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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… Alameda is among the first to align with a
state-led sea-level rise plan, mandating that every
coastal city and county in the Bay Area develop plans to
address sea level rise. … California has experienced about 8
inches of sea level rise over the past century. As the world
continues to warm due to fossil fuel burning, the bay could
rise about a foot by midcentury and more than 6 feet by the end
of the century, according to the state’s latest sea level rise
guidance. Alameda can expect water from all directions: rising
seas, torrential downpours, storm-driven surges that intensify
high tides and groundwater pushed upwards as soils
become saturated.
Workshops explaining how groundwater pumping will be tracked
and allocated for Hanford-area landowners and growers will be
held this week. After passing its groundwater pumping
allocation policy in December, the Mid-Kings River Groundwater
Sustainability Agency (GSA) will hold two workshops to explain
its policies and how groundwater usage will be tracked.
… On Dec. 16, the Mid-Kings board approved a pumping
allocation of 1.43 acre feet per acre of land – a controversial
move considering most of its neighboring GSAs allocated less
than half that amount to their landowners as a base
allocation.
A lack of snow and unseasonably warm temperatures in Colorado
have significantly increased the risk of wildfires this year,
and some state lawmakers are taking an unusual approach to
help lower that risk. HB26-1323 would outlaw the killing
of beavers on public lands in Colorado, except in cases where
beavers threaten infrastructure or public safety. Supporters
say not only do the dams built by beavers help regulate the
state’s water supply, but the wetlands created by them also act
as natural firebreaks, provide refuge for other wildlife during
fires, and reduce downstream pollution after fires.
Nevada Irrigation District is required as part of the Water
Shortage Contingency Plan to provide an analysis of forecasted
water availability for the upcoming summer months. The forecast
incorporates current reservoir storage and anticipated snowpack
runoff based on snow survey data. This analysis is used to
determine the amount of water available for the summer
irrigation season, and to make a determination on whether a
Water Shortage Contingency Plan will need to be
enacted. Tomorrow, the board of Nevada Irrigation District
(NID) will meet and receive an update on current and forecasted
water supply and adopt a resolution making a declaration of
surplus water availability for 2026.
On March 19, Western Water and the San Diego County Water
Authority signed a water exchange agreement that will provide
benefits across much of Southern California. … This agreement
represents a major change in thinking among water agencies,
beginning with a June 2025 shift in Metropolitan Water
District’s rules that for the first time allowed exchange of
water between Metropolitan member agencies. Rather than
competing and being territorial, as has been traditional among
water agencies, Western Water and the San Diego County Water
Authority worked in a spirit of cooperation and mutual support
to negotiate this first-of-a-kind agreement. –Written by Mike Gardner, member of the Western Municipal
Water District Board.
The plan to build California’s largest reservoir in nearly 50
years has cleared one of its last and most fundamental hurdles:
tentative approval of the project’s water
right. The State Water Resources Control Board on
Friday released a draft permit that would allow Sites
Reservoir, a proposed 13-mile-long storage facility 70 miles
northwest of Sacramento, to draw water from the
Sacramento River. While not final, the
much-awaited draft permit indicates that state water regulators
support the project. … This could pave the way for
construction of the $6 billion reservoir to begin as soon as
late this year or early next. … Sites Reservoir
… has been widely supported by cities and farms as well
as by state leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom. However, some
environmental groups and tribal communities have opposed the
venture, saying it will take water from an already-stressed
watershed, thus harming plants and wildlife — including the
state’s biggest salmon runs.
Critical negotiations about the future of the Colorado River
took a two week hiatus last month after the seven states in the
basin missed a key Valentine’s Day deadline for striking a
deal, New Mexico’s water negotiator said Thursday. Estevan
López said talks resumed March 2, and the upper and lower basin
states are using a short-term pitch from Nevada as a starting
point. “Right now, we’re in discussions with the lower basin
about a potential short-term agreement,” Lopez told New
Mexico’s Interstate Stream Commission. Nevada is proposing to
increase water releases from upper basin reservoirs like
Flaming Gorge by at least 500,000 acre feet to help prevent
Lake Powell from dropping too low.
… Southern California urban areas are typically on the hunt
for more and more water from agricultural regions. In this
case, though, four Kern County, and one Kings County, ag water
districts have entered into a 59-year agreement to
buy water from an over-the-Grapevine agency in southern
California. The water will come from Santa Clarita Valley Water
Agency. … Over the years, it [SCVWA] has parked its
excess water in a variety of Kern County banks, sometimes in
one-off, or longer term deals. This new agreement sets up a
framework so both sides can have longer term certainty.
… Iconic mountain towns like Aspen, Colorado, and Park City,
Utah, were seen with shockingly bare slopes, as the region
endured a historic snow drought that experts warn could bring
water shortages and wildfires in the months ahead.
… Colorado hasn’t experienced such a severe snow drought
in more than 40 years. Neither has Utah … and newly released
federal drought data show similar conditions in New Mexico and
Arizona. All four states are contending with record-low
snowpack. … A snow drought of this magnitude has the
power to disrupt fundamental aspects of life in the West.
… In addition to increasing the risk of water shortages
for states already strapped for those resources, low snowpack
can make wildfire-prone land even more vulnerable.
More than three decades after a landmark decision called for
Los Angeles to limit its taking of water to raise the level of
Mono Lake, California regulators are reexamining why the lake
still hasn’t rebounded and what should be done about it. At the
request of state water officials, UCLA climate scientists
developed a new model to analyze why the lake remains far below
its state-mandated target level. In a new report, they said
that without L.A.’s use of water from creeks that feed the
lake, its waters would be about 4 feet higher — closer to that
required threshold. … DWP managers said they have
questions and want to vet the UCLA analysis.
A California lawmaker wants to ban the use of long-lasting
chemical pesticides in the state within a decade. Assembly Bill
1603 would ban the use, sale and manufacture of PFAS pesticides
in California beginning in 2035. More than 20 of the chemicals
already banned in the European Union would be prohibited
earlier, starting in 2030. The bill would also halt state
approvals of PFAS pesticides and require public disclosure.
… The group said PFAS in drinking water has drawn
increased attention from regulators and lawmakers. Affected
crops include almonds, pistachios, wine grapes and tomatoes.
… After decades of viewing beavers as pests, California is
finally beginning to welcome them home. And not a moment too
soon. With perhaps the world’s most intensely modified
hydrology, the state leads the country in acres burned by
wildfires and number of homes at risk from them, and according
to one study, it is second only to Nevada for drought risk.
California’s vaunted biodiversity is also imperiled. But these
legendarily industrious architects are primed to help us out.
… Critical for California, beaver dams create spongy
land that is resilient in the face of wildfires, resists
erosion, and retains precious groundwater.
San Diego County’s water agency is selling some of its water to
another Southern California agency to help limit increasingly
high water costs for 3.3 million people. The water is going to
Western Municipal Water District, which serves a growing area
of nearly 1 million people in Riverside County, including
Corona, Riverside and Temecula. … The San Diego County agency
has invested heavily to get more water in recent decades. In
2003, it struck an agriculture-to-urban transfer deal and it
also buys water from the Carlsbad desalination plant under a
30-year agreement. These actions have brought San Diego County
plentiful water — also some of the most expensive in the state.
For the first time in four years, California’s salmon fishery
is set to reopen this spring– offering a long-awaited
opportunity for commercial fishermen who have weathered
consecutive closures tied to historically low stock levels. The
commercial season, shuttered since 2023, is expected to open in
mid-May, with final dates and regulations to be determined in
April by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC). …
According to the Calif. Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW),
salmon populations have more than doubled compared to last
year, enough to support both recreational and commercial
fisheries in 2026. … But for working fishermen, a limited and
highly managed season raised concerns about economic viability.
… In Boulder City, a short drive southeast from Henderson,
voters will get to decide whether data centers are an
acceptable use for a specific portion of city-owned land known
as the Eldorado Valley Transfer Area. … A data center
could be an answer to water waste in Boulder City.
… Currently, only some of the wastewater from the city plant
is used for dust control at a quarry and in solar farms, while
the rest is left to evaporate. This isn’t the norm in the Las
Vegas Valley or Laughlin, where nearly every drop of water used
indoors is captured, treated and sent back to Lake Mead to help
stretch the state’s meager share of the Colorado
River. … [T]he city could make a profit off of
selling that treated wastewater to a data center.
As temperatures soared to record levels and officials issued
warnings about the heat wave sweeping San Diego, hydrogen
sulfide levels in and around the Tijuana River have also
spiked. At the same time, bacterial levels are also high. The
Tijuana River Coalition issued a press release on Friday
calling for a “timely and reliable” alert system to warn
residents of contamination spikes and for better coordination
among public agencies to connect residents and schools with
information that could help people protect their health.
… Water contaminated with sewage and chemicals flowing
into the Tijuana River has remained high for the dry season,
flowing at 30 to 40 million gallons a day.
… Under DWA’s Ordinance 80 and state Assembly Bill 1572, the
city must self-certify which of its roughly 75 city-owned
properties contain “non-functional turf” — decorative grass
with no regular recreational use — by June 30, ahead of a Jan.
1, 2027 deadline to stop using potable water on that turf
entirely. … The broader mandate stems from a state
regulation requiring DWA to reduce total water demand 40
percent by 2040 compared to today’s levels — one of the
steepest targets in California, a consequence of the region’s
high per-capita water use. … Turf removal is projected
to account for roughly one-third of required savings; the rest
will come from rate structures, device rebates, upgraded
metering infrastructure and commercial outreach.
… A recent survey showed those living in small communities
would be willing to pay higher utility bills for a wastewater
recycling program if it meant avoiding limits on their water
use. … Public opposition has at times kept wastewater reuse
programs from taking off. In the 1990s, San Diego attempted to
institute a reuse program, but the city had to scuttle it due
to fierce political opposition. Residents recoiled at the
thought of water that went from “toilet-to-tap,” as it was
described in newspapers at the time. But attitudes have
changed, as water scarcity issues have become more acute.
Today, the city is building a new water reuse facility to
provide 30 million gallons a day, or one-third of its water
supply, by 2035. Similar programs have emerged across
drought-stricken states.
To replenish California’s chronically depleted aquifers, the
state’s Department of Water Resources is taking a hard look at
a new line of attack: Pairing more sophisticated reservoir
operations with groundwater recharge. Water managers are aiming
to make greater use of the increased floodwater that’s expected
to come with flashier, more intense storms and earlier
snowmelt. The new approach is known as
FIRO-MAR, which stands for Forecast-Informed
Reservoir Operations-Managed Aquifer Recharge. In December, DWR
released a study focused on the five main tributary watersheds
of California’s second-largest river, the San Joaquin, that
provides the most comprehensive assessment of the concept’s
potential yet.
With a Lake Powell conservation pool nearly guaranteed for the
future of Colorado River management, the four Upper Basin
states are exploring and refining the ways they could fill it.
Conservation by those states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and
Wyoming) could be one of the keys to reaching a deal among the
seven states that share the Colorado River and an important
part of the framework for managing the drought-stricken river
after this year. The water saved by the Upper Basin states
could be stored in Lake Powell as a means of maintaining higher
water levels and as an insurance policy against drastic cuts.
