A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation Writer Matt Jenkins.
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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.
California Supreme Court justices wasted no time Wednesday
jumping into the deep end of several complex issues at the
heart of an ongoing lawsuit over flows in the Kern
River. Within a few minutes of Attorney Kevin
Bundy’s opening address on behalf of plaintiffs Bring Back the
Kern and Water Audit California, Chief Justice Patricia
Guerrero interrupted to ask about one of the main issues in the
case: Whether a particular water use must be found
“reasonable” when compared to other, competing
uses. Her question was aimed at the relationship
between California Fish and Game Code Section 5937 – which
requires dam owners to allow enough water downstream
for fish – and Article X, Section 2 of the state
constitution – which requires all water uses to be
reasonable.
As El Niño breaks news records one week after the next, a new
suite of data points to a wetter winter for the entire
state of California, even wetter than previously
thought. … Most of the state, and the vast
majority of populated areas, looks primed for rainfall
of at least 150% of normal throughout the winter
months, with some areas likely receiving double their winter
average along the coast, where El Niño is already expected to
raise sea levels thanks to warmer ocean temperatures and an
ongoing marine heat wave. … Despite a warmer
than expected winter from El Niño, snow will still fall at
elevation. … Fitting the new European climate
data to terrain, a clear picture emerges: a bit less
snow in the foothills, but significantly more snow at
elevation. This is especially true for the Klamath Mountains
and the Sierra.
Several changes to an ocean desalination project proposed near
Doheny State Beach to help generate drinking water for
South Orange County were discussed Wednesday, Oct. 7,
by the California Coastal Commission, with the modifications
given the green light. Approved changes will move the
slant wells, which will source water from subsurface
intake wells buried beneath the ocean floor, to the north day
use area of the state beach,away from
the campgrounds as previously proposed. The project
aims to tap seawater to lessen the dependence on
imported water, with the South County Water District
estimating the ability to make up to 5 million gallons per day
of drinking water supply using a first-of-its-kind
system in the state.
One of the last two wild runs of spring Chinook salmon
in the Klamath Basin depends on roadless country along
the South Fork Trinity River in Six Rivers National Forest. A
federal proposal would scrap the rule that keeps that land free
of new roads, and the public comment period closes October 6.
The Pew Charitable Trusts laid out the stakes in an analysis
published Monday, noting that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture proposed on August 24 to rescind the Forest
Service’s 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which restricts
road building and timber harvest on 44.7 million acres of
national forest. A final decision is expected in 2027. … The
federal analysis found the change is likely to
adversely affect 327 threatened and endangered species and 71
critical habitats.
At the Foundation’s 42nd Annual Water Summit on October 29 in
Sacramento, renowned weather and climate scientist
Daniel Swain will share the latest outlook on El Niño
conditions and what the recent forecast of the heaviest precipitation hitting in January
could mean for California. Swain, a leading voice on climate
and extreme events – droughts, storms and wildfires – in the
American West, works at University of California Agriculture
and Natural Resources within the California Institute for Water
Resources. The Water Summit, the Foundation’s premier event of
the year, brings together top policymakers and experts
addressing the most pressing water challenges facing California
and the West. Seating is limited and nearly full, so register
here while it lasts!
San Joaquin County supervisors have temporarily halted
approvals for new large-scale data centers, giving
county officials time to study how the rapidly growing industry
could affect electricity, groundwater,
agriculture and surrounding communities. The Board of
Supervisors voted 5-0 Tuesday to adopt an urgency ordinance
establishing a 45-day moratorium on new land-use
approvals for data centers in unincorporated San Joaquin
County. … County staff identified several issues it
plans to examine, including potential strains on the electrical
grid, increased electricity costs for residents,
groundwater demands, emergency response needs
and effects from heat, noise, vibration and diesel backup
generators. Water is one of the county’s concerns because
portions of San Joaquin County are within the
critically overdrafted Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Basin
and the Tracy Subbasin.
… One of Newsom’s vetoes struck down a measure that would
have compelled state agencies to address water
shortages faced by tribes. Assembly Bill 2218 by Ash
Kalra, a Santa Clara County Democrat, would have established a
state policy to address water-related
inequities and would have required a dispute
between a tribe and any state water agency over water projects
in the tribe’s ancestral territory to go through a mediation
process, run by the Governor’s Office of Tribal
Affairs. … Newsom also rejected a bill that would have
barred state agencies from significantly interfering with
tribal religious practices on state land unless the state
showed a compelling reason and chose the approach that
interfered least. … The California Chamber of Commerce
applauded both vetoes. The bills “would have created
serious legal barriers” to building water storage and
infrastructure, wrote John Myers, spokesman for the
chamber.
Water is like electricity. Most people don’t notice it until it
goes away. But there are big issues with big price tags facing
Silicon Valley’s largest water agency, a district that has
spent the past few years immersed in conflict and controversy.
Three of the seven seats on the board of the Santa Clara Valley
Water District are up for re-election this fall. The district,
based in San Jose, is a government agency that provides
drinking water and flood control to 2 million people in Santa
Clara County. As a wholesaler, the district buys water
from state and federal agencies. It regulates local
groundwater, operates 10 reservoirs and sells water to more
than a dozen cities and private companies, who in turn sell it
to homes and businesses. The district’s directors serve
four-year terms and earn about $60,000 a year.
The San Joaquin Valley faces a defining water challenge: how to
secure reliable supplies, manage flood risk, and protect
ecosystems across one of California’s most productive regions.
The Unified Water Plan (UWP) lays out a comprehensive strategy
for the eight-county Valley—San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced,
Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Kern—spanning the San
Joaquin River and Tulare Lake hydrologic regions through 2040
and beyond. Congress directed the effort under Public Law
111-11, with funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The
California Water Institute (CWI) at Fresno State developed the
plan in coordination with the Water Blueprint for the San
Joaquin Valley. The plan pairs a regional strategy for
water supply reliability, flood management, and ecosystem needs
with a sobering conclusion: even an estimated $18 billion to
$33 billion in infrastructure investments and management
actions would not fully close the Valley’s projected water
supply gap.
Nearly every corner of California, from Eureka to San Diego, is
forecast to see its heaviest rain in January during the
historically strong upcoming El Niño winter, according
to data released this week by a major seasonal model. The model
came in wetter than when it was last run a month ago: San
Francisco’s precipitation forecast for January grew from about
4 inches above normal to 5 inches, and Santa Rosa went from 6.3
inches above normal to 7 inches. But the peak month is
only part of it. From December through March, the
model’s average forecast runs at nearly double its normal
rainfall in San Francisco and San Jose, and at
more than two and a half times normal in San
Diego. The update prompted a warning from UCLA
climate scientist Daniel Swain, who wrote on X that he had
“never seen such high predictive confidence in a very
wet California winter” and that he is “officially
concerned.”
The San Diego City Council on Tuesday punted a decision on
adopting a new structure of water rates that would lower bills
for apartment buildings but increase them for most
single-family homes. The proposal is intended to bring
the city into compliance with Proposition 218, a voter
initiative from 1996 that regulates fees charged by local
governments, including fees for water service. In 2015, a group
of water customers sued San Diego, arguing the city’s
tiered rate structure for single-family homes
violated Prop 218, which requires water agencies to charge
customers no more than their proportional cost of the
service. The city argued the higher rates charged
to the heaviest water users were a lawful way to incentivize
conservation. But the courts sided with the
plaintiffs, finding the city had not presented enough evidence
to justify its tiered water rates.
The Sierra Club is suing the city of San Francisco’s water
department, claiming officials are manipulating water
data to justify bigger water grabs for the city —
and causing unnecessary harm to the environment, and inflating
customer rates. The suit, filed last week in San Francisco
Superior Court, calls for the San Francisco Public Utilities
Commission to revise its state-mandated Urban Water Management
Plan to reflect more modest water needs, notably from the
Tuolumne River at Yosemite National Park,
where the bulk of the city’s water comes from. … The
agency has previously maintained that its extensive water
diversions and conservative water plans are necessary
for sustaining the Bay Area, its people and its booming
economy. … The Sierra Club’s legal challenge
… comes at a time when San Francisco’s water supplies
could be increasingly constrained, not just by climate
change and drought, but by a landmark proposal by the state,
known as the Bay Delta Plan update.
Scottsdale is moving forward with plans to create a large water
users ordinance to help mitigate the effects of
Colorado River water cuts. The changes under
consideration would apply to new large water users, not
existing ones. At the Scottsdale City Council’s Sept. 22 work
study session, staff recommended new requirements as projected
demand increases for large water users. Businesses that
use more than 100,000 gallons per day would need to produce a
conservation plan. Those that use more than
250,000 gallons per day would need to conduct an economic
impact analysis. And those that use more than 500,000 gallons
per day would need additional review and council
approval. The new plan would include penalties for large
water users who violate their conservation plans, which current
city regulations do not include.
… Skiers and snowboarders had a rare opportunity to get on
snow in early October, courtesy of — well, last year’s snow.
… Aspen Snowmass opened the Makaha Terrain Park for the
weekend, giving skiers and riders a chance to ski and snowboard
on about 300 feet of snow that had spent nearly five
months beneath insulated blankets. … Despite a dry winter
that forced Aspen Snowmass to close some terrain early and a
summer that broke historic drought records, the snow survived.
Roughly 85% of the snow volume stored at Snowmass remained when
the blankets were removed late this summer. … That
matters in a place where the past two winters have been
difficult for snowmaking and this summer brought record-setting
drought conditions to the Roaring Fork Valley. The pilot is
part of a broader effort to prepare for increasingly
unpredictable conditions rather than simply react to them.
An industrial park in Irvine, California, may seem an odd spot
to show off technology that wouldn’t be out of place in Dune,
but that’s what’s happening on a sweltering September morning.
… Engineers open panels to check systems and an iPad
that shows a steadily ascending line that reveals the device’s
purpose: harvesting water from thin air using special materials
known as metal organic frameworks, or MOFs. … The materials
won Omar Yaghi, the company’s founder, the Nobel Prize for
chemistry in 2025, and Atoco has shown they work in prototypes
capable of producing gallons of water per day. What’s unique
about this iteration of Atoco’s technology is what it doesn’t
require. No grid connection or even electricity is needed to
grab water from the air at the microscopic level, nor is it
required to in turn wring the water out of the materials in a
form useful for humans.
Construction on the Marlette Lake Dam Rehabilitation Project is
complete and the Nevada Division of State Parks has reopened
recreation access to the West side of the Spooner Lake
backcountry. … After draining the reservoir, the project
removed the existing earthen dam and replaced it with a new
one. The project also included upgrades to help the dam better
withstand earthquakes, improvements to the spillway, and
replacement of the discharge piping and outlet valves. The
project started in June 2025 and was completed on schedule this
month. The Marlette Lake Dam is a critical component of
the Marlette Lake Water System, which supplies water to Storey
County and Carson City. Seepage within the dam was first
identified during an inspection in 2017 by the Nevada Division
of Water Resources, and it was determined that this seepage
could eventually lead to a catastrophic failure.
A five-year review of the Vina Groundwater Sustainability
Agency’s plan could determine whether Chico and Durham
residents face chronic drought conditions, according to
Groundwater for Butte. The public has until Oct. 26 to submit
comments on proposed changes that critics say don’t go far
enough to protect domestic wells and local ecosystems. The Vina
GSA released its draft Periodic Evaluation and proposed plan
amendments in September. Required under California’s
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the review will shape
how groundwater is managed across the Vina Subbasin for the
next 5 years. Groundwater levels in the Vina Subbasin have
already declined an average of 25 feet over the past 25 years.
The current plan would allow roughly 20 more feet of decline
before stabilizing at its long-term goals, effectively turning
historic drought-level groundwater conditions into the new
normal.
A company that has mined the San Joaquin River since 1913 is
looking for approval once again to dig a 600-foot-deep mine
along the San Joaquin River — and critics of the plan are
preparing to fight it. The Mexico-based multinational company
CEMEX has applied to modify the Rockfield Aggregate Facility on
North Friant Road to allow them to dig and blast through hard
rock as deep as two football fields for 100 years. The company
processes gravel, sand and other building materials, and has
applied before for such a project. … Critics of the
project were recently preparing to take on the application,
which they argue could have long-term effects on the San
Joaquin River, lead to air and noise pollution and add more
heavy trucks to Friant Road.
On a stultifyingly hot August day, dozens of black-necked
stilts and a scattering of white and brown pelicans bob and
wheel on the milky blue waters of a manufactured pond, atop
what was once the southwestern end of the vast Salton Sea. …
The sea — that luminous, sometimes odiferous body of water
bordering the Coachella Valley’s southeastern edge — is both
California’s largest lake and a huge agricultural drainage with
few natural inflows and no outlet to flush pesticides,
fertilizers, and other waste from the lake. … But after
decades of false starts and dead-end plans, there has been real
progress on California’s “first phase” plan to restore habitat
or tamp down dust on nearly 30,000 acres of dried-out, polluted
lakebed — out of 45,000 already exposed acres. A massive
deposit of lithium, enough to power 375 million electric
vehicles, has been mapped deep beneath the lakebed and
adjoining lands.
Former Bakersfield Water Resources Director Kristina Budak will
recieve the “Water Leader of the Year” award and former Kern
Water Bank Authority General Manager Jonathan Parker will
receive the “Water Legacy” award at the Water Association of
Kern County’s 70th annual dinner Nov. 4. Budak, a civil
engineer, retired as head of Water Resources earlier this
summer after serving the city for three years where she managed
several challenging issues including Kern River operations
under a major lawsuit and the merger of the city’s Wastewater
division under her department as well, according to a press
release from the Water Association announcing the awards.
… Parker, who joined the Kern Water Bank Authority in
1999, played a significant role in developing infrastructure
capable of storing and managing water in Kern County.
