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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More plaintiffs, including a Catholic church, have joined the
lawsuit over “useless turf” regulations after the Nevada
Supreme Court ruled against an appeal. An amended class action
complaint filed in Clark County District Court on Tuesday shows
multiple community associations, homeowners and Our Lady of
Victory Catholic Church have been added to the case against the
Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA). The suit alleges that
SNWA’s enforcement of the state law to reduce non-functional
turf, part of larger water conservation efforts, has killed
many trees and destroyed property interests.
The latest flurries that dusted parts of the Sierra Nevada this
week are unlikely to do much to ease California’s snow
drought. Since April 1 — when the state measured its
second-lowest snowpack on record — the Sierra Nevada has seen a
few rounds of storms. This week’s system triggered winter storm
warnings in the range and brought up to two feet of snow at the
peaks. … “It’s not going to do enough to get you back to
a normal snowpack year,” said Chad Hecht, a meteorologist with
the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San
Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “Since we are in
April and approaching May, it will not last too long up in the
higher elevations. It’ll continue to melt off.”
Nearly one-fifth of Americans relied on drinking water systems
with elevated and potentially dangerous levels of nitrate in
recent years, according to a new study released Thursday. The
nonprofit Environmental Working Group examined test data
collected by water systems across the country between 2021 and
2023, the most recent data available. Water systems
serving more than 3 million people exceeded the federal safety
limit of 10 milligrams per liter over the three years, the
research and advocacy organization found. … [T]he report
found that 64% of all water systems that recorded nitrate
levels at or above the legal limit were in just five states:
California, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and
Oklahoma.
The California State Water Resources Control Board now has
rules for distributing nearly $50 million in state bonds for
water quality projects that could help fix pollution in the
Tijuana and New rivers. Leaders in San Diego
and Imperial counties had been making their case for why their
regions should receive the full amount of funding that
Proposition 4 earmarked to clean up rivers and coastal waters
near the California-Mexico border. Proposition 4, which
California voters approved in November 2024, however, did not
specify who would get the funding and how much. On
Tuesday, board members unanimously approved a process to
decide.
The town of Kearny could use up its entire water allotment by
August if current usage continues, leaving the community about
90 miles from Phoenix in a crisis. The town’s water supply was
cut by roughly 85% due to ongoing drought conditions. Kearny
normally receives about 600 acre-feet of water, but is now
allocated only 77 acre-feet. The town uses an average of 280
acre-feet per year. “We will run out of water legally on August
1 at this point,” said Mayor Curtis Stacey. “There are 2,000
people here that I am responsible for.” The Gila
River, which flows from San Carlos Lake, serves as
Kearny’s water source. The supply is split among several
eastern Arizona communities. Little snowpack in Arizona and New
Mexico has left less water to distribute.
Sacramento River fish swimming through Redding will have more
places to rest, eat and hide from predators starting this
spring. Conservationists announced they’ll build rockwad homes
— tree and rock structures — for juvenile salmon and trout
to live until they migrate out of Shasta County. Rockwads
imitate debris clusters that once collected in the river. That
debris was “a refuge to nurture young fish at the start of the
life cycle,” said engineer Josh Watkins, Manager of the City of
Redding Water Utility. Replicating those habitats will “ensure
salmon and trout populations have a place to grow and thrive.”
… [T]he Affordable Insurance and Recovery Act would
empower California’s attorney general to sue fossil fuel
companies over climate damages in an effort to shore up
insurance. Amid destructive wildfires, insurance companies have
retreated from California in large numbers and increased policy
costs significantly, according to advocates and experts.
… The new bill, introduced by Democratic state Sen.
Scott Wiener of San Francisco, would have Big Oil companies pay
up for the ways fossil fuels have historically contributed to
the global warming that is driving conditions for deadly
wildfires, more powerful storms and other weather extremes. …
Climate disasters fueled by climate change, including larger
and more destructive wildfires, floods and other
extreme weather events, are “exploding” insurance
costs, Wiener said.
A Bay Area congressman rolled out a new plan that aims to make
Bay Area waters safer for migrating whales. This comes after a
dead whale was spotted this week near Alcatraz, marking the
ninth dead whale reported in Northern California waters in a
matter of weeks. … While marine experts continue to
investigate, they say at least one of the nine deaths was
likely linked to a ship strike, an issue linked to dozens of
whale deaths in the past several years. The Marine Mammal
Center says the safety of the whales is critical, as data shows
an increasing number are now spending their time in Bay waters.
The Trump administration injected a surprising twist into the
fight over Northern California’s Eel River on
Tuesday, offering up a potential plan to stop the removal
of two dams in the basin — though how serious the
plan is remains to be seen. In a social media post, U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she had been in touch
with a Southern California water agency that
was interested in buying the Scott Dam in Lake County and Cape
Horn Dam in Mendocino County and continuing their
operation. Such a move would run counter to longtime plans
by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the owner of the dams, to
remove the facilities as part of the retirement of the
century-old Potter Valley hydroelectric
project.
Utah and other Upper Basin states gave their reluctant support
for the federal government to release an unprecedented amount
of water from Flaming Gorge to bolster Lake Powell, which could
fall below hydropower-generating levels as soon as August,
forecasts show. The Upper Colorado River Commission on Tuesday
approved a drought response operations agreement with the
Bureau of Reclamation that authorizes releasing up to 1 million
acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge, which straddles the Utah
and Wyoming border. … Projections shown during the
commission meeting show that even a 1 million acre-feet release
from Flaming Gorge will not be enough to prevent Powell from
dropping below minimum power pool, or 3,490 feet.
Over the next two days, forecasters expect a cold storm to
temporarily reblanket the Sierra Nevada with several feet of
snow. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm
warning through 5 p.m. Wednesday for the Northern Sierra above
5,000 feet. While the storm will bring yet another round of
April snow after a historically warm, dry March for California,
it’s not expected to do much lasting good for the state’s
meager snowpack, which sits at 18% of normal for this time of
year. “My guess is if you look at the snowpack analysis on
Thursday, this will show up as just a blip on the curve,” said
Chris Smallcomb, a meteorologist with the weather service’s
Reno office.
California environmental officials proposed upholding the
state’s approval of the Delta Conveyance Project in a draft
decision Monday, rejecting most of the legal challenges brought
by opponents while ordering a redo on two environmental issues
that could complicate the project’s path forward. In a draft
ruling released Monday, the Delta Stewardship Council rejected
the bulk of 10 appeals challenging the Department of Water
Resources’ consistency certification for the long-contested
Delta Conveyance Project — a planned 45-mile tunnel to move
more water beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta — finding
the state had sufficient evidence to comply with most Delta
Plan policies.
Each summer, dozens of dedicated teachers take time from their
summer break and gather in Butte, Solano, and Sacramento
counties to participate in Water Institutes for Educators. Over
the course of three days, they explore their local watersheds
and learn from scientists, water resource experts, and each
other. Through these hands-on water institutes, teachers
discover new ways to bring water topics into their classrooms.
… Information and registration can be found on
the Water Education Foundation’s Project WET website.
The ground may be sinking throughout most of the Central
Valley, but it’s actually rising in some parts of southern
Fresno County. Westlands Water District says thanks to its
efforts, the county has seen “measurable uplift” in and around
the area between Cantua Creek and Huron. The map below details
the change from January 2025 to January 2026 in blue. According
to the legend, the land in this area rose at least 1.2
inches. The “rarely seen” phenomenon is the result
of efforts borne from the Groundwater Sustainability
Plan. It was introduced in 2014 in response to
increasingly degraded water quality, land subsidence, and dry
wells exacerbated by overpumping and drought.
Not even a Super El Nino — which climatologists say is likely
to develop this summer — could undo the damage in Colorado
after a historically low snowpack. It may, however, offer a
glimmer of hope that relief is on its way. “Overall,
between the very low snowpack and the warm, dry winter and
start to spring …. we are in drought conditions across
basically the entire state, and they, at this time, are
worsening,” said Peter Goble, the assistant state climatologist
at the Colorado Climate Center, said at the monthly Colorado
Water Conditions Monitoring Committee meeting on Tuesday, April
21. “But this is probably the most optimistic seasonal outlook
that I’ve been able to give on one of these calls in quite some
time.”
The Klamath Tribes plan to implement the first-ever large-scale
reintroduction of Chinook salmon. The Bureau of Indian Affairs
and NOAA Fisheries recently allocated $6 million in efforts do
the reintroduction on what the Tribes say are “critically
imperiled spring-run Chinook salmon within the Klamath Tribes’
ancestral territory.” The Tribes plan to establish up to 40
remote incubation sites in cold-water streams above Upper
Klamath Lake. The money will also support the installation of
four additional raceways and “increase water efficiency” at the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Klamath Fish Hatchery
near Chiloquin.
… [I]t sounded like a waterfall suddenly roared to life as
Northern Water started filling Colorado’s newest reservoir,
Chimney Hollow. … Engineers will make sure the pipes
that will funnel Colorado River water to the reservoir are
functioning correctly. It will also give Northern Water a
chance to study an issue with the water supply. The reservoir’s
future became murky last year after officials announced that
naturally occurring uranium was found in the rock used to build
the dam for the reservoir. … This week’s initial fill
will provide Northern Water with a real-world test of the water
quality that was only previously done in laboratories. None of
the water coming into the reservoir will be released to taps at
this point.
The Los Angeles reservoir that was notoriously empty during the
2025 Palisades fire has been drained once again as crews
replace its floating cover, to the dismay of area residents who
worry that there won’t be water available to fight wildfires.
The Santa Ynez Reservoir stores drinking water for Pacific
Palisades, and the $19.5-million project to replace its damaged
cover is needed to ensure the water is safe to drink, according
to the Department of Water and Power. But with warm weather and
wildfire season ahead, community leaders would prefer to see a
full reservoir even if the water isn’t suitable for drinking.
A proposed restoration project could bring new life to parts of
the Lower Kern River. A presentation to the Bakersfield Water
Board outlined plans to restore more than 670 acres along the
Kern River Parkway. The project aims to create new habitat,
improve wildlife corridors, and add shade and recreational
opportunities for the community. The first phase of the
project would cover about 137 acres south of the Kern River
near Truxtun Lake. The total project cost is estimated at $4.3
million. Most of the funding is expected to come from state
grants. If approved, site preparation and planting could
begin as soon as the fall of 2027, with full completion
expected in 2032.
In 2029, a new law will ban watering of “nonfunctional turf”
with potable water. … In 2023, the Legislature passed
Assembly Bill 1572 and created Water Code Section 10608.14,
applicable to properties including common interest
developments. This new statute requires various property
owners, including HOAs, to either remove nonfunctional turf or
begin irrigating it with reclaimed water. HOAs must comply
before 2029. Since most HOAs do not have reclaimed water
readily available to them without great expense, many HOAs are
erroneously assuming they must remove grass areas not regularly
used by residents. However, a careful review of the statutes
and connected regulations reveals that probably very few — if
any — California common interest developments will be affected
by this law.
