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 will provide taxpayer money to help private companies
develop plans for at least two and possibly three desalination
plants in California or Mexico under proposals approved by a
state agency’s board. The three projects are among seven that
the board of the Water Infrastructure Finance Agency decided to
move ahead on developing new water supplies for Arizona.
… [A]gency officials and board members stressed that the
water garnered from the augmentation projects is not expected
to compensate for all the cuts the state’s cities and farms
will have to take in CAP and other Colorado River-based water
deliveries.
The California Department of Water Resources announced on
Thursday that they will be hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony
for the Big Notch Project at the Fremont Weir. This project
aims to aid in the recovery of endangered fish species and is
one of the largest salmon-rearing habitat projects in the
state’s history. … The gated passages will open
seasonally when the Sacramento River’s water levels are high
enough to utilize the Yolo Bypass as a floodplain. This will
allow water to enter through the notch at Fremont Weir,
creating a shallow water floodplain for fish migration and
providing a food-rich habitat for juvenile salmon.
… [T]he San Francisco Estuary Institute and Estuary
Partnership have just released a detailed report card, called
the State of our Estuary. … On the positive side are the
years of restoration work. Nearly 60,000 acres of Tidal marsh
now surround the Bay shoreline, benefiting several key species
of shore birds. Conditions at most Bay beaches also boasted
positive water quality. … But traveling inland to the
Sacramento San Joaquin Delta, the report points to man-made
changes having the opposite effect. … [F]reshwater flow
through the Delta has been cut nearly in half. This is mainly
the result of deliberate diversions for farming, drinking water
and other human uses.
Southwestern states are bracing for many of their streams to
lose federal safeguards under the EPA’s proposal to lift Clean
Water Act protections for many wetlands and waterways across
the US. New Mexico, Arizona, California, and other arid states
face the brunt of the Environmental Protection Agency’s
proposal because it explicitly excludes streams that only run
when it rains—one of the most common kinds of waterways in the
desert Southwest. The EPA proposed Monday a reduced scope of
federal jurisdiction over waterways and wetlands as waters of
the US, or WOTUS. The proposal appeared in the Federal Register
pre-publication notices Wednesday and is open for public
comment for 45 days.
… Today, the Rio Grande-Bravo water basin is in crisis.
Research published Thursday says the situation arguably is
worse than challenges facing the Colorado
River, another vital lifeline for western U.S. states
that have yet to chart a course for how best to manage that
dwindling resource. Without rapid and large-scale action on
both sides of the border, the researchers warn that
unsustainable use threatens water security for millions of
people who rely on the binational basin. They say more
prevalent drying along the Rio Grande and persistent
shortages could have catastrophic consequences for farmers,
cities and ecosystems.
… EBRPD [East Bay Regional Park District] changed its boat
inspection and banding policies back in May to help protect its
waterways from the golden mussel, instituting new color-coded,
lake-specific, tamper-proof bands and no longer accepting
EBMUD’s [East Bay Municipal Utility District] bands. Boats
without a band for that specific waterbody had to go through a
full inspection and pay a fee, each time. … The change
seems to have largely worked, with an asterisk in Antioch. …
[T]he critter was found in Contra Loma Reservoir, so boats that
have been in that lake must stick there only or complete a
30-day quarantine. Meanwhile, a half-inch-long juvenile
golden mussel was recovered at Zone 7’s Patterson Pass Water
Treatment Plant this year.
In a momentous decision for the Western Slope, state water
officials unanimously approved a controversial proposal to use
two coveted Colorado River water rights to help the river
itself. Members of the Colorado Water Conservation Board
voted to accept water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant into
its Instream Flow Program, which aims to keep water in streams
to help the environment. The decision Wednesday is a historic
step forward in western Colorado’s yearslong effort to secure
the $99 million rights permanently. But some Front Range water
providers pushed back during the hearings, worried that the
deal could hamper their ability to manage the water supply for
millions of Colorado customers.
… The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona drew
17 proposals for public-private partnerships and advanced four
of them at a Nov. 19 board meeting. They include schemes to
build desalination plants on the California
coast or in the Gulf of California, to produce water
that can be traded for shares of Colorado River water.
… Several people, including representatives of the
Sierra Club and the Chemehuevi Tribe, viewed the board’s
meeting remotely and delivered pleas that the state not finance
a plan to tap groundwater under the Mojave
Desert in California. … WIFA board members said they
had rejected it as part of Arizona’s solution.
After a brief reprieve from storms, another rainmaker is set to
hit California on Thursday and soak parts of the state that
have already set November precipitation records.
… Rainfall is generally expected to remain below a
quarter of an inch in the Bay Area, but locally higher totals
are possible, especially if showers are stronger than
forecast. Showers are expected to reach Southern
California by Thursday afternoon and stick around through
Friday. … The system, once again, won’t bring
much snow to the Sierra Nevada. The bulk of the
precipitation is expected to remain along the coast, but any
moisture that does reach the Sierra will probably fall as rain
rather than snow below 7,000 feet.
Other weather and water supply news around the West:
As we wrap up our year at the Water Education Foundation,
we are busy looking ahead to our 2026 slate of
engaging tours, workshops and conferences on key water
topics in California and across the West.
And don’t miss the return of our Lower Colorado River
Tour March 11-13, on which we take you from Hoover
Dam to the U.S.-Mexico border and through the Imperial and
Coachella valleys. Registration opens Dec. 10.
Plus, Giving Tuesday is right after
Thanksgiving and a national day to support nonprofits. You can
support water education across California and the West on Dec.
2 or anytime by donating
here!
… Known as the Nestor Tract, all 105 acres or so were once
prime habitat for species native to the Central Valley,
including giant garter snakes, and relatively abundant in the
Natomas Basin. This is, historically, a flood-prone swath of
wetlands along the Sacramento River, running from the southern
rice fields of Sutter County down to the north of Sacramento.
… That balance, made possible by greater levees and flood
protections, has existed for more than 20 years, as bartered by
Sacramento and Sutter County, and orchestrated by The Natomas
Basin Conservancy. But proposals from Sacramento County now
threaten to upend that arrangement, leaving the capital city,
Sutter County and dwindling species like the giant garter snake
with uncertain fates.
President Donald Trump’s administration moved Wednesday to roll
back protections for imperiled species and the places they
live, reviving a suite of changes to Endangered Species
Act regulations from the Republican’s first term that
were blocked under former Democratic President Joe Biden. The
proposed changes include the elimination of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service’s “blanket rule” that automatically protects
animals and plants when they are classified as
threatened. … [E]nvironmentalists warned the
changes could cause yearslong delays in efforts to save species
such as the monarch butterfly, Florida manatee, California
spotted owl and North American wolverine.
As the threat of wildfires looms larger each year, the Bureau
of Reclamation’s California-Great Basin Region is proactively
igniting a regional initiative to protect water
infrastructure, ecosystems, and
communities. Leading this effort is John Hutchings, the
Regional Wildland Fire Coordinator. … Walking along the
thinning foliage of the hillside at Shasta Dam in northern
California, Hutchings explains that the major aspect of the
Fire Program includes strategic proactive removal of overgrown
vegetation. Hutchings emphasizes that his role diverges from
traditional fire initiatives; he does not manage a fire
suppression force but focuses on watershed and
resource management tailored to combat the growing wildfire
risk.
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.
