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.
City officials shut off water access to the planned
Project Blue data centers complex and are demanding
reimbursement after discovering what they call unauthorized use
of city water at the construction site. Tucson City
Manager Timothy Thomure sent a letter to the project’s
developers Monday, stating that the city revoked a construction
water meter obtained by contractor Ames Construction, which was
using city water for “dust control purposes at the Project Blue
site” on South Houghton Road near the Pima County
Fairgrounds. The letter claims the contractor obtained the
water meter within the Tucson Water service area and
transported it out for use at the site. “This was completely
unacceptable and was terminated by Tucson Water immediately,”
the letter says.
A citizen-led coalition has submitted more than 151,000
signatures in an effort to put a half-cent sales tax increase
before San Diego voters this November to address the
long-running Tijuana River sewage crisis. The proposed “San
Diego Health and Safety Act” would direct funding toward
stopping toxic sewage pollution from the Tijuana River,
expanding health care access and childcare support, and
strengthening wildfire and 9-1-1 response. The San Diego
County Registrar of Voters has 30 days to verify the signatures
before the measure can be placed on the ballot. While
supporters say the region has waited years for meaningful
solutions, not everyone is convinced a tax increase is the
right approach.
… Firefighters and wildfire experts say that perception
matches reality. Wildfires have become more intense and more
extreme, according to Bakersfield Battalion Chief AJ Clark, who
pointed to major incidents in recent years. … But
according to those who have spent decades studying this
phenomenon, the drivers behind worsening wildfire seasons may
surprise people who assume drought is the primary cause.
“Plants are the source of the fire, the fuel,” UC Riverside
wildfire expert Dr. Richard Minnich said. “So the more it
rains, the more it burns in the climate around here. We think
somehow that drought is a necessary thing. It’s not, not really
at all.”
Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s Rio Dell feeder project,
which will provide more reliable and increased electrical
capacity, has received approval from the California State Lands
Commission. … The project includes the installation of two
20-inch conduit castings under the Eel River,
using Horizontal Directional Drilling. The Horizontal
Directional Drilling method is a trenchless technique meant to
avoid disturbance along the bore path to minimize impacts to
waterways and sensitive habitats. … Permits are
still needed from the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control
Board.
There is not enough water. That is the blunt assessment from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the feasibility of four
modest plans intended to address environmental and health
problems at the Salton Sea. The announcement came [April 30]
during a community informational meeting at the North Shore
Yacht Club in Mecca, one of a series of recent meetings the
Corps has held on the long-standing crisis. The four plans,
developed to ease the dust and air pollution created as the
Salton Sea shrinks and more lakebed is exposed, share one
critical flaw: none has the water needed to be viable. A
hydrology study presented at the meeting concluded
there is not enough water available to support even the
most modest restoration alternatives.
San Luis Obispo County is studying the construction of a major
seawater desalination plant along its 90-mile coastline, to
provide a drought-proof water supply for 16 partner water
agencies. One of the leading options involves pairing or
expanding the plant at or near Diablo Canyon, California’s last
operating nuclear power station. … This path carries
substantial risks. Critics contend economic pressures and
electric grid reliability concerns shouldn’t be prioritized
over public health, safety and the environment. –Written by William Simpson, executive director of the
Wild Horse Fire Brigade.
… San Diego is not alone in experiencing catastrophic extreme
weather disasters, and many are often hit hardest due to
neglected infrastructure. We cannot afford another climate
disaster in this city — the human cost is too high. Human lives
were lost, along with pets, wildlife and plants in the area
surrounding Chollas Creek flood channels. Today, all of
the recovery work and reconstruction of homes is now at risk of
flooding again because the flood channels have not received the
investment needed to bring them up to date. Flood survivors
have yet to receive all the support needed to live, recover and
heal. What they have received has been because we spoke up.
It’s time to do so again. –Written by Jessica Calix, a San Diego resident whose home
in Southcrest was destroyed in the 2024 flood.
For nearly three decades, Cal Poly Humboldt Wildlife Professor
Jeff Black and citizen scientists have been quietly documenting
the lives of one of the North Coast’s most charismatic
residents: river otters. Now, marking the 27th and final year
of this long-term research effort, Black is sharing new
observations at the Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary—a place
where wastewater treatment, wildlife habitat, and public access
intersect. Based on two years of intensive study, the latest
findings, published in the Northwestern
Naturalist, reveal just how deeply river otters rely on
the marsh. Otters were present nearly every day, using the
wetlands not only to hunt, but to raise pups, socialize, rest,
and navigate a landscape shared with hundreds of daily
visitors.
The federal government has agreed to pump more than
$450 million into programs to carry out additional
Colorado River water conservation, Arizona Department of Water
Resources chief Tom Buschatzke said Monday. The
spending is necessary to make the new proposal from
Arizona, Nevada and California work, Buschatzke
and other water officials said Friday in releasing their offer
to save 700,000 to 1 million acre-feet of river water through
2028. … The U.S. Interior Department proposed that the money
be spent, and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, which
must sign off on all federal expenditures, approved it,
Buschatze said at a news briefing Monday afternoon on the new
plan from the three Lower Colorado River Basin states.
Weeks after most of Colorado’s ski resorts shut down for the
spring, a late-season snowstorm is expected to drop more than
two feet of snow across the Rocky Mountains this week. Snow
this time of year is not unusual for the region, but it is
unusual for this year, after a prolonged snow drought
and record heat in March all but eliminated the critical
snowpack across much of the American West. As of late
last week, nearly 60 percent of Colorado was in an “extreme” or
“exceptional” drought, according to the U.S. drought
monitor. “In terms of the liquid content, this will
certainly be one of the bigger storms” the region has had this
year, said Russell Danielson, a meteorologist with the National
Weather Service in Boulder.
A land study shows California’s bearing almond acreage
decreasing for the first time in more than three decades. The
Almond Board of California reported that the 1.385 million
acres of almond acres measured in its Land IQ study means a net
decrease of 15,227 acres from last year. … The
orchard removals come as the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act has growers pulling up trees, especially in areas
outside the scope of California water agencies — called white
areas. … Grape grower Linda Pandol, head of operations
for Pandol Brothers Inc., said at the economic outlook that
because of SGMA, about 70% of the company’s land gets farmed.
In wet years, her family may plant grains on fallowed land.
Despite Paldon Brothers digging recharge basins, Pandol said
the state is not yet giving out credits for water put back into
the ground.
The Box Elder County Commission [Utah] has voted unanimously
to allowa massive data center project
to move forward. The commission held a “special”
meeting Monday afternoon to decide if they’ll approve
the construction of a massive data center, a proposal
that has garnered widespread opposition in their county and
across the state. … The Box Elder County Commission,
made up of three elected commissioners, was supposed to vote on
the proposal last Monday. However, they delayed the vote after
hearing concerns about water usage,
electricity, and fears that the proposal was being
rushed toward a final decision.
A coalition of healthcare workers, first responders and union
leaders Monday submitted more than 151,000 signatures for
a [county] ballot measure intended to stop
the Tijuana River pollution crisis on a
local level, while also bolstering healthcare. If passed, the
measure would increase the county sales tax by 0.5%. The
San Diego Health & Safety Act, which needs 102,923 valid
signatures from San Diego County registered voters, will likely
make it to November’s ballot. Proponents said they want to take
matters into their own hands after decades of state and federal
leadership not solving the pollution issue. It is also intended
to handle a bevy of issues related to public health and safety.
It has been widely reported that March was a disaster for
California’s snowpack. Summer seemed to arrive three months
early, with record-shattering heat and dryness and a mere
pittance of precipitation. Did a relatively cool, rainy, and
even snowy April make up for it? The short answer is no—but it
helped. It’s important to remember that snowpack is
California’s third-largest source of water storage, behind
surface reservoirs and groundwater. Our statewide
water supply grid is built around storing roughly 30% of
statewide water supply in snowpack, a relatively reliable
source of water through the 20th century. … Depending on
how thick the snowpack is, this melting can last well into June
and even July in some years.
Fishermen in Arena Cove are abuzz as they prepare their boats
for salmon fishing for the first time since 2022. This
week marks the end of a three-year closure on commercial salmon
fishing. … The decision to resume commercial
salmon fishing came via the Pacific Fishery Management Council
Agency after significant improvements in key California salmon
populations were observed. … Along the Mendocino coast,
salmon fishing opened in the southern part of the county, in an
area that stretches from Pigeon Point in Pescadero to Point
Arena. Salmon fishing is allowed exclusively between May 1-6,
9-13, 16-20, 23-29, and August 1-7, 13-16, and 25-27.
Healthy watersheds support wildlife, recreation, and
clean water for communities across California. From a
public-health standpoint, we need to know if a river or stream
is safe to swim or fish in. From the lens of wildlife support,
in addition to being clean, a healthy aquatic habitat must
sustain a whole food web. Knowing a stream’s health also
indicates how resilient it is to adversities such as wildfires,
land-use changes and agricultural runoff. … Now,
researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have
been awarded a $2.2 million grant from the program for a
project based on a rising and effective monitoring tool:
environmental DNA (eDNA). With the CDFW grant funding, UC Santa
Cruz researchers will lead a project to extend their
genomics-based biodiversity-monitoring platform to create an
eDNA-based stream-health index.
… The [Great Salt] lake has peaked at around 4,192 feet in
elevation and roughly a month earlier than expected, said Brian
Steed, the Great Salt Lake Commissioner, who is tasked by Utah
political leaders with saving the lake. Temperatures were
warmer than usual over the winter. Snowpack has been called
“no-pack” by state water officials. … The Great
Salt Lake presents an ecological crisis for northern
Utah, with reduced snowpack that fuels the water
supply; toxic dust storms from an exposed lake bed (arsenic is
among the naturally-occurring minerals in it); impacts to the
state’s economy, public health and wildlife.
At least 18 households in Mountain View are expected to remain
under a boil water notice as the city works to disinfect a
pipeline this week. Test results continue to show coliform
bacteria in a pipeline serving Drucilla Drive and Carla Court,
according to the city. On Wednesday, the city will begin the
process for a “super chlorination” of the pipeline.
… “This ‘super chlorination’ process is intended to
address the presence of low levels of coliform bacteria, which
appear to be concentrated in the water line serving homes on
Drucilla Drive and Carla Court,” the city said in an update
Monday night. … The city shut off water service to 67
households on April 24 after a cement slurry mix came into
contact with a water main during a pipe replacement project
near Bonita Avenue and Cuesta Drive.
Gilbert leaders are considering a $250,000 plan to expand a
grass removal rebate program as the town faces growing pressure
on its Colorado River water supply. The Town
Council is expected to look at a resolution this week on
whether to apply for a $125,000 federal grant through the
Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Small-Scale Water Efficiency
Project. The total cost of the project with a match would bring
the budget to $250,000. The funding, according to the town,
would expand Gilbert’s Non-Residential Grass Removal Rebate
Program. … Since the program launched in May 2023, 15
projects have removed 149,600 square feet of grass.
Nevada Gold Mines donated $500,000 to a PAC affiliated with
Gov. Joe Lombardo in March, making the mining conglomerate
one of the Republican governor’s top donors in his bid for
re-election. … The latest cash infusion has raised more
questions in comments on news articles and other online spaces
than usual because it followed the firing of Adam Sullivan, the
top official responsible for regulating water rights in the
state after the mining industry complained about him to the
governor’s office. … The mining industry’s complaints to
Lombardo’s office related to a draft proposal by the former
state water engineer designed as a “starting point” for public
input to reduce groundwater pumping in the Humboldt River
Basin, site of many Nevada Gold Mines properties.
