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 Director Vik Jolly.
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The headlines below are the original headlines used in the publication cited at the time they are posted here and do not reflect the stance of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit that remains neutral.
The bones of a 193-acre data center campus in Eagle Mountain
are ready after developers placed the project’s last beam on
Friday in an event crowded by the about 2,000 construction
workers employed at the site. … One aspect of the
facilities that company executives highlighted during the event
centered around the immense need for water notorious among most
data centers. This one, they said, uses a closed-loop cooling
system that would only need to be filled once and won’t consume
any additional water for cooling systems once the project is
operational. … Data centers across the country consumed
about 2.66 trillion liters of water in 2025, according to the
research firm Mordor Intelligence, and are estimated to
increase the number to 2.97 trillion liters this year.
The U.S. Forest Service’s plan to close scores of research
stations could threaten the nation’s wildfire readiness, many
foresters fear, and erode decades of work to understand timber
production, soil health, pests and diseases, watersheds and
wildlife. Late last month, the Forest Service announced plans
to close 57 of its 77 research stations, located across 31
states, merging them into a single organization in Fort
Collins, Colorado. The agency described the move as a way to
consolidate, not cut, the agency’s scientific work, and “unify
research priorities.” … But many longtime foresters fear the
closures will threaten vital research that has been the
backbone of forest management for state agencies, timber
companies and tribes.
At first glance, cannabis might not seem like a water-intensive
crop. But dig into the research and a more complicated picture
emerges, shaped by climate, drought cycles and a fast-growing
industry still learning how to adapt. Many cannabis customers
likely don’t realize that the plants need a meaningful amount
of water, especially during peak growing season. But because
cannabis is often grown in places with long dry seasons and
droughts, like California and Colorado, the water demand takes
a back seat to the water supply itself. Studies estimate
outdoor cannabis plants can use roughly 5 to 6 gallons of water
per plant per day in late summer, when temperatures are highest
and growth is most active. But in much of the western U.S., a
majority of rainfall happens in winter, creating a natural
mismatch.
Career Technical Education Community Health Worker students
from Southwest High School recently participated in an
immersive educational field experience at the Salton Sea
Management Area Restoration Site in collaboration with the
Imperial County Air Pollution Control District. The trip
aligned with the school’s Project ACE (Air Community Education)
initiative, giving students hands-on learning opportunities
focused on environmental health and the impacts of air quality
on community well-being. During the visit, guided by experts
from the Salton Sea Management Area Restoration Program,
students explored active restoration efforts designed to reduce
dust emissions, improve air quality, and restore natural
habitats around the Salton Sea.
Long-term drought has reduced Colorado River system storage to
about 36 percent of capacity, and the combination of the lowest
snowpack on record and record-breaking March heat has further
intensified drought conditions across the Basin. …To
stabilize the system, Reclamation is moving quickly and initial
plans include adding up to about 2.48 maf of water to Lake
Powell by moving water from the upstream Flaming Gorge
Reservoir and by reducing releases from Lake
Powell. Through the 2019 Drought Response Operating
Agreements, Reclamation is intending to release 660,000
acre-feet to 1 maf from Flaming Gorge Reservoir from April 2026
through April 2027. In addition, Reclamation is intending to
reduce the annual release volume from Lake Powell to Lake Mead
by 1.48 maf—from 7.48 maf to 6.0 maf—through September 2026.
… A final decision will be coming next week.
… Cave Creek, which gets about 95% of its water from the
Colorado River, will be among the first to feel the impact of
those cuts. … Colorado River water travels to Cave Creek
through the Central Arizona Project, a 336-mile canal that
carries water from the state’s western border to the Phoenix
and Tucson areas. The federal government has suggested major
cuts to the amount of water the CAP carries each year, forcing
Cave Creek officials to find a backup plan quickly. They will
be able to keep taps flowing in the short term, but the future
is uncertain, as long-term fixes are expensive and complicated.
With the Colorado River poised for a dry future, Cave
Creek’s struggles could provide lessons for other
cities that might feel the pinch of shortages in the
future.
As California experiences its second-worst snow drought
in 50 years, new images show a stark comparison with
last year’s snow levels. This year, the Sierra snowpack peaked
on Feb. 25. It was only 73% of average, then rapidly dwindled
from there. Then, summerlike heat in March broke monthly
records in many areas of the Western United States. Daniel
Swain, a climate scientist with UC Agriculture and Natural
Resources, described it as one of the most “extreme heat events
ever observed in the American Southwest.” Though a spring
storm dropped up to 3.5 feet of snow in California’s Sierra
Nevada mountains last week, extending ski season, snow levels
remain extremely low.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has released a new plan setting goals for
the city to combat climate change and adapt to a warmer future.
Bass’ Climate Action Plan calls for doubling local solar power
in Los Angeles by 2030 and reducing the use of fossil fuels in
buildings and city buses. It outlines how the city intends to
reduce emissions of greenhouse gases at the Port of Los Angeles
and L.A. International Airport. And it sets targets for
reducing water use, addressing risks from extreme
heat, and expanding parks and green spaces to cool
neighborhoods and restore natural habitat. … The mayor
spoke about the plan on Thursday at the Donald C. Tillman Water
Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys, where construction is underway
on a new water recycling project.
Although the Ukiah Valley has received a lot less rain so far
this year than in 2025, new storage procedures at Lake
Mendocino have allowed a lot more of that water to remain in
the reservoir than ever before, regional water officials
reported this week. “Without (Forecast Informed Reservoir
Operations) and that ability to retain more water, the
reservoir would be below 68,000 acre-feet (instead of at 84,000
acre-feet),” said Donald Seymour, Deputy Chief Engineer for
Sonoma Water, speaking Wednesday during a virtual update on the
status of both Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma.
Communities across the US are struggling to cope with impending
federal requirements for eradicating two toxic PFAS chemicals
from their drinking water systems, utility leaders said at a
water policy conference this week. The US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) last year announced a proposal to delay
the deadline for utilities to comply with new regulation
limiting toxic types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS)
chemicals in drinking water supplies. But even with the
potential for a two-year cushion – compliance for meeting new
standards may be pushed from 2029 to 2031 – utilities are
faltering, industry experts said.
An extreme marine heat wave is simmering the Pacific Ocean off
the coast of California, and experts are warning that
it could affect coastal weather and ecosystems for
months. … El Niño could drive the ocean warmth even
higher in the months ahead. The latest federal outlook includes
a 61% chance that an El Niño will emerge between May and June
and persist through at least the end of the year, with a 1-in-4
chance of a particularly strong El Niño. The tropical Pacific
climate pattern is associated with warm, wet conditions in
Southern California. … There is less certainty around
the effect on wildfire season in California. Although more
storms and moisture could help quell blazes, there is also the
chance that a dry lightning storm could spark them, he said.
Kings County farmers will have to wait several more weeks to
find out if they owe millions of dollars in back fees.
The Kings County Superior Court set a hearing date for June 3
to consider a request from the Kings County Farm Bureau (KCFB)
to issue a preliminary injunction on the state collecting
groundwater pumping fees. … While Kings County farmers
await the June 3 hearing, groundwater users in the Tulare Lake
Subbasin are still required to submit their pumping reports to
the State Water Resources Control Board by May 1.
Zone 7 Water Agency, the Tri-Valley’s water manager and
wholesaler, is considering a large pipeline to exchange water
between the Chain of Lakes area and the South Bay Aqueduct to
prepare for the harsher water landscape expected in the coming
decades. Zone 7 staff, at a special April 1 Board of Directors
workshop, shared a proposal for a 7-mile-long, 42-inch-wide
pipeline that would run from Lake I and Cope Lake, located
south of Stoneridge Drive between the cities of Pleasanton and
Livermore, to the South Bay Aqueduct at the Del Valle Water
Treatment Plant in south Livermore. A new pump station at the
lakes would convey water uphill from the lakes to the aqueduct,
while gravity could carry water in the opposite
direction.
The Colorado River may have carved out the Grand Canyon after
pooling as a giant lake in what is now northern Arizona and
spilling downstream, a new study suggests. Scientists found
that tiny sediment grains in the Bidahochi Basin, upstream of
the canyon, were carried from the upper Colorado River
watershed by 6.6 million years ago. The findings fill in a 5
million-year gap about where the Colorado River was during this
early period, said John He, a geologist at UCLA and the first
author of the new study, published today (April 16) in the
journal Science. … The findings, in turn, suggest that a
giant ancient lake in the basin slowly filled and overflowed,
causing the Colorado River to flow through and carve out what
is now the Grand Canyon around 5.6 million years ago.
Fifty years ago, Colorado Parks and Wildlife took steps to
return the river otter to waterways across the state. Now, the
agency has dedicated the next 12 months to documenting how the
playful, water-loving mammals are doing — and it wants the
public’s help. On Monday, April 13, Parks and Wildlife launched
a program to track the success of its reintroduction efforts
five decades later. With what it’s calling the Otter YEAR,
short for yearlong engagement and assessment of river otters,
the wildlife agency will be documenting the places where the
mammals live and gauging their population size. … The
agency has planned efforts in the Yampa, Green, Colorado and
Gunnison rivers.
To prop up a declining Lake Powell, the federal
government plans to significantly cut Colorado River releases
from Powell to Lake Mead and to boost releases from
Upper Colorado River Basin reservoirs to Powell, Arizona’s top
water officials say. … The reductions now under
consideration wouldn’t be severe enough to force additional
cuts in water supplies for the Central Arizona Project canal
system beyond those the three Lower Basin states have agreed to
take starting in 2027, under proposals they’ve submitted to the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. But it would leave Lake Mead in a
much more vulnerable position to receive deeper cuts in the
future if 2027 brings another dry year on the river.
Oakley has become the first Bay Area city to temporarily
ban new data centers, signaling a more cautious approach
as other parts of Silicon Valley continue to line up
projects to meet rising demand for artificial
intelligence. The Oakley City Council voted
unanimously Tuesday to impose a 45-day moratorium on data
center projects, barring the city from accepting or processing
related land-use applications. … The decision follows
growing concern among residents in the eastern Contra Costa
city about the impacts of large-scale data centers,
particularly their heavy demand for electricity and
water.
… By all accounts, fire season across the West has arrived,
months earlier than normal, ushered along by record breaking
heat, drought and wind. The National Interagency Fire Center
says this year’s fire season will be significant, noting
regions of the Southwest and Great Basin have no snow
at all. Melt-off in those areas is up to four to six
weeks earlier than even the prior earliest melt-off dates.
While the shocking lack of snowpack at high elevations and
crispy grasses in lower elevations portend a potentially
apocalyptic wildfire season, some wildfire experts look at
those predictions with an asterisk. “The one thing that
can save us from a bad fire season is if we get precipitation,”
says Camille Stevens-Rumann, a Colorado State University fire
ecology associate professor.
Kearny, Arizona has implemented severe water restrictions after
the mayor said the city’s water allotment could run out
sometime this summer. An emergency water decree went out
in January, asking people to cut back on water usage, but the
usage went up. Now that severe restrictions are in place,
residents are starting to cut back a bit. But even then, Kearny
will likely use up its water allotment by July 15.
… Kearny gets its water from the nearby Gila River. Its
usual allotment is 600 acre-feet. But this year, based on lake
levels, the allotment was cut by more than 80%. The town is
already down to 60 acre feet left, according to Curtis Stacy,
the mayor.
Mark your calendars now for our upcoming fall 2026
programs! The Water Education Foundation’s
42ⁿᵈ
annual Water Summit will take place Oct. 29 in
downtown Sacramento. Foundation members, either
individual or organizational, receive a $100 discount on
registration for this event. November 5-6 is our
first-ever Kern
River Tour, which will be offered just once! Join
us on this special journey as we examine water issues along the
Kern River, from its mountain-fed headwaters in the southern
Sierra Nevada to its terminus in the Central Valley west of
Bakersfield. It will not be an annual tour, so don’t miss
this opportunity!
