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.
How much fresh water is in the United States? It’s a tough
question, since most of the water is underground, accessible at
varying depths. In previous decades, it’s been answered
indirectly from data on rainfall and evaporation. Knowing how
much groundwater is available at specific locations is critical
to meeting the challenges of water scarcity and contamination.
Now, researchers at Princeton University and the University of
Arizona have answered this question in unprecedented breadth
and detail. Combining direct measurements with artificial
intelligence methods, their new map estimates groundwater depth
across the continental United States at a resolution of around
30 meters (98 feet).
… [Sen. Steve] Padilla, a Democrat whose district includes
San Diego and Imperial counties, introduced Senate Bills 886
and 887 on Tuesday. One would require the state Public
Utilities Commission to establish a tariff that data center
customers would have to pay. The other would assert that data
centers are not exempt from the California Environmental
Quality Act while also providing an avenue to fast-track
construction of centers that require large amounts of water and
energy. … [SB 887] would provide a path to
fast-tracking construction so long as the project meets
certain criteria regarding water use, clean energy and
infrastructure costs.
San Simeon residents and businesses will face sharp increases
in water and wastewater bills after the San Simeon Community
Services District (SSCSD) approved a new rate ordinance on Jan.
7, a decision the district said is necessary to keep the system
operating while it undergoes a potential dissolution. Under the
ordinance, water rates will rise by 32 percent and wastewater
rates by 36 percent, starting Feb. 7. San Luis Obispo County
Public Works Division Manager Suzy Watkins, who is serving as
the district’s interim general manager, said the increases are
meant to provide short-term financial stability.
A plan to raise a bridge in a flood-prone area of Highway 37 in
Marin County is in line for a $25 million funding boost. The
Transportation Authority of Marin is set to transfer the funds
to the California Department of Transportation for the Novato
Creek Bridge replacement project. The funds are part of the
county’s share of Regional Measure 3 bridge toll revenue
administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
… The project is expected to withstand sea-level rise
projections through 2050 and improve travel time and
reliability. Construction is expected to begin in the fall
and continue through winter 2030.
At the November meeting of the California Water Quality
Monitoring Council, a comprehensive presentation shed light on
the growing challenges posed by wildfires to drinking water
systems. The discussion covered wildfire trends and behavior in
California, the contamination that can occur in the aftermath
of fires, the critical importance of post-fire water quality
monitoring and the evolving best practices to address these
issues. As wildfires become more frequent and severe, the
presentation highlighted actions the State Water Board’s
Division of Drinking Water is taking to protect public health
and ensure the safety of drinking water systems in
fire-affected communities.
There’s a certain kind of queer magic that thrives
along the Russian River. For more than a century, queer
people have sought refuge in rural Sonoma County, leaving the
stress of city life for the peace — and parties — of the
sprawling river valley and redwood forests. … Now, two
groups, Shelterwood Collective and Solar Punk Farms, are
actively calling queer people back to the land, and not only to
party. They’re creating a different type of magic: Shelterwood
is restoring acres of forest through Indigenous practices like
controlled burns, and Solar Punk advocates for environmental
policy and farms the land — all while making space for queer
community-building, joy and self-expression.
The Trump administration issued a proposal Tuesday that would
clamp down on state water quality reviews and veto authority
under the Clean Water Act. The rule targets Section 401 of the
law, which authorizes states and tribes to assess pollution
risks from pipelines, hydropower dams and other major
infrastructure before they can be approved by a federal agency.
EPA officials said the proposal would reduce “regulatory
overreach” and prevent states from unlawfully slowing down
projects. “Our proposed rule would maximize efficiency and
eliminate delays in Clean Water Act permitting to unleash
energy dominance and strengthen the economy,” Jess Kramer, EPA
assistant administrator for water, said on a call with
reporters.
The Sites Project Authority is eyeing a significant milestone
this month in its endeavor to build a new water storage
reservoir in Colusa County. They are hopeful to secure a draft
water right permit for the future reservoir. The Sites
Authority said the State Water Resources Control Board might
issue the water right order as soon as this summer. Any delays
in issuing the water right could increase the project’s cost by
$20 million each month. … However, several organizations
have filed protests against the water right application,
including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Winnemem
Wintu Tribe, AquAlliance, and the Central Delta Water Agency.
… The seven basin states only have until February 14 to come
up with a plan for how to manage the river in dry times. The
current guidelines expire at the end of the year. If they test
their luck and fail to reach an agreement, they risk the
Interior Department making a plan for them or years of
litigation. The seven state negotiators are meeting for
four days in Salt Lake City this week as they work to
hash out a deal before that deadline. … The bureau released
a draft environmental impact statement on Friday that
lays out a series of pathways to manage the river system and
its major reservoirs. If the states reach a deal, the bureau
says it will insert that plan as the preferred way forward. …
If states can’t agree, the federal government will choose an
alternative itself.
… Terraine’s entire development utilizing water-wise
landscaping is believed to be the first of its kind in
northern Utah (several developments in southern Utah
have leaned into it as that region of the state is more closely
impacted by the declines along the Colorado
River). … The state has tried to push communities
to adopt water conservation ordinances governing new
construction, including making it a requirement for financial
incentives. But data provided to FOX 13 News by the Utah
Division of Water Resources shows 95 different communities in
the Great Salt Lake basin alone have yet to.
For years, the water table has been dropping beneath thousands
of acres of desert farmland in western Arizona, where a
Saudi-owned dairy company has been allowed to pump unlimited
amounts of groundwater to grow hay for its cows. But the
company and other landowners in the area will now face limits
under a decision by state officials to impose regulation. …
After conducting a review, the state Department of Water
Resources designated the Ranegras Plain area, located 100 miles
west of Phoenix, as a new “active management area” to preserve
the groundwater. …The state’s action will prohibit landowners
from irrigating any additional farmland in this part of La Paz
County and require those with high-capacity wells to start
reporting how much water they use. It also will bring other
changes, forming a local advisory council and requiring a plan
to reduce water use.
Colorado’s snowpack is officially back at all-time lows at the
statewide level, at just 63 percent of the long-term median for
the date. As of January 13, the snow water equivalent is 4.8
inches, slightly below a prior record set on January 13, 2000
of 4.9 inches. … The lack of snow is having an impact on
dryness in Colorado, as well, with about 74 percent of the
state now abnormally dry or worse, including 46 percent of the
state that’s in a technical stage of drought. This time last
year, 29 percent of the state was abnormally dry or worse and
11 percent of the state was in drought.
Coastal communities across California face increasing threats
from flooding with changes in storm patterns and sea-level. Now
all coastal areas across the state have future flood hazard
projections from the USGS Coastal Storm Modeling System
(CoSMoS) to inform coastal planning and risk reduction.
… With the release of data in Mendocino County, CoSMoS
projections are now available across the entire state,
including San Francisco Bay and the Channel
Islands. CoSMoS is a dynamic modeling approach that allows
for detailed projections of coastal flooding due to both future
sea level change and extreme storms, integrated with long-term
coastal evolution (i.e., beach changes and cliff
retreat).
California’s single-largest solar energy project is scheduled
to come up for a vote next month by the Kern County Planning
Commission before going on for final consideration by the Board
of Supervisors. Proposed by San Diego-based developer Avantus,
the nearly 12,000-acre Buttonbush Solar and Storage project
would generate 2 gigawatts of electricity. … [Avantus Vice
President of Development Kevin] Brokish noted the project was
initiated in 2019 in an area where land is being pulled out of
production because of pumping limits imposed by California’s
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
For the eighth year in a row, the California Department of Fish
and Wildlife has found no Delta Smelt in their annual Fall
Midwater Trawl survey in the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta in
September, October and November of 2025. The results for
December haven’t been compiled yet. The smelt, once the most
abundant fish in the entire Delta, is an indicator species
found only in the Delta. It’s decline to virtual extinction in
the wild is a symptom of s larger decline, the Pelagic Organism
Decline (POD), of the once robust open water fish
populations of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary.
The North Bay city of Clearlake has declared a local emergency
because of a massive sewage spill. It all started from a
ruptured pipe on Robin Lane around 8 a.m. on Sunday. But
the spill has not stopped, despite efforts to repair it,
because of multiple faulty valves.Raw sewage has flooded the
area and has spread into waterways and ditches. About 58
properties are impacted. The wastewater system is managed
by the Lake County Sanitation District. People in that
area are being urged to drink bottled water.
In less than a month, more than 100,000 people will descend on
the Tulare International Agri-Center to stroll through rows of
imposing tractors while smoke from grilled rib eye steaks and
hamburgers wafts through the air at the 59th annual World Ag
Expo. … This year there will be 12 seminars devoted to
water-related issues, including invasive golden mussels,
groundwater recharge, irrigation technology and land and water
conservation. Water seminars will take place each day of
the show with just a few highlighted below.
Longtime Eastern Municipal Water District Director Philip E.
Paule was seated Tuesday as the agency’s newest representative
on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California. Paule is currently chief of staff for a
Riverside County supervisor and has worked at various levels of
government, including leading the offices of both congressional
and county representatives. He has represented Division I on
EMWD’s board since 2007, during which time he has served
multiple terms as board president. He succeeds Jeff Armstrong,
who served on Metropolitan’s 38-member board since 2023.
Work on a major water line in Tijuana has been finished and
service has been restored to more than 1.5 million residents
affected during the repairs. … More than 690 colonias in
Tijuana and Rosarito lost potable water last Thursday when
repairs began. That’s roughly two thirds of residents in the
region. … García Castro told the El Sol Newspaper in
Tijuana that repairs were necessary on a line that’s more than
70 years old and brings water from the Colorado River, the
region’s primary source of water.
Impressions and information gathered during a visit to sites
along the undammed Klamath River by scientists and others last
year are shaping their thoughts on the impacts of dams. Eight
Mongolian scientists specializing in areas including aquatic
ecosystems, biology, chemistry, and construction engineering
participated in last October’s tour to see “what it looks like
to dam — and undam” the Klamath River, historically a salmon
river that begins in tributaries in the Upper Klamath Lake area
that feed into the Klamath River.
