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.
Arizona leaders sent a bipartisan letter to the Trump
administration requesting that it maintain the original 1922
Colorado River Compact as negotiations continue to address the
river’s future water rights. … In the new agreement,
Arizona leaders said they want the Upper Basin States to agree
to use less water and to share the water shortage more evenly.
… Arizona leaders are concerned that these states are
refusing to cut back on water use, which will impact the
state’s water supply. … In the letter, the Arizona
leaders said the state has developed plans with California and
Nevada to conserve 1.5 million acre-feet of water per
year.
Chinook salmon have been seen making their way up Los Gatos
Creek in Campbell. This is all part of their late fall run,
which is taking place a little early this year thanks to recent
storms. … Experts say salmon numbers have been
increasing in recent years. “The numbers year-over-year have
been increasing,” South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition Executive
Director Steve Holmes said. “When we first started, we’d see a
couple dozen fish and that was it. As we’ve been working to
clean the waterway, we’ve seen incrementally the numbers
increasing.”
It’s the time of year when storms begin rolling in again across
Northern California, bringing much-needed water to the dry
landscape. And that precipitation is causing life to rebloom
again in the region’s vernal pools, small temporary wetlands
caused by rainwater filling up depressions in the ground.
… Near Mather Field in Sacramento, the public has a
chance to see some of these vernal pools, which date back
between 50,000 and 200,000 years. David Rosen is the Director
of Educational Programming and Lead Naturalist with the
nonprofit Sacramento Splash. He recently spoke with
Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about the uniqueness of the vernal
pool habitat, and how his organization is helping to bring that
science to the greater public.
Imperial Beach residents are reporting noticeable improvements
in water quality and odor as federal agencies work to address
the ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis that has plagued the South
Bay community for years. … The Environmental Protection
Agency reports it is ahead of schedule on infrastructure
upgrades designed to tackle the complex pollution problem. The
agency is seriously upgrading infrastructure, including
increasing the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant near
the border. Officials have also accelerated timelines for most
infrastructure projects, cutting project completion estimates
by roughly 12 years across all initiatives.
A decades-old stormwater solution that helps recharge
groundwater in Modesto is also a major contributor to yearly
street flooding and a potential source of contamination.
Modesto’s stormwater system is different from most other cities
of its size in California. Instead of a traditional system
using pipes that flow into rivers or out into the ocean, it
heavily relies on thousands of rock wells — gravel-filled holes
that drain untreated rainwater directly into the ground.
… Rock wells work as a source of groundwater recharge,
replenishing aquifers below. But they also are easily clogged
by debris like leaves and trash, leading to major street
flooding during heavy storms.
The Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency is undergoing a review
to make sure it’s not depleting its groundwater, as required by
state water regulations. … In 2023, when the California
Department of Water Resources reviewed the agency’s previous
self-evaluation, it noted lowering groundwater levels, degraded
quality and surface water depletion and recommended changes.
Recent reports on the basin have shown improved conditions,
despite the decrease in average rainfall in 2025. Groundwater
levels in the basin remain generally stable as a result of low
groundwater usage.
The Supreme Court wants to know where the Trump administration
stands in a battle between Colorado and Nebraska over water
from a river that flows between the two states. In a long list
of orders issued Monday, the justices requested the solicitor
general’s views on Nebraska’s plea for help from the high court
in a challenge against Colorado for hampering the Cornhusker
State’s effort to build a cross-border canal along the South
Platte River. Nebraska sued Colorado in July, arguing that its
neighbor is in violation of a 1923 compact that allows Nebraska
to take nearly 65 million gallons of water per day during the
irrigation season between April and mid-October, and larger
volumes during the rest of the year.
A powerful atmospheric river weather system has mostly moved
through California but not before causing at least six deaths
and dousing much of the state. Early Monday lingering
thunderstorms pose the risk of mudslides in areas of Los
Angeles county that were recently ravaged by wildfire.
… More than 4in of rain fell over coastal Santa Barbara
county as the storm approached Los Angeles. Parts of the Sierra
Nevada received more than a foot of snow. The weather service
said scattered rain could continue through Tuesday in the
southern part of the state. Another storm was expected to
arrive on Thursday.
Dry, dry, dry. And warm, warm, warm. That’s been the weather
story across Colorado so far this November. Colorado’s mountain
snowpack is off to a slow start this season, and the Denver
metro area still hasn’t seen flurries. Snowpack levels across
the state remain far below average, though meteorologists say
weather patterns are expected to shift in the coming days,
bringing a better chance for winter storms before the end of
the month. … According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, much of
the state is unusually dry, while patches of Pitkin and Eagle
counties have slipped into extreme drought.
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
At least two thirds of California’s population and more than 4
million acres of California farmland rely on water delivered by
the federal Central Valley Project and the State Water Project,
two of the largest multipurpose water management projects in
the world. A report released this week by the National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reviews these
projects’ monitoring, modeling, and other scientific activities
— specifically actions designed to help protect endangered
fish. … This first report examines three actions
designed to help protect fish and offers recommendations to
strengthen those actions.
Three months ago, Santa Clara County’s largest water agency
voted to kill a $3.2 billion plan to build a huge new reservoir
in the southern part of the county near Pacheco Pass. The
Pacheco Reservoir would have been the largest new reservoir
built in the Bay Area since 1998 when Los Vaqueros Reservoir
was constructed in eastern Contra Costa County. … This week,
the district, a government agency in San Jose that provides
water to 2 million South Bay residents, approved a roadmap for
the next 25 years that combines new reservoir projects,
groundwater storage and recycled water. The price tag: $3.9
billion.
When controversial Las Vegas developer Jim Rhodes abandoned
plans for a sprawling community near the northwestern Arizona
city of Kingman nearly two decades ago, the vast swaths of land
he’d purchased were mostly surrounded by open
desert. Instead of walking away from his investment,
Rhodes applied for a group of industrial-scale agriculture
wells that could reach the largely untapped groundwater in the
Hualapai Valley Basin. … Today, more than 99% of the
cropland in the basin is owned or controlled by out-of-state
farming operations or investment funds. … More than half of
the basin’s cultivated land is tied to California-registered
companies, which collectively farm close to 13,000 acres.
Last week, more than a dozen tribes across the U.S. commented
on a new proposal by the Trump administration to let developers
obtain preliminary permits for hydropower projects on
reservations in spite of tribal opposition. This rule would
apply to projects like dams, reservoirs and pump-storage
facilities — all overseen by the independent Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, which, under a Biden-era rule, does not
issue such permits without consent. The regulator is being
asked to change course by Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
The Delta Protection Commission continued its
consideration on the Certification of Consistency for the Delta
Conveyance Project. Of the 11 members present, two … recused
themselves and left prior to the beginning of discussion on the
item,” a staff report following the Thursday meeting in Hood
stated. “Two of the remaining members indicated they would
abstain.” … ”That left only seven members who would be
available to vote on (the item), when eight are required for
action. The commission evaluated its options and decided to
adjourn and continue the meeting to 10 a.m. Monday via
teleconference.”
When it comes to zebra mussels in the Colorado River system,
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis summed it up
this way: “We look, we find.” While Colorado’s first
detection of the highly invasive zebra mussel was in 2022,
Parks and Wildlife, alongside federal and local partners, has
ramped up testing for the species following a growing number of
finds this summer on the Western Slope. … Zebra mussels
are an invasive aquatic species notorious for their prolific
reproduction and destruction of ecosystems and
infrastructure.
When New Mexico water users convinced the federal government to
build the San Juan-Chama Project in 1962, they hoped it would
relieve stress on the Rio Grande. The pipeline from southern
Colorado to Northern New Mexico would bring water from the
Colorado River Basin to the Rio Grande Valley. But in recent
years, as Northern New Mexico has seen historic shortages on
the Rio Grande, water managers say the Colorado River has not
softened the blow. Rather, the two water sources have both
become more unreliable, linked to one another by legal and
natural systems that have turned stretches of wet river into
highways of mud and sand.
Environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers say delays at the
Environmental Protection Agency are putting Americans’ drinking
water at risk, accusing the agency of withholding critical
public health information about PFAS chemicals. Rep. Chellie
Pingree, D-Maine, said the EPA has failed for months to release
a report on PFNA, a type of PFAS contaminant. PFAS, often
called “forever chemicals,” are man-made substances found in
air, groundwater and drinking water across the country.
… Pingree sent a letter last month to EPA Administrator
Lee Zeldin demanding an update, but she said the agency has not
responded.
The California Farm Water Coalition is pleased to announce the
selection of Michelle Paul as its next executive director. Ms.
Paul will replace Mike Wade, who is retiring in February from
his role as the Coalition’s executive director, a position he
has held since 1998. Ms. Paul was selected following a
comprehensive statewide search led by the Coalition’s executive
director selection committee, which considered a strong and
diverse field of candidates from across California. She will
join the Coalition in mid-January and assume full
responsibilities on March 1.
Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP has identified Riverside, San
Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Ventura as the
California counties most susceptible to wildfires in 2026,
based on recent hazard mapping and federal risk
data. … According to the firm, environmental
conditions such as prolonged drought, high temperatures, low
humidity and strong winds including Santa Ana and Diablo winds
dry out vegetation and accelerate fire spread. It flags
additional factors such as dry lightning strikes, dead
vegetation, invasive plant species, extensive tree mortality
from pests and the build-up of fuel where natural fire cycles
have been suppressed.
Evacuation warnings were issued across Los Angeles County on
Thursday evening as an atmospheric river approached Southern
California, bringing with it the potential to put an early end
to fire season while also bringing fresh risks of
flooding and mudslides. Under the storm
scenario deemed most likely by forecasters, downtown L.A. would
see 2.62 inches of rain Friday morning through Sunday. … Rain
of that extent would also make this L.A.’s wettest November in
40 years. … In Sierra Nevada, snow levels are
expected to fall to around 8,000 feet above sea level
around Tahoe and in Mono County from Thursday night into Friday
morning.
