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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State lawmakers are considering a proposal that would allow a
New York-based investment company to sell water from rural La
Paz County to more urban parts of the state. The McMullen
Valley Basin is what’s known as a “transfer basin,” which
allows the water in it to be moved elsewhere. There are two
others, including the Harquahala Basin. Last year, lawmakers
approved a bill allowing water to be moved out of that basin.
Phoenix used to own the land in question but sold it in 2012. A
few years ago, a firm called Water Asset Management bought it.
The company is supporting the bill in the state Legislature.
As record heat melts snow in the Rocky Mountains and threatens
Arizona’s water supply, Phoenix is investing in a different
kind of solution, turning wastewater into drinking water. City
leaders say a major milestone at the Cave Creek Water
Reclamation Plant marks a step toward making that future a
reality. Crews this week filled a one-million-gallon treatment
basin as part of system testing, a sign the project is about
50% complete. … The facility is designed to take
wastewater and purify it into a reusable resource, something
water leaders say could help offset expected cuts to
the Colorado River.
During the 2024–2025 spawning season, endangered Central
California Coast coho salmon (CCC coho) migrated to Mendocino
Coast rivers in numbers few scientists thought they would see
in their careers. Monitoring teams estimated that more
than 30,000 adult coho returned, double the previous
season’s record-breaking return of 15,000 coho. These numbers
represent a significant leap from the past decade, where as few
as 3,000 fish returned annually. Several factors contributed to
this surge. Many scientists believe that reconnecting spawning
streams to mainstem rivers and other large-scale habitat
restoration projects significantly boosted their productivity
and abundance.
For decades, Southern California’s water system has relied
heavily on importing supplies from hundreds of miles away.
Water from the Colorado River and Northern California helped
sustain the growth of one of the world’s largest metropolitan
regions. But increasing pressure on those sources is prompting
the region to rethink how it secures its long-term water
future. Shivaji Deshmukh stepped into the role of General
Manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California at a time when those questions are becoming more
urgent. … In this interview, Deshmukh discusses how
Metropolitan is diversifying Southern California’s water
portfolio through conservation, infrastructure investment and
new local supplies such as recycled water.
Mono County has adopted an ordinance aiming to protect
waterways from golden mussels. The ordinance was adopted by the
Mono County Board of Supervisors and establishes the mandatory
Water Vessel Inspection Program. Golden Mussels were first
detected in the state of California in late 2024, and county
officials say they have been spreading across the state
rapidly. Unlike other species of mussels, golden mussels can
survive in a wider range of temperatures and extreme alpine
environments, meaning they provide a greater threat to
ecosystems in the area.
The Bureau of Reclamation has launched a new project webpage
designed to centralize public access to its Bay-Delta flow and
water quality monitoring data, agency officials announced this
week. The site provides information on how interested parties
can access monitoring data collected at stations funded by
Reclamation. Data from those stations continue to be collected
through routine manual downloads and posted online. As
equipment becomes available, telemetry systems are being
installed to allow real-time access to sensor readings through
the California Data Exchange Center.
The San Diego River Dog Beach in Ocean Beach has reopened on
Friday after water quality samples met state health standards.
This latest development comes after the beach was closed due to
a large volume of sewage that was released. San Diego County’s
Department of Environmental Health and Quality announced the
closure of the San Diego River where it meets Dog Beach in
Ocean Beach on Wednesday. According to County officials, 18,000
gallons of sewage were discharged, with an estimated 9,000
gallons reaching the San Diego River near the intersection of
Friars Road and Sea World Drive. … The Tijuana Slough,
Imperial Beach, Silver Strand and Coronado Shoreline remain
closed for similar sewage-related reasons from the Tijuana
River.
Denver Water has enacted Stage 1 drought restrictions for all
customers across the service area, effective immediately. The
Denver Water board approved the plan Wednesday morning, aiming
to cut water use by 20% due to worsening drought. They warned
that this year’s low snowpack could impact supply.
… This is the first time a level of restriction
this high has been in place since 2013, according to
Denver Water. Other areas, such as Thornton, Erie, and the
mountain communities of Fairplay, Bailey, and Shawnee, are also
under restrictions. The move comes as drought conditions deepen
across Colorado.
Under pressure to strike a compromise on water cuts, and amid
talk of litigation, Wyoming and other upper Colorado
River Basin states are pointing to the climate-driven
disaster unfolding in the West to insist they can’t cut what
Mother Nature isn’t providing in the headwaters. While
some observers suspect that argument is cover for withholding
more cuts in water use, the upper-basin contingency insists it
has negotiated in good faith and still hopes to strike a deal
with its lower-basin counterparts despite missed deadlines.
They simply cannot commit to calculations that are beyond their
control. … Upper Colorado River Commission members [met]
Tuesday to discuss what they say are ongoing negotiations with
lower Colorado River Basin states Arizona, California
and Nevada, as well as 30 tribes and Mexico.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released more than 6.2
million juvenile Chinook salmon from the Coleman Hatchery into
the Sacramento River this week, even as the river faces unusual
March heat and low water flows. The announcement of the release
came during a spell of extreme heat throughout California,
prompting urgent calls from conservationists who warn the young
fall‑run Chinook could die in the river’s warm, low‑flow
conditions before making their way to the ocean, unless the
Bureau of Reclamation releases more water from Shasta
Dam.
As the Arizona Department of Water Resources works to regulate
groundwater pumping in western Arizona, a megafarm responsible
for more than 80% of all pumping in a 912-square-mile
groundwater basin seeks to stay a public nuisance lawsuit in
which it’s accused of excessive pumping. In a state courthouse
Wednesday, Fondomonte Arizona LLC argued the ongoing process to
designate the Ranegras Plain Basin as an active management area
would achieve the same groundwater regulation goals as the
lawsuit Attorney General Kris Mayes filed against it in 2024.
Rather than move forward with the litigation, Riley Snow of
Rose Law Group suggested the court allow the two-year process
to play out and address any remaining concerns later.
At 4:30 a.m. on a recent Wednesday, three alpine scientists
arose from fitful sleep in a chilly research lab in the
Colorado mountains. … They had a satellite to meet. … The
satellite, known as NISAR, was launched last summer by National
Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Indian Space
Research Organization. The satellite’s capabilities are the
closest humans have come to measuring water content in snow
across vast regions, from space, the holy grail of snow
science. The new technology comes at a critical time. As
the world warms, snow is vanishing across many parts of the
planet. That includes Western United States, which is currently
undergoing a record snow drought.
Last week fog crept over the Tijuana Estuary in Imperial Beach,
oozing a pungent rotten-egg smell, as hydrogen sulfide bubbled
up from the polluted Tijuana River. … Later that day,
Thursday, March 19, air pollution monitoring data showed
hydrogen sulfide levels at 500 parts per billion, more than 15
times the California state standard of 30 parts per billion.
… When raw sewage enters the river in Mexico because of
wastewater system failures or spills, the health impacts are
felt across the border. Imperial Beach residents describe
asthma, migraines, rashes, nausea, eye irritation, dizziness
and brain fog when the sickening smell of hydrogen sulfide
wafts off the water.
Lake Mead National Recreation Area is having a very bad start
to spring. The water level is dwindling in Lake Mead,
America’s largest reservoir and a major
supplier of drinking water to California, and soaring
temperatures are driving toxic algae outbreaks in the water and
prompting federal officials to close hiking trails. … As
unseasonably warm winter weather scorched much of the American
West over the past several weeks, Lake Mead has lost crucial
opportunities for replenishment. … Meanwhile,
hydroelectric power output continues to decline at Hoover Dam
as Lake Mead shrinks.
… Water Resource Advocates was one of more than a dozen
groups that gathered Wednesday for a joint meeting of the
[Nev.] interim committees on natural resources and
infrastructure. The meeting focused solely on data centers and
their water and energy needs. … Representatives of
the data center industry suggested existing estimates related
to water use are inflated because they are based on outdated
technology. … Groups more critical of data centers
emphasized a need for more transparency and reporting on actual
water usage. … Beyond the water used on site for
cooling, there remains the fact that producing electricity also
requires a lot of water.
A beaver no-kill bill pitched as a way to expand Colorado’s
wildfire and drought mitigation efforts failed in a state
legislative committee Monday, preserving current rights to hunt
and trap the animals on public lands. Hunters and trappers
loudly opposed House Bill 1323, which would have made it
illegal in Colorado to kill beavers for recreation on state
public land or federal lands where state rules apply.
Governments could still have trapped beavers for forest or
wetlands management. But the House Agriculture, Water and
Natural Resources committee indefinitely postponed the bill,
thereby killing it for this session, in a 10-3
vote. … Wildlife and wildfire researchers are
increasingly relying on the wetlands that beavers naturally
create behind river dams and lodges to serve as beneficial fire
breaks.
When you think of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where do
you picture its boundaries? Some may see it as part of a larger
whole, an estuary and landscape that stretches from the upper
watershed in the Sierra to the Pacific Ocean at the Golden
Gate, and beyond. Others may think of the Delta in terms of a
specific community or their favorite fishing spot. While all of
these and many more make up the Delta, the Delta Plan
references specific jurisdictional bounds: the Legal Delta and
Suisun Marsh, political boundaries that we commonly refer to as
the “Delta.” … Council staff built an interactive online
Delta atlas as a useful reference tool to make data accessible
and more easily answer these types of questions.
Just over 75 years ago, the California Legislature passed the
Dickey Water Pollution Act, the nation’s first comprehensive
attempt to address pollution control at the state level. Though
still protective of industry, the act established the framework
for the State Water Board and nine Regional Water Quality
Control Boards. … The Dickey Act created the State Water
Pollution Control Board, a predecessor to the State Water
Board, that was comprised of gubernatorial appointees and state
officials who set statewide policy and coordinated pollution
control efforts. … Here are stories about the dramatic
improvement in the San Diego Bay, San Francisco Bay and the
Klamath River.
Valley farmers will see a 5% increase in the region’s water
supply following Tuesday’s announcement from the Bureau of
Reclamation. After rainstorms in late February, this increase
boosts the Central Valley Project water supply from 15% to 20%.
“20% is significantly under what we need to grow most of those
crops,” said Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen.
While growers and water experts say every drop of water counts,
it’s simply not enough. Jacobsen says this drought could be a
hit to our economy, food production, and jobs. … In
a statement, the Bureau of Reclamation says it is being
cautious to protect long-term sustainability.
The Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District has completed
emergency repairs to a hydraulic gate at the R.W. Mathews Dam
on Ruth Lake, according to a press release issued today.
Environmental containment and cleanup operations have also been
wrapped up following a March 3 failure in the dam gate’s
hydraulic operating system. The subsequent discovery of a
hydraulic fluid leak triggered “an all-hands emergency that
demanded immediate action to protect our community’s water
supply,” District General Manager Michiko Mares says in the
press release. No oil was observed in the Mad River at any
point during the incident or repair operations, according to
the district.
