary during storm events with qualifying flows under the
SWRCB permit.
… In California, just figuring out who holds a water right
requires a trip to a downtown Sacramento storage room crammed
with millions of paper and microfilmed records dating to the
mid-1800s. Even the state’s water rights enforcers struggle to
determine who is using what. … Come next year, however,
the board expects to have all records electronically accessible
to the public. Officials recently started scanning records tied
to an estimated 45,000 water rights into an online database.
They’re also designing a system that will give real-time data
on how much water is being diverted from rivers and streams
across the state. … Proponents say the information
technology upgrade will help the state and water users better
manage droughts, establish robust water trading markets and
ensure water for fish and the environment.
… Without more investment and regulatory relief,
Californians face a future of chronic water scarcity. Our
system of water storage and distribution is in trouble. We have
depleted aquifers, nearly empty reservoirs on the Colorado
River, and a precarious network of century-old levees that are
one big earthquake away from catastrophic failure. Then there’s
always the next severe drought. Even if the governor
aggressively pushes for more investment in water supply
infrastructure and more regulatory relief so projects can go
forward, the state is again staring down a budget deficit.
Bonds to fund water infrastructure projects are going to have a
hard time getting approval from voters already overburdened
with among the highest taxes in America. - Written by Edward Ring, senior fellow with the
California Policy Center.
Below-average precipitation and snowpack during 2020-22 and
depleted surface and groundwater supplies pushed California
into a drought emergency that brought curtailment orders and
calls for modernizing water rights. At the Water Education
Foundation annual water summit last week in Sacramento,
Eric Oppenheimer, chief deputy director of the California State
Water Resources Control Board, discussed what he described as
the state’s “antiquated” water rights system. He spoke before
some 150 water managers, government officials, farmers,
environmentalists and others as part of the event where
interests come together to collaborate on some of the state’s
most challenging water issues.
This tour traveled along the San Joaquin River to learn firsthand
about one of the nation’s largest and most expensive river
restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
Hampton Inn & Suites Fresno
327 E Fir Ave
Fresno, CA 93720
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Groundwater provides about 40
percent of the water in California for urban, rural and
agricultural needs in typical years, and as much as 60 percent in
dry years when surface water supplies are low. But in many areas
of the state, groundwater is being extracted faster than it can
be replenished through natural or artificial means.
The bill is coming due, literally,
to protect and restore groundwater in California.
Local agencies in the most depleted groundwater basins in
California spent months putting together plans to show how they
will achieve balance in about 20 years.
California is chock full of rivers and creeks, yet the state’s network of stream gauges has significant gaps that limit real-time tracking of how much water is flowing downstream, information that is vital for flood protection, forecasting water supplies and knowing what the future might bring.
That network of stream gauges got a big boost Sept. 30 with the signing of SB 19. Authored by Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), the law requires the state to develop a stream gauge deployment plan, focusing on reactivating existing gauges that have been offline for lack of funding and other reasons. Nearly half of California’s stream gauges are dormant.
Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona
governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful,
provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most
high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including
groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of
California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former
California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to
work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
the Delta tunnels plan.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
Low-income Californians can get help with their phone bills, their natural gas bills and their electric bills. But there’s only limited help available when it comes to water bills.
That could change if the recommendations of a new report are implemented into law. Drafted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the report outlines the possible components of a program to assist low-income households facing rising water bills.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
Spurred by drought and a major
policy shift, groundwater management has assumed an unprecedented
mantle of importance in California. Local agencies in the
hardest-hit areas of groundwater depletion are drawing plans to
halt overdraft and bring stressed aquifers to the road of
recovery.
Along the way, an army of experts has been enlisted to help
characterize the extent of the problem and how the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act of 2014 is implemented in a manner
that reflects its original intent.
California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.
Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.
Participants of this tour snaked along the San Joaquin River to
learn firsthand about one of the nation’s largest and most
expensive river restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
A new era of groundwater management
began in 2014 with the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA), which aims for local and regional agencies
to develop and implement sustainable groundwater management
plans with the state as the backstop.
SGMA defines “sustainable groundwater management” as the
“management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be
maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without
causing undesirable results.”
This handbook provides crucial
background information on the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act, signed into law in 2014 by Gov. Jerry Brown. The handbook
also includes a section on options for new governance.
Water conservation has become a way of life throughout the West
with a growing recognition that water supply is not unlimited.
Drought is the most common motivator of increased water
conservation. However, the gradual drying of the West due to
climate change means the amount of fresh water available for
drinking, irrigation, industry and other uses must be used as
efficiently as possible.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act sets standards for drinking
water quality in the United States.
Launched in 1974 and administered by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the Safe Drinking Water Act oversees states,
communities, and water suppliers who implement the drinking water
standards at the local level.
The act’s regulations apply to every public water system in the
United States but do not include private wells serving less than
25 people.
According to the EPA, there are more than 160,000 public water
systems in the United States.
The California Environmental Quality
Act, commonly known as CEQA, is foundational to the state’s
environmental protection efforts. The law requires proposed
developments with the potential for “significant” impacts on the
physical environment to undergo an environmental review.
Since its passage in 1970, CEQA (based on the National
Environmental Policy Act) has served as a model for
similar legislation in other states.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at some of
the pieces of the 2009 water legislation, including the Delta
Stewardship Council, the new requirements for groundwater
monitoring and the proposed water bond.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at California
groundwater and whether its sustainability can be assured by
local, regional and state management. For more background
information on groundwater please refer to the Foundation’s
Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” in California. Much of the information
in the article was presented at a conference hosted by the
Groundwater Resources Association of California.
This issue of Western Water looks at the political
landscape in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento as it relates to
water issues in 2007. Several issues are under consideration,
including the means to deal with impending climate change, the
fate of the San Joaquin River, the prospects for new surface
storage in California and the Delta.
This printed issue of Western Water examines water
infrastructure – its costs and the quest to augment traditional
brick-and-mortar facilities with sleeker, “green” features.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
financing of water infrastructure, both at the local level and
from the statewide perspective, and some of the factors that
influence how people receive their water, the price they pay for
it and how much they might have to pay in the future.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at the energy
requirements associated with water use and the means by which
state and local agencies are working to increase their knowledge
and improve the management of both resources.
This printed issue of Western Water discusses low
impact development and stormwater capture – two areas of emerging
interest that are viewed as important components of California’s
future water supply and management scenario.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and what its
finding might mean for the future of the lifeblood of the
Southwest.
20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A
Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues related to complex water management
disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances
Fisher.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this
24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson
River, and its link to the Truckee River. The map includes the
Lahontan Dam and reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming
areas in the basin. Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and
geography, the Newlands Project, land and water use within the
basin and wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant
from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan
Basin Area Office.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as
the most thorough explanation of California water rights law
available to non-lawyers, traces the authority for water flowing
in a stream or reservoir, from a faucet or into an irrigation
ditch through the complex web of California water rights.
The 20-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing provides
background information on water rights, types of transfers and
critical policy issues surrounding this topic. First published in
1996, the 2005 version offers expanded information on
groundwater banking and conjunctive use, Colorado River
transfers and the role of private companies in California’s
developing water market.
Order in bulk (25 or more copies of the same guide) for a reduced
fee. Contact the Foundation, 916-444-6240, for details.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project provides
an overview of the California-funded and constructed State Water
Project.
The State Water Project is best known for the 444-mile-long
aqueduct that provides water from the Delta to San Joaquin Valley
agriculture and southern California cities. The guide contains
information about the project’s history and facilities.
The Water Education Foundation’s second edition of
the Layperson’s Guide to The Klamath River Basin is
hot off the press and available for purchase.
Updated and redesigned, the easy-to-read overview covers the
history of the region’s tribal, agricultural and environmental
relationships with one of the West’s largest rivers — and a
vast watershed that hosts one of the nation’s oldest and
largest reclamation projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Flood Management explains the
physical flood control system, including levees; discusses
previous flood events (including the 1997 flooding); explores
issues of floodplain management and development; provides an
overview of flood forecasting; and outlines ongoing flood control
projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various facilities, operations and benefits the water
project brings to the state along with the CVP
Improvement Act (CVPIA).
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
For more than 30 years, the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta has been embroiled in continuing controversy over the
struggle to restore the faltering ecosystem while maintaining its
role as the hub of the state’s water supply.
Lawsuits and counter lawsuits have been filed, while
environmentalists and water users continue to clash over
the amount of water that can be safely exported from the region.
Passed in 1970, the federal National Environmental Policy Act
requires lead public agencies to prepare and submit for public
review environmental impact reports and statements on major
federal projects under their purview with potentially significant
environmental effects.
According to the Department of Energy, administrator of NEPA:
California has considered, but not implemented, a comprehensive
groundwater strategy many
times over the last century.
One hundred years ago, the California Conservation Commission
considered adding groundwater regulation into the Water
Commission Act of 1913. After hearings were held, it was
decided to leave groundwater rights out of the Water Code.
Federal reserved rights were created when the United States
reserved land from the public domain for uses such as Indian
reservations, military bases and national parks, forests and
monuments. [See also Pueblo Rights].
The federal government passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973,
following earlier legislation. The first, the Endangered
Species Preservation Act of 1966, authorized land acquisition to
conserve select species. The Endangered Species Conservation Act
of 1969 then expanded on the 1966 act, and authorized “the
compilation of a list of animals “threatened with worldwide
extinction” and prohibits their importation without a permit.”
California’s Legislature passed the
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1972, following the passage of the
federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act by Congress in 1968. Under
California law, “[c]ertain rivers which possess extraordinary
scenic, recreational, fishery, or wildlife values shall be
preserved in their free-flowing state, together with their
immediate environments, for the benefit and enjoyment of the
people of the state.”
The legal term “area-of-origin” dates back to 1931 in California.
At that time, concerns over water transfers prompted enactment of
four “area-of-origin” statutes. With water transfers from
Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley to supply water for San Francisco
and from Owens Valley to Los Angeles fresh in mind, the statutes
were intended to protect local areas against export of water.
In particular, counties in Northern California had concerns about
the state tapping their water to develop California’s supply.
It would be a vast understatement to say the package of water
bills approved by the California Legislature and signed by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger last November was anything but a
significant achievement. During a time of fierce partisan battles
and the state’s long-standing political gridlock with virtually
all water policy, pundits at the beginning of 2009 would have
given little chance to lawmakers being able to reach compromise
on water legislation.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most
significant environmental laws in American history, the Clean
Water Act (CWA). The law that emerged from the consensus and
compromise that characterizes the legislative process has had
remarkable success, reversing years of neglect and outright abuse
of the nation’s waters.
In January, Mary Nichols joined the cabinet of the new Davis
administration. With her appointment by Gov. Gray Davis as
Secretary for Resources, Ms. Nichols, 53, took on the role of
overseeing the state of California’s activities for the
management, preservation and enhancement of its natural
resources, including land, wildlife, water and minerals. As head
of the Resources Agency, she directs the activities of 19
departments, conservancies, boards and commissions, serving as
the governor’s representative on these boards and commissions.
Two days before our annual Executive Briefing, I picked up my
phone to hear “The White House calling… .” Vice President Al
Gore had accepted the foundation’s invitation to speak at our
March 13 briefing on California water issues. That was the start
of a new experience for us. For in addition to conducting a
briefing for about 250 people, we were now dealing with Secret
Service agents, bomb sniffing dogs and government sharpshooters,
speech writers, print and TV reporters, school children and
public relations people.
