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 Chris Bowman.
Subscribe to our weekday emails to have news delivered to your inbox at about 9 a.m. Monday through Friday except for holidays.
Please Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing. Also, 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.
San Joaquin County declared a state of emergency Wednesday for
a potential levee failure on Victoria Island in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that could damage farmland and
compromise water for the region. County engineers on Oct. 21
found slumping at a levee on Old River that could damage
Highway 4, a critical artery for the region. County officials
took “emergency measures” to temporarily erect protective
barriers, but the levee is still at risk, San Joaquin County’s
Office of Emergency Services said in a news release.
Tucked in a $10 billion climate bond on the November ballot is
an earmark to improve drinking water quality for communities
such as East Orosi. Proposition 4 would allocate $610 million
for clean, safe, and reliable drinking water and require at
least 40% be spent on projects that benefit vulnerable
populations or disadvantaged communities. But it’s a fraction
of what the state says is needed. While most Californians have
access to safe water, roughly 750,000 people as of late October
are served by 383 failing water systems, many clustered in
remote and sparsely populated areas. A June assessment by the
California State Water Resources Control Board pegged the cost
of repairing failing and at-risk public water systems at about
$11.5 billion.
The Interior Department will put $46 million toward wetland and
habitat restoration in the Klamath River Basin, part of an
ongoing bid to balance environmental and agricultural water
demands in the region after the removal of four dams. The
agency announced Wednesday that it will fund two dozen projects
to restore wetlands, shorelines and native habitats in southern
Oregon and Northern California. The nonprofit Klamath River
Renewal Corp. recently completed the removal of four dams — the
Iron Gate, Copco 1, Copco 2 and J.C. Boyle structures —
restoring more than 400 miles of free-flowing waterway for
salmon and other fish species.
… Now under consideration by the State Water Resources
Control Board, the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes framework is a
potential alternative to traditional water quality regulations
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay. This
approach seeks to restore ecosystem health and improve water
reliability, offering a more collaborative and adaptive
strategy to protect both fish and wildlife and local economies.
As statewide snowpack sits at 152 percent of the to-date
long-term norm in Colorado thanks to several big October
storms, one river basin is leading the charge at 529 percent of
the snowpack that’s expected for this time of the year. The
state’s southwesternmost river basin – the San
Miguel-Dolores-Animas-San Juan River Basin (home to Durango and
Telluride) – is where this well-above-average snowpack is
found, with neighboring Upper Rio Grande and Gunnison river
basins having above-average snowpack as well, at 316 percent
and 243 percent of the to-date norm, respectively.
… Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner, head of the IBWC, told
[Matt] Henry and others gathered at the meeting that a
long-awaited project to repair and expand the dilapidated
[South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant] broke
ground earlier Tuesday. … But it will be several years before
the benefits of construction projects on both sides of the
border are felt and data yet to be collected reveals other
possible solutions. …Together with the overhaul of a
wastewater plant in Baja California, [the] expansion
should eliminate about 90 percent of untreated wastewater
reaching South County shorelines.
The Environmental Protection Agency will be sending $47 million
to the state of Nevada to upgrade Nevada’s water
infrastructure. The grants will fund projects managing
wastewater, protect freshwater resources, and deliver drinking
water to homes, schools, and businesses. The funding was
announced by Nevada Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez
Masto. “All Nevadans deserve access to clean, safe drinking
water, and I’m proud to see these funds coming to Nevada to
make critical improvements to our water infrastructure,” said
Senator Cortez Masto. “I’ll continue working in the Senate to
deliver essential resources to protect our water supply for
generations to come.”
The San Juan National Forest Dolores Ranger District has
acquired the 160-acre Dunton Meadows property located southwest
of Telluride. According to a press release, the property is a
“critically important wetland meadow complex” at the headwaters
of the Dolores River. The release states that this acquisition
will protect a source of clean, cold water for Colorado River
cutthroat trout in a Dolores River headwater tributary called
Coal Creek. Coal Creek contains some of the richest habitats in
the upper Dolores River basin for the Colorado River cutthroat
trout.
Imagine Sonoma County without Crane melons, Bernier garlic, or
Russian River pinot noir. Local farms shape the landscape,
economy, and culture. But their future is uncertain, and what
happens next depends on consumer choices and local support.
Farming isn’t easy. In 2024, Sonoma County farmers face climate
change, water shortages, labor gaps, and costly new technology.
Unpredictable weather — droughts, floods, wildfires — threatens
crops and disrupts practices. Managing water is crucial, as
farmers juggle conservation and irrigation. Labor shortages
push up costs and slow down operations. While tech can boost
efficiency, it often requires heavy investment and specialized
skills. These challenges demand resilience and innovation from
the farming community. Farming has been essential since humans
first cultivated crops.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun construction on a
new 59,000-square-foot Agricultural Research and Technology
Center at the University of California, Davis. … The center,
dubbed ARTC, will include laboratories, greenhouses and
capacity for scientists exploring ways agriculture can adapt to
climate change, water scarcity, emerging pests and increasing
global demand, the release said. The two-story ARTC will house
four research units: crops pathology and genetics, invasive
species and pollinator health, national tree fruit, nuts and
grapes clonal germplasm repository and sustainable water
systems.
Facing a future with less water, the country’s largest
agricultural water district is turning from growing nuts,
vegetables, fruit and beef to a new crop: solar power.
Westlands Water District, which supplies some of California’s
driest farmland, is making plans to convert some 200 square
miles of it — an area roughly the size of Detroit — into what
would be the largest solar installation in the world. Under
pressure, Westlands, more usually known for its ties to former
President Donald Trump and for fighting aggressively for every
extra drop of water it can get, is diversifying both
economically and politically.
On Oct. 2, about a year-and-a-half after the Pajaro River levee
failed, flood agencies broke ground on the
long-awaited Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project. The
five-year, $599 million project sets out to protect the river
valley and its tributaries from 100-year storms, by
constructing stronger levees and working on improvements to the
area. Following the celebration, the environmental watchdog
group LandWatch commissioned a report from EcoDataLab … to
get a better sense of whether the levee improvements would
protect potential housing development within the floodplain.
The resulting Pajaro River Flood Risk Report, released earlier
in October, focuses on whether the project’s design
sufficiently accounts for future climate impacts, assessing the
area under both typical and extreme weather scenarios. The
report concludes that, with proper levee maintenance, the area
is suitable for housing development.
Through a new type of water treatment technology, officials in
Lake Elsinore have been injecting oxygen into the city’s
historic lake to treat the water and improve the local
ecosystem. In February, Lake Elsinore installed its first
Nanobubble Barge, built and operated by Moleaer Inc. The barge
injects “nanobubbles” into the lake, which helps remove
contaminants like algae toxins, pathogens and other harmful
material. After seeing improvements to the water quality, the
City Council approved the purchase of two more barges,
officials announced.
County supervisors on Tuesday approved a groundwater pumping
reduction plan for an area in Stanislaus’ West Side in hopes of
preventing intervention from the state. The Delta-Mendota
Groundwater Subbasin is considered to be critically
overdrafted, according to the California Department of Water
Resources, raising concerns about ground subsidence near the
Delta-Mendota Canal and California Aqueduct. Affected parties
in the Delta-Mendota groundwater subbasin, in west Stanislaus
and Merced counties, developed six coordinated groundwater
sustainability plans, which were deemed incomplete by the state
after a two-year review and declared inadequate after
amendments were submitted to address deficiencies in 2022.
Faced with a perceived three-strikes rule, the local agencies
decided to work with a consultant on a single plan for reduced
pumping, along with well metering and monitoring, which was
approved by Stanislaus supervisors Tuesday.
Facing a future with less water, the country’s largest
agricultural water district is turning from growing nuts,
vegetables, fruit and beef to a new crop: solar power.
Westlands Water District, which supplies some of California’s
driest farmland in the Central Valley, is making plans to
convert some 200 square miles of it — an area roughly the size
of Detroit — into what would be the largest solar installation
in the world. The move marks both an economic and political
diversification for a district usually better known for its
ties to former President Donald Trump and for fighting
aggressively for every extra drop of water it can get.
A series of USGS interactive maps have recently been published.
The maps identify locations and levels of mercury contamination
resulting from historical gold mining California’s Sierra
Nevada. … Many may not know that mercury was used by miners
during the California Gold Rush to extract gold. Using a
process called amalgamation miners would combine mercury with
gold ore to form a gold-mercury amalgam. The mercury was then
removed by heating. After the mercury had evaporated, pure gold
was left behind. However, this method had severe environmental
consequences.
The federal government plans to give Rancho Palos Verdes $42
million to finance buyouts for the homeowners hardest hit by
the ongoing landslides in the Portuguese Bend area, with the
properties eventually converted into lower-risk open
space. … The announcement of the buyout program follows
some of the first positive news in months about the landslide.
City officials reported this month that the rate of land
movement had decelerated as much as 80% in some
locations compared with the month prior, primarily due to
new, deep dewatering wells that the city installed from August
to October. The wells have pumped out millions of
gallons of groundwater that drives the area’s landslide
movement.
San Diegans across the political spectrum worry a changing of
the guard at the White House could bring major upheaval to the
federal agency on the frontlines of the Tijuana River sewage
crisis: The International Boundary and Water Commission or
IBWC. The president of the United States appoints the IBWC
leader and a post-election shake up could add uncertainty to
the already precarious state of one of San Diego’s largest
pollution problems. Treating millions of gallons of sewage
spilling from Tijuana into San Diego is just one among myriad
IBWC water management responsibilities along 1,255-miles of the
U.S.-Mexico border. … With little recourse to hold
Mexico responsible for the contamination, San Diegans
historically pinned blame on the IBWC. But since President Joe
Biden appointed Maria-Elena Giner to the top post in August of
2021, most agree she’s done a good job – despite a very low bar
– and don’t want to see her go.
The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory
for a small portion of the Lake Tahoe shoreline Tuesday
morning, warning of lake-effect snow. Up to 3 inches of snow
was expected near Emerald Bay in El Dorado County, with the
advisory in effect until 11 a.m. The weather service reported
“sections of Highway 89 between Meeks Bay and the junction with
Highway 50 are slick and hazardous.” Weather service
meteorologist Amanda Young said lake-effect snow around Lake
Tahoe is infrequent and only occurs when there is a significant
temperature difference between the lake water and the air
above. Lake-effect snow is most common in fall, when the lake
is still warm, or in midwinter when air temperatures fall to
the teens or single digits.
The two hurricanes that walloped the southeast recently—Helene
and Milton—caused extensive damage and loss of
life, with Helene becoming the second-deadliest hurricane in
the last 30 years. Although thousands of miles away, these two
hurricanes serve as reminders about flood management in
California. … California storms can be just as intense and
destructive as hurricanes. Although hurricanes are not part of
California’s natural disaster portfolio, people sometimes
forget that California has its own equivalent in atmospheric
rivers (ARs). These storms—which often carry as much water as
the Amazon River up in the atmosphere—originate in the
subtropical Pacific Ocean and deliver prodigious amounts of
rain and snow to California. Although ARs do not pack the
high-speed winds of hurricanes, their precipitation intensities
match what we’ve seen in Helene and Milton.
