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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… Crystal Tobias is a longtime river cleanup volunteer in the
Sacramento region. She said e-scooters have become a recurring
problem during river cleanups she’s participated in. “Oh,
dozens and dozens of them,” Tobias said. “Maybe over a hundred.
It’s every waterway… Steelhead Creek, Arcade Creek, the
American River, Discovery Park. It’s just rampant.” … She
said lithium-ion batteries attached to e-scooters and other
components contribute to water pollution. She says this is
especially a concern in Sacramento’s waterways that are salmon
and steelhead habitats.
Officials on Friday said they have expanded the incident area
for a massive sewer spill in the northern part of Clearlake as
a precautionary measure. Sunday will mark three weeks since a
Lake County Sanitation District-owned force main rupture
triggered the Robin Lane sewer spill, which released nearly
three million gallons of raw sewage into streets and across
private properties. On Monday, the city of Clearlake began
managing the recovery phase of the incident in unified command
with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services.
… By Friday, the unified command said that, based on
continued evaluation of groundwater conditions related to the
spill, the incident area was expanded as a precautionary
measure to ensure the protection of public health.
“In the West, water flows uphill towards money,” Marc
Reisner writes in “Cadillac Desert.” His observation rings even
truer today. Just south of Tijuana, for example, plans are
underway to build a $600 million ocean desalination plant that
will increase Tijuana’s water supply by a whopping 50%. While
Tijuana arguably needs more water to feed its growing
population and to counter cuts from the Colorado River, the
project raises an important question: Will that additional
supply of drinking water result in more sewage coming across
the border? –Written by Doug Liden, a retired engineer from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency who spent the last two decades
working on Tijuana River issues from EPA’s San Diego Border
Office, the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana and the U.S. Embassy in
Mexico City.
… Flanked by the Wassuk Range, Walker Lake is stunning,
shrinking — and very near dead. It is fed more in theory than
reality by the Walker River, which winds from the Sierra Nevada
east through some of the state’s increasingly corporate farming
communities. Thanks to more than a century of
over-appropriation and ever-increasing demand, the damaged
river exhausts itself in what’s been described as “an ooze of
mud” as it seeps into a terminal lake whose waterline has
dropped more than 150 feet in little more than a century.
… I’m on the side of those who believe there must be a
way to balance the interests of a greater good with expanded
farming and long neglect. –Written by Nevada Independent columnist John L.
Smith.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today conducted the
second snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. The
manual survey recorded 23 inches of snow depth and a snow water
equivalent of 8 inches, which is 46 percent of average for
this location. The snow water equivalent measures the amount of
water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s
water supply forecast. Statewide, the snowpack is 59 percent of
average for this date. Three weeks ago, the snowpack was 89
percent of average after a series of atmospheric rivers
provided relief from a slow start to the snowpack. A dry
January, which is historically the wettest month of the year in
California, has now eroded the gains made at the start of the
year and forecasts currently show no major precipitation in the
next two weeks.
[Thursday], the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced
an increase to the State Water Project (SWP) allocation for
2026. The allocation is now 30 percent of requested supplies,
up from the initial allocation of 10 percent on December 1.
Storms in mid-December have made it possible for the SWP to
increase the expected amount of water deliveries this year to
the 29 public water agencies served by the SWP. … In
December, all of California benefited from winter storms.
However, January has been unseasonably dry and warm and, as a
result, snowpack and precipitation are below average for this
time of year.
Governors in the Colorado River basin and their negotiators are
meeting with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in Washington on
Friday. … On the eve of the high-stakes summit, negotiators
from both the upper and lower river basins are not sounding
confident they can reach an agreement before a fast-approaching
Feb. 14 deadline. … “Some in the lower basin wanted some sort
of guaranteed supply, irrespective of hydrologic conditions,”
[Colorado negotiator Becky] Mitchell said. “And I think asking
people to guarantee something that cannot be guaranteed is a
recipe that cannot get to success.” … California’s water
negotiator, J.B. Hamby, was talking to roughly 600 people on a
webinar about his take on the state of negotiations. … He
largely focused on his desire to still find a compromise among
the seven states in the river basin.
… By Jan. 6, with umbrellas and snow shovels getting a
workout, the statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack was a respectable
93% of its historical average. But in the three weeks since,
the switch has flipped. Sunny and warm weather has been the
norm throughout most of California. On Thursday, the Sierra
snowpack had fallen to just 59% of its historical average. …
But it’s not as bad as it seems, experts said Thursday.
… Between mid-December and early January, the state’s
largest reservoir, Shasta — a massive 35-mile-long lake near
Redding — rose by 36 feet. The second-largest, Oroville in
Butte County, rose 69 feet over the same three weeks. They have
even more water in them now, and are still rising.
A judge has ordered the Southern Nevada Water Authority to halt
its grass removal efforts across Las Vegas Valley residential
communities and homeowners associations pending a hearing next
week. It’s the latest development in a lawsuit against the
agency for its enforcement of a 2021 state
law intended to remove decorative grass in the name of
preserving the Colorado River. The definition
of “nonfunctional turf” was established by a committee, and
three plaintiffs allege that the ban has killed trees in three
neighborhoods in Las Vegas and Henderson. … Albertson
has scheduled a Wednesday hearing on whether to extend her
temporary restraining order.
Putah Creek, the 85-mile long stream that forms the border
between Solano and Yolo counties, just had a record breaking
year for salmon. 2,100 Chinook returned to the waters of
Putah Creek to spawn in 2025. A decade ago scientists estimated
about 1,700 salmon returned to the stream. That may sound
like a modest increase but compared to three decades ago when
salmon were extinct in the waterway, this represents a complete
turnaround for the once struggling Putah Creek. … Robert
Lusardi is a UC Davis assistant professor and Max Stevenson is
the Putah Creek Streamkeeper. They both joined Vicki Gonzalez
on Insight to talk about the creek and its record breaking
salmon run.
On Jan. 9, 2026, the Central Nevada Water Authority board held
a meeting to discuss claims of vested water rights. Jeff
Fontaine, staff representative for Central Nevada Regional
Water Authority, presented new state law requirements for
formally claiming vested water rights. According
to Fontaine, vested water rights are “rights for water
that were put to beneficial use or were used prior to the
enactment of water laws in the state of Nevada.” In Nevada,
laws were enacted in 1905 for springs and streams, in 1913 for
artesian wells, and in 1939 for all groundwater. A change
in state law now requires these vested water rights to be
formally claimed, rather than relying solely on historic or
assumed use. If a claim is not filed, the right can be
challenged, lose priority, or potentially be lost
altogether.
The federal Large-Scale Water Recycling Project Grant Program
would be extended through 2032 under a bipartisan bill proposed
by U.S. Sen. John Curtis (R-UT). The senator on Jan. 27 signed
on as the lead original cosponsor of the Large-Scale Water
Recycling Reauthorization Act, S. 3693, which is sponsored by
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV). “For the millions that
rely upon the Colorado River Basin, water scarcity is a daily
reality,” Sen. Curtis said. “Large-scale water recycling is one
of the most effective, forward-looking tools we have to stretch
limited supplies, support growing communities, and protect our
environment.
On Tuesday, February 3, the Inyo County Board of Supervisors
will host a workshop to discuss how to address the significant
threat to our local environment and economy posed by the Golden
Mussel. … Without active efforts to educate the
visiting public about this threat and a mandatory inspection
and decontamination requirement for boats, it is highly likely
that the Golden Mussel will be introduced into the Eastern
Sierra watersheds. … Given the looming threat, Inyo
County staff engaged with Mono County, CDFW, the Town of
Mammoth Lakes, the Inyo County Fish and Wildlife Commission,
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Southern
California Edison, the City of Bishop, and the Inyo County
Sheriff and District Attorney, to consider how the numerous
parties can work collaboratively to help prevent the
introduction of the Golden Mussel to regional waterways.
The Trump administration is taking an unprecedented step to
control post-disaster rebuilding efforts by preempting local
regulations that it says have delayed projects that are funded
with federal loans. The move applies to thousands of homes and
businesses that are rebuilt each year with low-interest
disaster loans from the Small Business Administration. It took
effect Thursday under an 18-page rule the SBA issued with no
public input. … One target of the rule could be the
California Environmental Quality Act, which requires state
agencies to review the environmental effects of their actions.
… “I’m sure a target of this is the California Environmental
Quality Act,” said [Chad] Berginnis of the floodplain
association [Association of State Floodplain Managers].
Wells are going dry and the ground is sinking in the towns of
Wenden and Salome in eastern La Paz County. Residents fear a
proposed water transfer from their basin to Central Arizona
cities will force them to chase water deeper, which they cannot
afford. But the New York-based hedge fund attempting the
transfer argues this would save more water than their current
land use: growing alfalfa. … Now Rep. Gail Griffin,
R-Hereford, has proposed legislation that would make water
transfers from McMullen Valley a reality. Existing law wouldn’t
allow Water Asset Management, a firm that owns nearly 13,000
acres of alfalfa fields north of Wenden, to act as an
intermediary for the transfers. By amending the law with
Griffin’s bill, the transfer could go forward.
The schism between Democratic environmental ideals and
California voters’ anxiety about affordability, notably gas
prices, were on full display during an environmental policy
forum among some of the state’s top Democratic candidates for
governor on Wednesday. … In another controversial issue
facing the state, most of the Democratic candidates on
Wednesday distanced themselves from the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta tunnel, a massive and
controversial proposal to move water to Southern California and
the Central Valley. … Despite Newsom’s efforts to
fast-track the project, it has been stalled by environmental
reviews and lawsuits. It hit another legal hurdle this month
when a state appeals court rejected the state’s plan to finance
the 45-mile tunnel.
… U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum
said in a statement that the Trump administration is merely
restoring the ESA to its “original intent” and ending “years of
legal confusion and regulatory overreach.” Of the five new ESA
rules so far, four are essentially repeats from the first Trump
administration that were in effect for a few months before the
Biden administration mostly did away with them.
… Karrigan Börk, a professor of law and director of the
Center for Watershed Sciences at U.C. Davis, calls the new
rules a “wholesale attack” on the ESA, compounded by the
administration’s attempts to weaken other bedrock environmental
laws, such as the Clean Water Act and Migratory Bird Treaty
Act.
Some Nevada residents in the Lake Tahoe Basin say they’re
growing increasingly frustrated with how the Tahoe Regional
Planning Agency (TRPA) makes decisions — concerns that surfaced
publicly last week during a legislative oversight meeting in
Carson City. Nevada lawmakers recently began a new round of
oversight hearings focused on TRPA and the Marlette Lake Water
System. The Nevada Legislative Committee for the Review and
Oversight of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the
Marlette Lake Water System met last Friday. … Residents
raised concerns about growing development in the basin,
declining water clarity, overcrowded parking, and risks related
to wildfire and emergency evacuations.
As Wyoming plans to spend $250 million on two new dams,
primarily for agricultural use, the state’s water office warned
lawmakers that it will also cost hundreds of millions of
dollars to restore existing irrigation canals and
infrastructure. Jason Mead, director of the Wyoming Water
Development Office, outlined the state’s challenges in remarks
Jan. 7 to the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee.
… The proposed West Fork or “Battle Lake” dam on Battle
Creek [in the Colorado River Basin] above Baggs is expected to
cost $150 million. An additional $100 million is estimated for
the Alkali Creek reservoir proposed near Hyattville.
The question of how to protect fish and the ecological health
of rivers that feed California’s largest estuary is generating
heated debate in a series of hearings in Sacramento. … The
plan is being discussed in three days of hearings convened by
the State Water Resources Control Board. It sets out rules for
water quality that will determine how much water can be pumped
out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. … The
approach backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom would give water agencies
more leeway in how they comply with water rules. Environmental
advocates said the proposal would take too much water out of
the Delta and threaten fish already in severe decline.
