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.
A California Fish and Game commissioner urged staff on Thursday
to look for ways to better protect the upper Kern River
watershed and fishery as part of the ongoing relicensing of
Southern California Edison’s Kern River 3 (KR3) power plant
near Kernville. … At issue is how much water Edison is
required to leave in the river between Fairview Dam, near
McNally’s, and the plant at Kernville, a 16-mile stretch. …
[A]dvocates say the minimum flows required under Edison’s
current license aren’t enough to maintain a healthy
river. … CDFW, however, is OK with Edison’s
proposal to marginally decrease minimum flows.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Department
of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and California State
Parks have confirmed presence of the invasive golden
mussel at Pyramid Lake in Los Angeles County
and Silverwood Lake in San Bernardino County. These lakes
are the southernmost State Water Project (SWP) reservoirs
where golden mussels have been detected. The invasive
species was recently discovered during a routine water test by
DWR; in response, State Parks has updated Silverwood
Lake’s boat inspection protocols, effective immediately.
Last Tuesday, the California Legislature cast a vote on Gov.
Gavin Newsom’s controversial water tunnel project in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by not voting at all. A
couple of bills meant to speed up the process were allowed to
die in committee before reaching the state Assembly. Opponents
of the project consider it a victory in a fight to protect the
water of the delta and the towns that live along its banks.
… Newsom said he would like to see the tunnel fully
entitled by the time he leaves the governor’s seat.
Over the last decade, water bills in Los Angeles County have
risen nearly 60% on average, outpacing inflation and adding to
financial strain for low-income households, according to a UCLA
report. The researchers compared average costs for the same
amount of drinking water in 2015 and 2025, and said the results
show water affordability is an escalating problem in Southern
California. … In addition to water costs, the
researchers looked at quality as they updated their Southern
California Water Systems Atlas with details on 663 water
systems across six counties that serve about 40% of
California’s population.
… On Sept. 10, members of the House Appropriations Committee
made clear that they heard this message, rejecting the White
House proposal to eliminate NOAA’s research arm and cut the
agency’s budget by one-third. Instead, the legislators approved
a fiscal year 2026 spending bill that includes a modest
trim—about 6 percent—and directs the agency to avoid closure of
any of its laboratories or cooperative research institutes. The
Senate, meanwhile, is set to consider a budget bill that would
maintain the current funding level at NOAA: about $6.1
billion.
A major boost for Central Valley livestock producers impacted
by recent floods and wildfires has been
announced. In an exclusive interview with the Deputy Secretary
of Agriculture Stephen Alexander, the USDA has announced it’s
offering $1 billion in disaster recovery assistance to eligible
livestock producers here in California. … The USDA says
dairy farmers in all Central Valley counties qualify and can
receive up to 60 percent of one month of calculated feed costs
for a qualifying wildfire or three months for a qualifying
flood.
On Wednesday, the Tahoe City Public Utility District celebrated
the Grand Opening of the West Lake Tahoe Regional Water
Treatment Plant. … The plant can currently deliver one
million gallons of water per day and may be further expanded to
reach more customers from Tahoma to Timberland. The utility
district stated that the approximately $30 million project was
made possible by grant funding as well as a loan from the CA
State Water Resources Control Board.
A proposal to build an asphalt plant at a longtime gravel
quarry in Forestville has set off a fierce local battle, with
more than 700 residents warning it could pollute
waterways, fuel wildfires and threaten
endangered species. The plant, planned at Canyon Rock — a
family-run quarry just west of Highway 116 — is still
years from a final vote. … But the fight is already playing
out in public meetings, letters to county supervisors and
dueling websites, as the quarry’s owners and a new community
group, Russian River Community Cares, push competing
narratives.
Gov. Gavin Newsom closed out the legislative year with one of
the most sweeping overhauls of California’s energy and climate
policies in decades — a package that could give him a
presidential debate-stage talking point on rising energy costs
as the Democratic Party shifts its focus to affordability. The
six-bill deal — passed Saturday after lawmakers extended their
session by an extra day because of last-minute dealmaking — was
sold as a way to ease gas prices and soaring electricity bills
while preserving the state’s signature climate programs.
… In collaboration with families who have long been connected
to this land, our research team at the University of
California, Davis is working to … help allottees access and
use their allotments. … [O]ur surveys of the vegetation on
these lands suggest that they could serve as places that
sustain both flora and fauna as the climate changes. … For
example, Indigenous communities have long used fire to tend
plants, reduce overgrowth, restore water
tables and generally keep ecosystems healthy.
If anyone needs another reason not to swim in Big Chico Creek
right now, it has turned brown. Opaque, murky water was present
on Friday in Big Chico Creek at Sycamore Pool and as far as
Forest Ranch after more than two months of a no-swim advisory,
placed on Big Chico Creek because of the presence of E. coli
that made five people sick this year. … The Chico Parks
Department’s best guess is that the turbidity is from runoff
caused by thunderstorm activity this week in the foothills.
People are still using more water than the Colorado River Basin
can supply, and it’s shrinking the water savings account for 40
million people, according to a new analysis from basin water
experts. The basin states, including Colorado, need to cut
their uses now, the experts said. Water stored in Lake Mead and
Lake Powell, the basin’s two largest reservoirs, could fall to
less than 4 million acre-feet of available water if the river’s
flows and water demands are repeated next year, according to a
report released Thursday by a team of Colorado River water
experts.
The city of Fresno, California, is asking the Supreme Court to
weigh in on its long-running battle with the Bureau of
Reclamation over the agency’s decision to halt water deliveries
during a multiyear drought, as local leaders and other
plaintiffs seek $350 million to repay the fair market value of
the lost water. The city, along with more than a dozen
irrigation districts and private landowners, is asking the
Supreme Court to accept a writ of certiorari and review its
case, which centers on the the federal government’s decision to
curtail water deliveries in 2014.
Late-night negotiations between Gov. Gavin Newsom and
Democratic leaders in the state Legislature produced a flurry
of agreements on Wednesday on pivotal climate and energy
programs. … Assembly Bill 1207 would extend
cap-and-invest through 2045. … [Senate Bill
237] would also remove regulatory and legal obstacles for
thousands of oil wells in Kern County by exempting them from a
final review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
… [Stanford Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy
Program Director Deborah A.] Sivas worried that more drilling
would lead to more abandoned wells that threaten to taint
water supplies.
Other California environmental and water policy news:
A bipartisan bill for weather research advanced out of the
House Science Committee on Wednesday by unanimous vote. The
Weather Act Reauthorization reaffirms and updates NOAA
research, forecasting, and emergency preparedness programs
authorized in the 2017 Weather Research and Forecasting
Innovation Act. The bill recommends between $160 million and
$170 million each year through 2030 for NOAA’s research office
to carry out specified weather research programs, roughly
steady with the program amounts for fiscal year 2024.
… The 2025 Southern California Community Water Systems Atlas,
produced by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and UC
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, shows how
fragmented governance affects communities differently. The
atlas expands the scope of earlier UCLA studies to cover not
just Los Angeles County, but 663 systems across six counties:
Los Angeles, Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and
Ventura. … The report and companion mapping tool provide the
most comprehensive public resource on water systems, shedding
light on disparities in water quality, affordability,
governance and climate resilience.
New data shows that a La Niña weather pattern is likely to
develop in a few weeks, potentially impacting the Bay Area and
California just at the start of the rainy season. The
National Weather Service says there is now a 71% chance of a La
Niña weather event in the Pacific Ocean starting in October.
… San Francisco sits at the inflection point for the
weather phenomenon’s effects, which means the region could see
either more rain or drier weather during the fall months if La
Niña arrives as predicted. … [C]urrent data points to a
weaker La Niña this fall, but that doesn’t necessarily mean
fewer big storms.
A major project aimed at improving flood management in the
Sacramento region faces a setback. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers on Thursday confirmed a “differential settlement” on
the new weir extension, meaning that different parts of the
structure are sinking unevenly. … The new section of
weir would widen the structure by more than 1,500 feet and will
automatically allow water to pour over when river levels reach
a certain height. The Army Corps of Engineers said it expects
the analysis of the structure to be complete by the end of
September.
Invasive golden mussels may have been spotted in Butte County
last week, raising concerns about the potential impact on local
water resources. A recent watercraft inspection at the
Thermalito North Forebay prevented what is suspected to be the
invasive species from entering the water, marking only the
second time they have been seen at the site. … The
Oroville facilities, including the Thermalito Forebay,
Thermalito Afterbay, and Lake Oroville, supply water to roughly
23 million Californians.
Water officials in Tucson say the city has started receiving
settlement funds from a class action lawsuit against major
manufacturers of a firefighting foam that contains PFAS. The
human-made chemicals don’t break down naturally and are linked
to cancer and other health issues. A firefighting foam called
AFFF that contains PFAS has been used for decades at military
sites and airports — including in Tucson. The chemicals seeped
in groundwater and caused contamination.
