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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Utah leaders are preparing for a legal fight over the Colorado
River as the seven states that share the dwindling water supply
remain at odds. Utah lawmakers have requested roughly $6
million to be earmarked for litigation over the Colorado River.
… Utah wants a deal where states agree to not sue one
another if the river’s flow below Glen Canyon Dam falls short
of what states committed to in the Colorado River Compact over
a century ago. The flow may drop below that “tripwire,” as
Colorado River experts call it, as soon as this year.
Ever since California was pummeled by a series of storms in
fall and early winter, experts have said the state’s water
supply is looking strong for this year. … But experts also
say that a few wet storms don’t mean we’re out of the woods.
That’s because this winter is a “classically
climate-change-flavored one,” according to Daniel Swain, a
weather and climate scientist with UC Agriculture and Natural
Resources. And that’s not because it’s been a particularly
dry winter, he explained. It’s because it’s the warmest winter
the West has ever seen. “In the Western U.S., the snowpack
is, on average, terrible,” Swain said. “It’s about as bad as
it’s ever been in observed history.”
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
A long-awaited set of reports on how to build a fire-resilient
Pacific Palisades, commissioned by Los Angeles city officials
for $5 million, found that much of the hilly enclave remains
out of compliance with standards for evacuating during a
disaster. … The public infrastructure report listed $150
million for “wet” infrastructure repairs, which included
replacing aging and leaky water main pipelines. The resiliency
report outlined further potential improvements to provide more
water for firefighting, such as building larger pipelines and
additional tanks to move and store more drinking water;
improving connections between local water systems; and tapping
stormwater, treated wastewater or even seawater from the
Pacific.
Officials are sounding the alarm over an invasive species
threatening one of California’s key water systems. Golden
mussels, first detected in the Friant-Kern Canal two months
ago, are rapidly multiplying and could disrupt water delivery
to farms and communities in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
The Friant Water Authority held a board meeting Thursday to
address the infestation and outline next steps. The board voted
to hire a consultant to develop a comprehensive control plan,
though any treatment would require permits and could take
several months. The agency is also seeking grants to help fund
prevention and control efforts.
A California lawmaker is calling on the Imperial County Board
of Supervisors to halt a controversial data center project
until they answer “critical questions.” In sharply-worded
statements last week, State Sen. Steve Padilla (D-San Diego)
said the development, specifically the county’s planning
process, had been “shrouded in secrecy.” He said county
officials had yet to reply directly to his December letter
seeking more information about their planning process and
the data center’s water and energy needs.
… County staffers told Padilla’s office they expected
the data center would use reclaimed water or
alternative cooling technologies, “rather than
reliance on water supplied by [the Imperial Irrigation
District].”
Some landowners in Tulare and Kings counties are facing a
mandatory well registration deadline of July 1, 2026. The
Greater Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency board of
directors passed the resolution at its Feb. 9 meeting to gather
depth, location, and type on approximately 2,000 wells in its
boundaries. It is seeking the information on
agricultural, domestic, industrial and retired wells that have
not been destroyed. … The Kaweah subbasin GSAs, which
also include East Kaweah and Mid-Kaweah, all have well
registration programs as part of their groundwater
sustainability plan. But Greater Kaweah is the only one to make
it mandatory.
n 2021, California suffered a severe drought and the hottest
summer then on record. … But that year also saw the
beginnings of a new National Academies study to help
California’s imperiled salmon, smelt and sturgeon survive
people’s relentless water diversions from the Bay-Delta system.
… The new National Academies study, which came at the
request of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, is the first in a
biennial series reviewing the scientific underpinnings of key
water project actions in the Bay-Delta system.
Democratic states are preparing to challenge a Trump
administration plan that would limit their oversight of water
pollution from major energy projects. The administration’s
proposal to prevent states from blocking or imposing
environmental conditions on pipelines, dams and other
infrastructure violates the Clean Water Act and runs afoul of
Supreme Court precedent, attorneys general from 16 blue states
and Washington said Tuesday. The states called on EPA to
abandon its draft rule curtailing states’ role in energy
permitting and signaled they will sue if it is finalized.
Appearing like something out of science fiction, harmful algal
blooms (HABs) can form thick mats that accumulate on freshwater
surfaces throughout California. … DWR is addressing the issue
by drawing on its own expertise and that of partner agencies to
better understand the drivers and dynamics of HABs. DWR is in
the midst of a five-year, $3 million research project by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National
Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s Monitoring and Event
Response for Harmful Algal Blooms program, or MERHAB, with the
aim of developing a HAB monitoring program for the Bay-Delta
estuary.
More than 80% of watersheds in the United States lack adequate
protection and now, a new online tool will tell you
if the river or creek in your neighborhood is in trouble. The
National Protected Rivers Assessment from the nonprofit
American Rivers and Conservation Science Partners shows
hundreds of rivers and creeks across California remain woefully
underprotected. … The tool includes more than 70
possible mechanisms of protection from buffer zones of
vegetation on riverbanks to local zoning ordinances and
wildlife habitat protections. The data show California
watersheds are only 31% protected but it is one of the highest
scores in the nation.
… A series of storms is bringing huge snow totals to the
highest peaks of the Tahoe Basin. As of Wednesday afternoon,
ski resort reports are showing anywhere from 4 to almost 7 feet
of powder since Sunday. … Four days ago, the statewide
snowpack was at just 52 percent of average. By midday
Wednesday, the snowpack jumped by 17 percent.
California is now at 69 percent of average for
this time of year and 53 percent of the average peak
snowpack. … Rain totals in the Valley and Foothills have
been impressive, too with several rounds of beneficial
accumulation over the past few days. … According to
California’s Department of Water Resources, Shasta is at 78
percent of capacity. Lake Oroville is at 80 percent of
capacity. Folsom Lake is at 55 percent of capacity which is 114
percent of the historical average.
River conservationists on Wednesday urged state regulators to
reassess how aging hydropower infrastructure is operated and
maintained — and, in some cases, whether certain facilities
should remain in place — following a 14-foot diameter,
high-pressure water pipe ruptured last week. While praising the
immediate emergency response of Yuba Water Agency and
California Department of Fish and Wildlife, advocates said the
rupture raises broader questions about how dams and related
infrastructure are managed in California. … The
incident, which took place about five miles downstream of New
Bullards Bar Dam, led to the deaths of hundreds, possibly
thousands, of juvenile salmon.
As the state has built up its legal warchest ahead of
a legal battle over how Colorado River water will be
divvied up, one failed Republican proposal at the Capitol
sought to notify Arizona residents of the worst case
scenario. … [Ariz. Rep. Alexander] Kolodin’s bill would
have required that every municipal water provider that receives
water from the Central Arizona Project notify customers of the
potential increase to their water rates if 100% of that water
is no longer available. … The Central Arizona
Project, a series of canals that supplies Colorado River water
to the Phoenix and Tucson areas. But because it is one of the
newest users of the Colorado River water, it will be among the
first to be cut if the states that are part of the Colorado
River Compact can’t reach an agreement before the deadline set
by the federal government.
A new study from researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno,
finds elevated mercury levels in wood ducks along the Carson
River, downstream from Nevada’s historic Comstock Lode. In the
1800s, miners used mercury to extract gold and silver from
crushed rock. Much of that toxic metal washed into nearby
waterways, where it settled into sediments along riverbanks and
floodplains. … While the research focused on the
Carson River watershed, the implications extend beyond northern
Nevada. Historic mining shaped watersheds across the
Mountain West, including parts of Colorado, Idaho and Montana.
Many of those rivers still contain legacy contamination from
gold and silver extraction.
The Water Education Foundation, which celebrates
its 49th birthday this year, is proud to be
the only organization in the West providing comprehensive,
unbiased information about the region’s most critical natural
resource. Don’t miss your chance to go beyond the news
headlines and gain a deeper understanding of how water
flows across California and its challenges by signing up for
our popular spring tours and workshops, including the
Water
101 Workshop March 26, the Central Valley Tour April
22-24 and the Bay-Delta Tour May
20-22. All of which have limited seating and
may sell out before long, so register while you can!
… As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considers making a
decision on the embattled Delta Tunnel, Democratic Rep.
Josh Harder (CA-09) called on the federal agency to deny
the federal permits required for the project to be
completed. … Joined by the Democratic members of
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Congressional Delegation,
including John Garamendi, Ami Bera, Mark DeSaunier and
Doris Matsui, Harder led a letter urging the Army Corps’
final Record of Decision to protect Delta waterways, families,
and the regional economy by denying these permits.
The Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA)
will spend $360,000 to repair four dry wells in its boundary
caused by excessive groundwater pumping. The Mid-Kings board
approved drilling three new domestic wells and connecting one
home to the City of Hanford’s water system during its Feb. 17
board meeting. This is all part of its $2 million pilot program
to help owners repair well damages. … For now, the two
entities that make up the GSA, Kings County and the City of
Hanford, will foot the bill for the pilot program. The GSA
will have to hold a Proposition 218 election, which is required
for new or increased assessments, in order to raise its own
money.
As a storm passes through the San Diego-Tijuana region, Ruben
Cervantes says the non-stop flow of sewage-tainted water coming
from south of the border is contaminating wells used by
ranchers like him in the Tijuana River Valley. … On
rainy days, the International Wastewater Treatment Plant is
often overwhelmed by the effluent coming in from Tijuana, and
as way to prevent damage to its pumps and other infrastructure,
it gets shut down. The polluted water is simply released.
… Cervantes says the foam seeps into the ground tainting
aquifers and wells in the Valley.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff conducted more than 438,000
watercraft inspections in 2025 to prevent the spread of
invasive species in state waters. The agency decontaminated
more than 30,000 high-risk boats and intercepted 136 vessels
carrying invasive mussels during the year-long effort. The
inspections are part of a statewide prevention program designed
to protect water infrastructure from destructive aquatic
nuisance species. … In 2026, staff will install a
decontamination dip tank at Highline Lake to reduce wait times
for departing boaters. The agency also plans to partner with
federal and local groups to sample Grand Valley ponds and lakes
that receive water from the Colorado River.
At least three beaver dams spanning Dry Creek in different
spots between the Creekside Golf Course and Claus Road were
spotted for the first time recently. … Though a thriving
beaver population creates considerable upsides, like
contributing to biodiversity, flood resistance and groundwater
recharge, the rodents can also cause some unwanted issues that
landowners should look out for. … “We now have a beaver
help desk (www.calbeaverhelp.org) that’s available to anyone in
the state of California, and that’s a place where any landowner
can get advice,” [Water Institute at the Occidental Arts and
Ecology Center Co-director Katie] Lundquist said.
