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.
Just over a year after the historic removal of four
hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, the Klamath Basin is
taking massive steps toward restoring its habitat with the help
of more than $30 million. These grants focus on the
conservation of salmon and other anadromous fish species for
both ecological benefits and for fisheries. California
Department of Fish and Wildlife has invested in about 13
projects throughout the Klamath Basin, working with multiple
organizations to complete them and track the lasting impacts.
If heat-trapping pollution from burning coal, oil and gas
continues unchecked, thousands of hazardous sites across the
United States risk being flooded from sea level rise by the
turn of the century, posing serious health risks to nearby
communities, according to a new study. Researchers identified
5,500 sites that store, emit or handle sewage, trash, oil, gas
and other hazards that could face coastal flooding by 2100,
with much of the risk already locked in due to past emissions.
But more than half the sites are projected to face flood risk
much sooner — as soon as 2050. … Most of the sites —
nearly 80% — are in Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Texas,
California, New York and Massachusetts.
Facing challenges over cost and constitutional liberties, the
Arizona Department of Water Resources says a new groundwater
rule will promote housing development, not hamper it. The
Arizona Department of Resources established the groundwater
offset rule in 2024 to allow developers to build more housing
on over-pumped and depleting groundwater aquifers, forgoing the
traditional proof of a 100-year supply needed for a water
certificate. But the Home Builders Association of Central
Arizona, backed by legislative Republicans, says the department
overstepped its constitutional authority by pigeonholing
developers into the most expensive option when alternatives are
physically unavailable.
… A new report from the Value of Water Campaign — a coalition
of water organizations that advocates for increased investment
in water infrastructure — says the U.S. needs to invest $3.4
trillion in drinking water, stormwater and wastewater
infrastructure over the next 20 years to bring it up to date.
State and local governments could reasonably provide about $1.5
trillion of that investment, leaving a $2 trillion gap, the
authors say. That gap will increase if federal funding levels
go below those currently provided by the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
approved nominations Wednesday for key environment and
science-focused positions in the Trump administration. … The
panel approved the nomination of Timothy Petty for
deputy administrator at NOAA on a bipartisan 21-7
vote, with only Democrats voting in opposition. Petty has been
an aide to multiple members of Congress and on various
committees, handling matters on water, natural resources,
infrastructure, science and technology. He also served as
assistant secretary for water and science at the Interior
Department during the first Trump administration, and as the
acting assistant secretary in the George W. Bush
administration.
One of Lake Tahoe’s most popular state parks will reopen next
spring after being closed for three years for repairs. D.L.
Bliss State Park, on the lake’s southwest shoreline near
Emerald Bay, will reopen on May 21, state park officials
announced this week. … It was originally planned to cost
$2.8 million and take one summer to complete. But the Southern
California contractor who was awarded the low bid encountered
difficulties installing 3 miles of water lines. Workers dug a
six-foot deep trench across the park, but ran behind schedule,
encountering strict rules from the Tahoe Regional Planning
Agency that prohibit grading or digging after Oct. 15 each year
to prevent winter rains from washing silt and dirt into the
lake and threatening its famed bright blue clarity.
… Whereas most prior research has estimated effects of
exposure to extremely high levels of fluoride, we consider
exposure to levels of fluoride within the range typical in most
places and of greatest relevance to policy debates about
government water fluoridation. We use data from the nationally
representative (United States) High School and Beyond cohort,
characterize fluoride exposure from drinking water across
adolescence, adjust for confounders, and observe cognitive test
performance in both secondary school and at age ~60. We
find that children exposed to recommended levels of
fluoride in drinking water exhibit modestly
better cognition in secondary school, an advantage that is
smaller and no longer statistically significant at
age ~60.
California’s water year is off to a great start, thanks in
large part to the past week’s stormy stretch for the state. The
water year began on Oct. 1 and continues until Sept. 30 next
year. Since the start of the water year, Sacramento has seen
nearly 5 inches of rain at Executive Airport. That is
more than three times the normal amount of
rain for this point in the season. Stockton and
Modesto have also more than tripled the normal rainfall through
mid-November. … The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab
site in Soda Springs has recorded over 18 inches of
snow so far this water year. That’s right in line with
the normal value for mid-November.
Other weather and water supply news around the West:
The board overseeing the state agency charged with finding new
water supplies for Arizona is poised to approve as many as five
water importation proposals. … Details of the five
projects — two involving desalination plants and the others
relying on wastewater treatment, surface water and an
unidentified third source — remain secret until the full board
of the agency known as WIFA meets Wednesday. But the Fort
Mojave Indian Tribe and the National Parks Conservation
Association say it’s pretty clear EPCOR plans to rely on a
controversial pumping project in the remote
southeastern California desert — an area protected by
environmentalists for decades.
Other groundwater and desalination news around the West:
A major boost for Northern California’s struggling Chinook
salmon population is underway on Battle Creek, a tributary of
the Sacramento River. Earlier this month, biologists from the
Coleman National Fish Hatchery released approximately 263,000
juvenile late-fall Chinook salmon, with an additional 75,000
released last week. The timing couldn’t be better. A
series of winter storms is pushing higher flows through the
watershed, giving the young fish a better shot at making it
safely down the Sacramento River system and out to the Pacific
Ocean.
Mountain meadows make up a small percentage of the land area in
the Sierra Nevada, but not as small a percentage as once
thought. This is exciting news as they have an outsized impact,
often functioning as high-elevation floodplains. As snow melts
in the springtime, meadows act like a sponge for cold
water, holding on to it until the drier months of the
year when downstream communities need water most. They also act
as a biodiversity hotspot for birds, fish, amphibians, wetland
plants, and insects. And a new model is revealing that there
may be more meadows in the Sierra than previously
estimated.
On Nov. 6, 2025, the Colorado River Indian Tribes Tribal
Council made history with a unanimous vote that fundamentally
changes how the Colorado River is recognized under tribal law.
The council granted legal personhood status to the Colorado
River itself, making CRIT the first community anywhere to
bestow such recognition on the 1,450-mile waterway.
… Under the new status, the Colorado River gains three
significant protections under tribal law. First, the river has
the legal right to be protected. … Second, current and future
CRIT tribal councils must consider the river’s needs when
making decisions. … Third, CRIT now has explicit legal
mechanisms to address the damage that climate change has
inflicted—and continues to inflict—on the Colorado River.
Feelings were running high—and interest was evident—as hundreds
of people turned out for our fall conference last week in
Sacramento. The lunchtime program featured a panel of five
experts representing water interests from across the state.
… Associate center director Caity Peterson set the stage
for the day’s conversation by describing the symbiotic
relationship between California and the federal government when
it comes to managing the state’s water. “We rely on the federal
government for critical data, services, the expertise of agency
staff—and for money. Now that partnership is changing, and we
don’t know quite yet where things are going to land,” said
Peterson.
The Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission will
host a workshop Monday about what the future holds for water
supplies in the wake of the decommissioning of the Potter
Valley Project. “The workshop is intended to help the
public better understand the facts, dispel misinformation, and
engage constructively in one of the most significant water
supply issues facing the region,” organizers said in a
statement. During the three-hour workshop, presenters from
the IWPC, Eel-Russian Project Authority and New Eel Russian
Facility will share factual updates and data about the future
of water in Potter Valley and areas in the Russian River
watershed.
Levels of hazardous chemical pesticides in the nation’s
groundwater are mostly on the decline, according to a new U.S.
Geological Survey report. That should be good news for the 75%
of Wyomingites who rely on private wells for drinking water.
But Jay Feldman, executive director of the nonprofit Beyond
Pesticides, said the study only looks at 22 pesticides — many
of which are no longer being used, and did not measure their
highly toxic replacements. “Some of the more modern chemicals
that are of concern,” Feldman said, “including Roundup,
glyphosate, 2,4-D, dicamba, paraquat — these are all highly
hazardous chemicals that are simply not evaluated in this
study.”
As the San Diego-Tijuana region continues to get pounded by a
series of storms, a trash boom strung across the Tijuana River
channel is working flawlessly. Oscar Romo, project manager for
Alter Terra, the group responsible for the boom, says by the
time all the rain passes, the device is expected to have
stopped about 50 tons of trash from Mexico. … “That’s a
result of culture of just dumping — not always purposely done,
but the city lacks good trash collection. People are also aware
that the rain takes away the trash so previous to a rain they
dump and we get all that,” Romo said.
… Since a court-appointed receiver took over operational
control of [privately owned water company] Big Basin Water more
than two years ago, the system and its estimated 1,200
customers and 550 metered connections deep in the San Lorenzo
Valley have been pulled back from the brink of collapse. The
focus is now on expanding the system’s capacity and finding a
suitable buyer to keep things flowing smoothly for the
foreseeable future, said Nicolas Jaber, project leader with
Serviam by Wright LLP, which was appointed in 2023 by a Santa
Cruz County Superior Court judge to manage and stabilize the
company.
ForeFront Power is celebrating the completion of a 5-MW solar
project at the Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant (EWWTP) in
Vacaville, California. There is also an energy storage system
on-site, but no details on the size of the system were
released. The EWWTP system will generate nearly 8.1 million kWh
of renewable electricity annually. Designed to offset the
annual electricity demand at the EWWTP facility, the solar and
storage system is projected to save the city more than $25
million in electricity costs. … The EWWTP solar and
storage system was developed through a 20-year PPA between the
city and ForeFront Power.
… It was in 1878 that the fresh-faced Belfast-born [William]
Mulholland rocked up in the city and met a local well digger
who needed an extra pair of hands, then picked up the trade
himself. Newly obsessed with water (or the lack of it) he rose
quickly through the ranks of various hydrology companies,
eventually becoming head of the Los Angeles Water Department.
After a particularly biblical drought, in 1904 he set himself
the goal of permanently hydrating the city and its 100,000 odd
residents. His plan? Use gravity alone to “surreptitiously
steal” the water of “a large prehistoric freshwater lake” in
the distant Owens Valley (“the Switzerland of California”) and
send it back to Los Angeles.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it is
redefining the scope of the nation’s bedrock clean water law to
significantly limit the wetlands it covers, building on a
Supreme Court decision two years ago that removed federal
protections for vast areas. When finalized, the new “Waters of
the United States” rule will ensure that federal jurisdiction
of the Clean Water Act is focused on relatively permanent,
standing or continuously flowing bodies of water, such as
streams, oceans, rivers and lakes, along with wetlands that are
directly connected to such bodies of water, the EPA said.
