A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation News & Publications Interim Director Doug Beeman.
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Drought conditions in California improved after a series of
atmospheric river-fueled rain storms swept through the state.
However, more than half of the state was “abnormally dry” as of
Thursday, Feb. 20, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. As of
Thursday, areas of “moderate drought” could be found in Central
California, including parts of Fresno, Kern, Madera and Merced
counties, the Drought Monitor said, as well as San Bernardino
County in Southern California. On the Central Coast, parts of
Santa Barbara and Ventura counties were experiencing severe
drought conditions, the federal agency said. So were areas of
Inyo, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties further south.
“Extreme drought” conditions could be found in Imperial,
Riverside and San Diego counties, the federal agency said.
Here’s a look at drought conditions across California.
Other drought and water supply news across the West:
Utilities in both the Eaton and Palisades fire burn scars have
reported detecting the carcinogen benzene in parts of their
water systems. State regulators have recommended the utilities
issue “do not drink” and “do not boil” notices, which still
permit residents to use the water for showers, handwashing,
laundry and other daily activities. The state said the order
attempts to balance safety with the need for usable water,
while some scientists warned that using the water, even for
purposes other than drinking or cooking, could pose a
risk. … So far, two of Altadena’s three customer-owned
water utilities have detected the carcinogen.
A water grab is taking shape in Utah, where thirsty urban
development north of Salt Lake City has created demand where
supplies are limited. Enter the “Utah state water agent,” a
position created in 2024 with the mission of seeking water
supplies beyond Utah’s borders. It’s a bold move by a state
that once pushed a plan to pipe water from Lake Powell to St.
George to secure water for that fast-growing community. Now
conservation groups are among the voices speculating that Utah
could divert water from the Green River — the largest tributary
of the Colorado River, providing about 40% of all the water
that flows into Lake Powell.
West Coast states and members of Congress worry that mass
federal employee firings at Bureau of Reclamation dams and at
the Bonneville Power Administration could disrupt hydropower
generation in the Pacific Northwest. Washington Gov. Bob
Ferguson (D) is “deeply concerned” about how the firings at
federal dams across the region may affect the Northwest’s
primary power supply, spokeswoman Brionna Aho said Wednesday.
“These cuts are dangerous,” she said. “Increasing the risk of
blackouts for our region is a security concern.” It’s unclear
how many employees have been let go at the BPA and the Bureau
of Reclamation.
If a recently introduced California bill becomes law, the state
will be able to maintain or strengthen current federal limits
for “forever chemicals” in drinking water, even if the Trump
administration repeals the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) decision that established the limits. … California
Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat, proposed the bill out of
fears that current federal limits for certain PFAS in drinking
water, which were established by the EPA last year under the
Biden administration, could be repealed by the Trump
administration.
Eight years ago this week, after a series of drenching
atmospheric river storms, Coyote Creek, the longest creek in
Santa Clara County, flooded, forcing the emergency evacuation
of 14,000 people in neighborhoods around downtown San Jose and
causing $100 million in damage in a torrent of muddy water. On
Thursday, the Santa Clara Valley Water District finished a
project aimed at reducing the chances of serious flooding in
the area in the future. The $117 million project from the
district, a government agency based in San Jose, constructed
flood walls and other features along 8,500 feet of Coyote Creek
in a 4-mile stretch of the waterway between Interstate 280 and
Old Oakland Road in some of the areas that suffered the worst.
The State Water Resources Control Board unanimously voted to
continue the hearing process for the Kern County Subbasin’s
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act compliance today,
despite community based organizations’ pleas to put the
subbasin on probation. The decision comes after Kings
County Farm Bureau blocked the Tulare Lake probationary
decision, earning a temporary injunction that will stop the
board from collecting fees through the first half of 2026.
Having reviewed the resubmitted Kern County Subbasin 2024 Draft
groundwater sustainability plans, the board staff identified
that GSAs have addressed some issues with coordination, but
recommended they revise methodologies that could result in
incompatible criteria across the GSA and Hydrogeologic
Conceptual Model boundaries.
First, there was Donald Trump’s executive order to release
billions of gallons of water from two reservoirs in
California’s Central valley, a move the feds walked back after
farmers and water experts decried it as wasteful, ill-conceived
– and an unnecessary risk factor for levees in the region.
… (T)he condition of California’s levees is, by and large,
already precarious. On its 2019 infrastructure report card, the
American Society of Civil Engineers gave the state’s levees a
“D”, citing that despite significant investments, much more
work was needed to rehabilitate and improve them. With more
rain in the forecast, here’s what to know about California’s
levees.
The nation’s biggest water district may hire the former U.S.
Speaker of the House on as an adviser, sources say. Westlands
Water District confirmed that preliminary discussions have
taken place with Kevin McCarthy, a former Republican
congressman from Bakersfield. The agency, which has its
headquarters in Fresno, does not have a contract with McCarthy,
but the role would be an advisory one. … A move to the
world of water would not be major pivot for the lifelong
Bakersfield resident. As a congressman, McCarthy helped secure
funding to fix and raise Isabella and Schaefer dams in Kern
County, SJV Water reported.
President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national energy
emergency will destroy wetlands across the U.S. as the Army
Corps of Engineers is expediting as many as 700 pending permits
for pipelines, transmission lines, and other energy-related
projects without proper environmental review, the Center for
Biological Diversity said. The center sent a letter to Trump on
Thursday stating its intent to sue him and the Army Corps for
violating the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act
because neither federal statute can be curtailed by his
declaration of a national emergency, let alone a “fabricated”
one.
More than a million homes in Los Angeles, San Diego, and San
Francisco that currently have low flood risk will face a
greater threat from flooding than from wildfires by 2050,
according to a report published on Tuesday by CoreLogic, which
provides financial, property, and consumer information,
analytics, and business intelligence. The report noted that
currently, 762,000 homes are impacted by flood risk in Los
Angeles. The same was true of 231,000 homes in San Diego, and
in San Francisco, 65,000 homes, it said. … Los Angeles’ flood
risk score was expected to spike significantly (by 2050),
jumping to 58—classed in the report as “high” risk of property
damage and losses. The same year, wildfire risks were expected
to be slightly lower than this, with a score of 51.
A wastewater treatment plant being built six miles south of the
border continues to be plagued by delays in construction and
now, per a Border Report investigation, design flaws.
Originally, the facility was supposed to open last September,
but five months later, its future remains in limbo. A source
familiar with the plant’s design says initial test-runs have
failed due to the type of pumps set in place during
construction. He tells Border Report water pumps were installed
instead of pumps required for mud, thick fluids and
sediment. … Most of (Imperial Beach’s) beaches have been
closed for more than two years due to sewage pollution that
flows in from Mexico.
Salmon are swimming again in the North Yuba River for the first
time in close to a century. The fish are part of an innovative
pilot project to study the feasibility of returning spring-run
Chinook salmon to their historical spawning and rearing habitat
in the mountains of Sierra County. … Using a proven technique
used by other agencies but never before attempted by CDFW,
fisheries scientists created dozens of man-made salmon redds,
or nests, using a hydraulic injection system to clear the
intended nests of silt. Scientists then carefully deposited the
eggs up to a foot and a half deep within the gravel to mimic
the actions of spawning adult salmon. … The first young fish
were seen in the trap on Feb. 11. The young fish are being
trucked downstream of Englebright Lake and released into the
lower Yuba River to continue their migration to the Pacific
Ocean.
Trump has said in the past that water from B.C. could be used
to solve California’s drought problems. … Is Trump’s
scenario plausible? Or just a pipe dream? And what impact could
his rhetoric have on B.C., which is currently working with the
federal government to renegotiate the crucial Columbia River
Treaty? Here are five things to know.
The National Association of Clean Water Agencies says it’s
worried about how big cities and utility companies will fund
lead pipe replacement and other big projects in the future.
Right now, the association says, the federal government
provides low-interest loans for those types of projects, but,
with a lot of cost cutting happening, those programs could be
in danger. If they go away, cities and utility companies will
have to borrow money at a higher interest rate, which will lead
to higher rates for customers.
The juniper pollen has cranked up early this year, and the
irrigators with groundwater pumps (legal or not, it’s hard to
know) are firing them up, but the most telling sign of spring
was the kettling sandhill cranes this morning. … This winter
has been dry in the headwaters, and the latest forecast calls
for just half of normal flows on the Rio Grande entering New
Mexico’s “Middle Valley,” where the cranes and I live. … We’ll
be fine. We’re used to this. Irrigators will troop down to the
irrigation district board meeting the second Monday of each
month to complain about not getting water to grow stuff, but
there’s a sad resignation to the ritual. We live in a desert.
Water is a blessing when it comes, but the reality of desert
living requires a stoicism of stubborn acceptance.
In this episode of the Ag Tribes Report, host Vance Crowe dives
into the pressing issues facing the agricultural sector today.
Joined by John Boelts, President of the Arizona Farm Bureau,
they explore the complexities of water management in Arizona, a
state where agriculture consumes a significant portion of the
water supply. The discussion highlights the challenges of
maintaining agricultural water rights amidst new policies and
the ongoing water crisis.
Our planet is awash in plastic pollution. Tiny bits of it,
called microplastics, taint the air and our food. Plastic
specks have been found everywhere from our bodies to a
dolphin’s breath. That’s why scientists keep looking for ways
to break down this sturdy material. Now, they’ve discovered a
promising new strategy. Bacteria common in wastewater can break
down a common type of plastic called PET. That finding could
inform new ways to clean up PET pollution, which may make up
around half of all the microplastic in wastewater.
Most California reservoirs are gurgling with more water than
usual, even after state water officials increased the amount
pouring out of some dams last week. Rain and snow melt from the
mountains and foothills boosted the levels of many California
lakes during the first half of February. Winter storms dumped
close to 1.5 feet of rain on the state’s biggest reservoir,
Lake Shasta, during the first two weeks. Rain and runoff pushed
the lake’s level to 15 feet from its crest on Feb. 7. The lake,
located 10 miles north of Redding, reached 90% of its capacity
with more than a month to go in the North State’s rainy season.
Other water supply and snowpack news across the West:
Nearly six months after the stunning collapse of a $1.5 billion
plan to enlarge Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County
to provide more water to Bay Area residents, state officials
are trying to figure out now what to do with nearly half a
billion dollars in state funding they had committed to the
now-defunct project. On Wednesday, they provided their first
clue. A majority of the seven board members of the California
Water Commission, a state agency that distributes funding to
build reservoirs and other water projects, indicated they are
leaning toward dividing up the $453 million left over from the
Los Vaqueros project and giving it this year to six other major
new reservoir and groundwater storage projects currently on the
drawing board around the state.
