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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It’s not just gas prices: Some U.S. water utilities are
reporting the Middle East war is disrupting their ability to
maintain recommended fluoride levels in the drinking water.
Over the past few weeks, a few water utilities have said their
supply had been disrupted, according to the Association of
Metropolitan Water Agencies. … Israel is one of the
world’s top exporters of fluorosilicic acid, according to the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA data also shows the
U.S. is among the world’s top five importers of the product.
… The number of water utilities affected so far is
small, but the shortage is affecting hundreds of thousands of
people.
The Trump administration is preparing to take drastic action to
keep the West’s most important river flowing to cities, farms
and through hydropower turbines after a warm, dry winter has
forecasters warning of record low flows down the waterway this
year. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation is
planning to cut releases out of one of the Colorado River’s
biggest reservoirs — Lake Powell — to the lowest level that’s
legally permissible, while at the same time moving a massive
amount of water from upstream reservoirs to bolster Powell’s
water levels, according to an internal report from Arizona’s
top water officials obtained by POLITICO. The report says
Reclamation’s plans are not yet final but that the emergency
actions could begin as soon as [this] week.
California has launched the Salton Sea
Conservancy, a new state agency to oversee restoration,
manage habitat and improve air quality at the deteriorating
inland lake. On Friday Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the
appointment of a 20-member conservancy board, with members from
state agencies, Riverside and Imperial County governments,
local water districts, tribal groups and public organizations.
The new conservancy is the first created in California in more
than 15 years, since the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Conservancy was established in 2010. The new body will direct
state resources toward what has long been a local problem in
the Southern California desert, Newsom said in a statement.
Commercial fishing crews will be permitted to catch salmon
along the California coast this year for the first time since
2022 as regulators end a three-year shutdown after
seeing an increase in the struggling salmon
population. The Pacific Fishery Management Council, a
body established by Congress that manages ocean fishing along
the West Coast, voted Sunday to approve a plan to reopen the
salmon fishing season under strict limits in California.
… Fishermen in the San Francisco region will be allowed
to catch a maximum of 160 Chinook per vessel during several
open periods in May and August, and 100 on additional dates in
September. … The plan also includes limits on the total
number of fall-run Chinook salmon that may be caught during the
season.
A spring Sierra storm dropped more than a foot of snow
in parts of the northern Sierra, according to a report
from the California-Nevada River Forecast Center. Snow totals
from automated gauges showed the heaviest snowfall in Alpine
County, where Leavitt Lake recorded 15 inches and Ebbetts Pass
measured 13 inches. Carson Pass and Monitor Pass each saw 9
inches. In Placer County, Palisades Tahoe reported 14
inches of snow, while the Central Sierra Snow Lab measured 12
inches. … The snowfall totals are based on provisional data
from automated gauges and have not yet been fully verified,
according to the forecast center.
In the months before Nevada’s top water regulator was fired,
major mining companies and others complained about him to Gov.
Joe Lombardo’s office, accusing him of “coercion” and
slow-walking communications as the state inched to a nuclear
option in water policy — curtailing rights in Nevada’s largest
basin. The complaints, which came in the form of nearly 200
emails, letters, attachments and meetings reviewed by The
Nevada Independent, largely centered around a draft
order to reduce groundwater pumping in the Humboldt River
Basin. It’s an overappropriated watershed in Northern
Nevada where the state is undertaking its first major,
large-scale application of conjunctive water management; a
strategy to coordinate surface and groundwater use.
The Trump administration is tightening its grip over EPA’s
scientific enterprise as it prepares to relocate employees from
its once esteemed research arm. The agency’s new, smaller
science office has laid out its policies on how EPA will
approve new research and publish its work for the public,
according to internal memos obtained by POLITICO’s E&E
News. Further, EPA’s remaining scientists from the
now-dissolved Office of Research and Development received
reassignments earlier this week, including many who will have
to move if they want to continue working at the agency.
… Research office staffers who remained at EPA were
expecting to be reassigned last month, as the agency officially
closed the program. Many had already been transferred into the
air, chemical and water programs.
… Research groups, news organizations and water officials
have been blaring warnings about the worst snowpack in
history and water supply concerns heading into the
summer. In some ways, conditions are so bad, the state
is headed into uncharted territory, experts said. In the face
of a worrisome year, farmers, reservoir operators and city
utilities are focused on getting the best data possible.
They’re turning to scientists and pilots with newfangled
snowpack measurement methods — plus the tried-and-true
measurement methods used since the early 1900s. Their
goal: Figure out how to use a scant water supply as effectively
as possible.
… Nutria, a creature with the body of a small beaver, webbed
feet like a platypus, and the tail of a rat, reappeared in the
state’s wetlands a few years ago, nearly four decades after it
was considered eradicated. California has been battling the
rodent ever since, and recent research by wildlife officials
suggests the rodent’s sudden return may have been
intentional. The study, released Tuesday by the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife, found that the state’s nutria
populations share a close genetic match with nutria from
Oregon. The distance between the states makes it nearly
impossible for them to have migrated on their own, according to
researchers, which means they were likely transported here
intentionally.
… [Khara] Boender is the senior manager of state policy for
the Data Center Coalition, the industry group that represents
data centers owners and their interests. She’s been extremely
busy in recent weeks, wading through the many, many new
proposals targeting their members. The bevy of new bills is
linked to the explosion of artificial intelligence, which has
spurred a nationwide race to build out the digital
infrastructure needed to support new AI models. And while data
centers are nothing new — they expanded in lockstep with the
growth of the internet — state officials expect them to use
huge amounts of electricity and water in
coming years. … POLITICO caught up with Boender to hear
more about why her industry is against the proposals, and its
ideas on how regulations should work.
Efforts to strengthen water storage and delivery
systems in California’s Central Valley are gaining
momentum, as federal and local leaders emphasize the need for
groundwater recharge projects and long-overdue infrastructure
upgrades. For communities like Arvin and Lamont, water largely
comes from underground sources, making stable groundwater
levels essential. … [T]he Arvin Community Services District
is partnering with the Arvin-Edison Water Storage District on a
$2 million project to expand groundwater recharge capacity. The
project is funded through federal dollars secured by Rep. David
Valadao and is one of several water infrastructure efforts
across the 22nd Congressional District.
After two winters of La Niña, an official “El Niño Watch” is
underway, the National Weather Service Climate Protection
Center said Thursday. In its latest ENSO Alert System Status
report, the Climate Protection Center said there’s a 61% chance
that an El Niño is “likely to emerge” between this May and
June, and “persist through at least the end of 2026.” The
agency’s outlook also notes there’s a 25% chance that the
Pacific seasonal variation could develop into a “strong” or
“very strong” El Niño this winter. … [I]t’s hard
to predict if the emergence of El Niño this year will lead to a
wet winter. … [O]ne of California’s worst drought years
occurred during an El Niño in 1976-1977, but then the following
year, still during an El Niño, the state had more than double
its average rainfall with nearly 31 inches of rain.
Seeking to prevent the California State Water Resources Control
Board from stepping in to regulate groundwater in critically
overdrafted subbasins, local agencies are working to correct
deficiencies in their plans to protect groundwater. With
groundwater sustainability agencies formed and groundwater
sustainability plans evaluated, the state water board has moved
to implement the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
or SGMA. … Under probation, groundwater extractors in
the Tulare Lake subbasin face annual fees of $300 per well and
$20 per acre-foot pumped, plus a late reporting fee of 25%.
SGMA also requires well owners to file annual groundwater
extraction reports.
Last year’s snow deluge in California, which quickly erased a
two decade long megadrought, was essentially a
once-in-a-lifetime rescue from above, a new study found. Don’t
get used to it because with climate change the 2023 California
snow bonanza —a record for snow on the ground on April 1 — will
be less likely in the future, said the study in Monday’s
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
… UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, who wasn’t part
of the study but specializes in weather in the U.S. West, said,
“I would not be surprised if 2023 was the coldest, snowiest
winter for the rest of my own lifetime in California.”
Six tribes in the Upper Colorado River Basin, including two in
Colorado, have gained long-awaited access to discussions about
the basin’s water issues — talks that were formerly
limited to states and the federal government. Under an
agreement finalized this month, the tribes will meet every two
months to discuss Colorado River issues with an interstate
water policy commission, the Upper Colorado River Commission,
or UCRC. It’s the first time in the commission’s 76-year
history that tribes have been formally included, and the timing
is key as negotiations about the river’s future intensify.
… Most immediately, the commission wants a key number:
How much water goes unused by tribes and flows down to the
Lower Basin?
A group of Western lawmakers pressed the Biden administration
Monday to ramp up water conservation, especially in national
forests that provide nearly half the region’s surface water.
“Reliable and sustainable water availability is absolutely
critical to any agricultural commodity production in the
American West,” wrote the lawmakers, including Sens.
Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), in a
letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The 31
members of the Senate and House, all Democrats except for Sen.
Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), credited the administration for
several efforts related to water conservation, including
promoting irrigation efficiency as a climate-smart practice
eligible for certain USDA funding through the Inflation
Reduction Act.
A study led by NASA researchers provides new estimates of how
much water courses through Earth’s rivers, the rates at which
it’s flowing into the ocean, and how much both of those figures
have fluctuated over time—crucial information for understanding
the planet’s water cycle and managing its freshwater supplies.
The results also highlight regions depleted by heavy water use,
including the Colorado River basin in the United States, the
Amazon basin in South America, and the Orange River basin in
southern Africa.
State water management officials must work more closely with
local agencies to properly prepare California for the effects
of climate change, water scientists say. Golden State
officials said in the newly revised California Water
Plan that as the nation’s most populous state, California
is too diverse and complex for a singular approach to manage a
vast water network. On Monday, they recommended expanding the
work to better manage the state’s precious water resources —
including building better partnerships with communities most at
risk during extreme drought and floods and improving critical
infrastructure for water storage, treatment and distribution
among different regions and watersheds.
It’s the most frustrating part of conservation. To save water,
you rip out your lawn, shorten your shower time, collect
rainwater for the flowers and stop washing the car. Your water
use plummets. And for all that trouble, your water supplier
raises your rates. Why? Because everyone is using so much less
that the agency is losing money. That’s the dynamic in
play with Southern California’s massive wholesaler, the
Metropolitan Water District, despite full reservoirs after two
of history’s wettest winters. … Should water users be
happy about these increases? The answer is a counterintuitive
“yes.” Costs would be higher and water scarcer in the future
without modest hikes now.
A steady stream of water spilled from Lake Casitas Friday, a
few days after officials declared the Ojai Valley reservoir had
reached capacity for the first time in a quarter century. Just
two years earlier, the drought-stressed reservoir, which
provides drinking water for the Ojai
Valley and parts of Ventura, had dropped under 30%.
The Casitas Municipal Water District was looking at emergency
measures if conditions didn’t improve, board President Richard
Hajas said. Now, the lake is full, holding roughly 20 years of
water.
