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.
Three years ago, Matteo Serena barely knew the difference
between a beaker and a bunker. Today, the native of Italy could
be the most crucial person to ever visit your golf grounds.
Sporting a history of academia and turfgrass research on his
C.V., Southern California-based Serena has fast risen to the
forefront of the game’s water conservation efforts as the
senior manager of irrigation research and services for the
USGA. His ascent fueled by intellect, outreach and an
inherent European charm (“golf’a”), Serena’s drop-by-drop
efforts have achieved exacting results across water-starved
SoCal and beyond.
A new film from Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) provides an
exclusive, inside look at the emotional, historic, and
triumphant journey of a group of Indigenous youth paddlers down
the newly restored Klamath River. “First Descent: Kayaking the
Klamath” premieres today as part of OPB’s “Oregon Field Guide”
series and on YouTube. “First Descent” captures the
transformation underway not just to the Klamath River itself –
where sections of river are now flowing freely for the first
time in more than a century – but among the Indigenous
communities that have lived in the Klamath Basin since time
immemorial.
California water-rights holders are required by state law
to measure and report the water they divert from
surface streams. For people who wish to take
the water measurements themselves, the University of
California Cooperative Extension will offer in-person training
to receive certification on Dec. 1 in Davis. … Senate
Bill 88 requires that all water right holders who have
previously diverted, or intend to divert, more than 10
acre-feet per year (riparian and pre-1914 claims); or who are
authorized to divert more than 10 acre-feet per year under a
permit, license or registration; to measure and report the
water they divert.
H.R. 2940 was introduced into the United States House of
Representatives. The legislation is denominated “Advancing
Water Reuse Act’’ (“Reuse Act”). The Reuse Act provides a
federal tax incentive to invest in water reuse projects.
Proponents of the Reuse Act argue that the United States water
infrastructure is aging and inadequate to meet growing public
and private demands for freshwater. They further argue that an
increasingly important way to supplement freshwater supplies is
water reuse. … The Reuse Act was referred to the U.S.
House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.
A drought in California affects much of the western United
States. From 2011 to 2015, there was little rain and snow in
much of the region, but that was just part of the problem.
These areas also experienced record-high heat, which baked away
what little moisture remained in the soil. … One
study from the University of Minnesota and the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution found it’s the worst drought in 1,200
years. …To get historical data about past dry years, we can
use data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and a computer climate model called the North
American Drought Atlas.
Water is often taken for granted, if you’re lucky enough to
have it coming out of taps. Yet it lies at the heart of
national security. … I’m an academic specialist in the
field of trans-boundary rivers and national security. This
field of research studies the clash between the legal concept
of sovereign equality (that all countries are equal under
international law), and rights associated with river flows and
border demarcations. Disputes over rivers, from the Chobe and
Orange rivers in southern Africa to the Nile in the north, show
that being able to access water and control water sources can
determine social stability, migration, investment and even
international relations.
Nevada and six other Colorado River states failed to reach a
broad agreement Tuesday on how to share the river’s dwindling
water supply, missing a federally-imposed deadline after days
of intense closed-door negotiations. Despite missing the
deadline, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of
Reclamation indicated states would be given additional time to
continue negotiations after making “collective progress.” …
The Bureau of Reclamation – which manages water in the West
under the Interior Department – initially gave states until
Nov. 11 to submit a preliminary agreement for a plan that could
replace the river’s operating guidelines set to expire at the
end of 2026. The initial timeline also called for states to
share a final consensus-based plan by mid-February
2026 in order to reach a final agreement in the summer
of 2026 with implementation of the new guidelines beginning in
October 2026.
A strong, wet storm was set to deliver gusty winds, heavy snow
and drenching rains across California beginning Wednesday
evening, and forecasters are growing increasingly concerned
about its potential to bring flash flooding to Southern
California in the coming days. This complex system will bring
potentially the most widespread and heaviest precipitation to
the state so far this fall, and the heavy soaking is expected
to bring a decisive end to the state’s wildfire season.
… Pulling in moisture from the tropics, this storm is
warm. Rain is forecast at lower elevations and snow will fall
only at the highest elevations.
The Trump administration will soon roll out a sweeping Clean
Water Act rule that could erode protections for many
wetlands and small streams. The White House on Friday
finished reviewing EPA’s plan to redefine which waters are
covered by the law, signaling that the proposal is ready to be
released to the public. The issue is a top priority for the
Trump administration. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in
March plans to amend the scope of the Clean Water Act through a
new “waters of the U.S.” definition, marking the fifth time in
less than 15 years that would be changed.
Conservationists restoring salmon along California’s North
Coast have a mantra: A good coho salmon stream looks like a
teenager’s bedroom—if teenagers discarded logs and branches
instead of dirty clothes. … The first attempts to
restore Mendocino’s streams for coho and other salmon began in
the 1960s. Decades of logging in the area’s old-growth forests
left woody debris in stream channels, creating miles-long
barriers. Well-intentioned state conservationists decided to
remove it. … Gradually, researchers realized that salmon
needed the shelter provided by logjams.
… California is blessed with top-notch researchers—from state
and federal agencies, universities, consulting firms, and
NGOs—who are responsible for many of the tools the state uses
to manage its water. This spring, we convened some of these
experts, along with select leaders in water policy, for a
one-day intensive conversation. We asked them to evaluate the
state of water research in California and to identify research
priorities that could meet the challenges of the 21st century.
These conversations form the basis of our recommendations. This
report also highlights the challenges California is facing to
maintain vital research to support water management.
U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, Republicans from Texas,
have filed a bill to hold Mexico accountable for failing to
provide water to south Texas in accordance with a 1944-era
treaty. The Ensuring Predictable and Reliable Water
Deliveries Act of 2025 would strengthen enforcement of the 1944
Treaty of Utilization of Waters, which governs water usage
between the U.S. and Mexico. … The bill would impose
restrictions and measures against Mexico if it does not meet
its average annualized obligation. It requires the secretary of
State to report to Congress on Mexico’s status of meeting its
treaty obligations. If the secretary finds that Mexico hasn’t
met its obligations, the bill directs the president to deny all
non-treaty requests from the Mexican government.
In mountain regions like the Rockies, headwater streams make up
more than 70% of the river network and support the downstream
waterways and communities. … While these sources are crucial,
very few are monitored, and aspects of their hydrology are not
well understood. A team of researchers, including UConn
Department of Earth Sciences assistant professor Lijing Wang,
are working to determine what influences how and when water
moves through these streams, and what hidden source sustains
them long after the rush of snowmelt. Their findings are
published in Water Resources Research.
A recent change in the Bay Area’s tap water has some residents
noticing a different taste, but officials have said it’s
completely normal. The East Bay Municipal Utility
District, which supplies water to 1.4 million
people, said it is going through “seasonal
adjustments,” which might be why the tap water tastes a little
off for some people. … [T]he utility district is blending
more local sources with the Pardee Reservoir on the Mokelumne
River, Andrea Pook, a spokesperson for the utility district,
told SFGATE. … This shift happens regularly, Pook said,
and it occurs when the water needs to be pulled from different
treatment plants and local reservoirs based on operational
needs.
Northern Kings County residents and landowners are being asked
to have a say in how a local groundwater agency responds to
domestic wells going dry. At its Nov. 6 special meeting, the
South Fork Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) board
approved releasing a draft of its $1.5 million well mitigation
program for public comment for 30 days beginning Nov.
10. The draft program will aid domestic well owners, well
dependent-communities and industrial well owners whose wells
have gone dry or whose water quality has suffered due to
excessive pumping.
Droughts in California don’t just strain water
supplies. They strain relations between people and wildlife. A
study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances found
that conflicts between humans and animals, be it a bear
break-in at Lake Tahoe, a mountain lion eating a sheep in
Sonoma County or a coyote toppling trash cans in San Francisco,
have been significantly higher during the state’s dry spells.
… Losing just one inch of annual precipitation, the
authors found, has meant, for some carnivores, as much as a 3%
increase in clashes with humans – an amount that adds up
quickly in years with substantially less rain.
Environmental organizations supporting the removal of the
Potter Valley Project dams will host a virtual and an in-person
workshop this month to help residents craft comments for
submission to the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission. Friends of the Eel River, Save California
Salmon, the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter and California Trout
are hosting the two-hour workshops, which will explain the
groups’ reasons for supporting the removal of the Scott Dam and
the Cape Horn (also known as Van Arsdale) Dam.
Hyacinth, an invasive and seasonal plant, is once again
invading Stockton waterways. This year’s bloom came into
downtown Stockton from the Tuolumne River, breaking off during
the last storm. … ”If you can’t have a bar pilot enter
the ship from San Francisco Bay and come upstream because their
radar is showing large mats of hyacinth, they pretty much call
Stockton and West Sacramento saying we’re gonna have to drop
anchor because we cannot distinguish between land and the
weeds,” California State Parks Boating and Waterways
Environmental Program Manager Edward Hard explained. Hyacinth
also brings mosquitoes [and affects] water
conveyance.
After years of back and forth, new flood maps with major
implications for property owners’ land values, insurance rates
and building costs along a watershed stretching from Santa Rosa
to Rohnert Park are in a final phase of review and approval.
Sonoma County challenged maps produced by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency that come with flood insurance requirements
and added building restrictions for those deemed in higher-risk
flood areas of the Todd Creek watershed. After the federal
agency rejected its appeal, the county launched its own flood
study in 2023, completed earlier this year. The results
showed a different flood hazard designation for 289 — nearly
one-third — of the 964 parcels affected, with more than half
removed from a flood zone.
“If we take care of that water, we know that water is going to
take care of us,” stated Lorelei Cloud, who has spent a
lifetime advocating for water conservation and access. Cloud, a
former vice chairman of the Southern Ute tribe, was also the
first tribal member on record to serve on the Colorado Water
Conservation Board. On Thursday, Nov. 6, The Arts Campus
at Willits (TACAW) hosted Cloud and a fellow trustee of The
Nature Conservancy (TNC) Colorado, Johnny Le Coq, for a
presentation on their respective backgrounds and water
conservation work.
