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.
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.
We occasionally bold words in the text to ensure the water connection is clear.
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.
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday issued a statewide drought
emergency declaration, potentially freeing up additional state
funding for the state’s response to record-low snowpack
and prolonged warm temperatures across
Colorado. Colorado’s snowpack peaked in early March about
a month earlier than usual and at the lowest level since 1987.
Farmers, ranchers, fishing and rafting outfitters, and cities
and reservoir managers are already feeling the impacts of tight
water supplies this year on their wallets and water supply
budgets. Polis’ declaration follows recommendations Monday from
the Colorado Drought Task Force and the Water Conditions
Monitoring Committee.
When rain falls on California shopping centers and warehouses,
the water runs off parking lots carrying metal dust and
chemicals from vehicle tires and brake pads, oil and grease
from engines, and bacteria from trash. The gunk washes into
storm drains and pollutes creeks, rivers and beaches. Now
environmental advocates are pushing state regulators to
crack down by requiring stormwater permits.
… Groups that represent the businesses say they are
already paying property taxes that in L.A. County include a
special tax for cleaning up stormwater, and that imposing new
regulations in this way doesn’t make sense. But California
Coastkeeper Alliance and other nonprofit groups submitted
petitions to regional water officials across the state this
week demanding they begin regulating commercial propertiessuch
as big-box stores, auto dealers and industrial parks.
The top federal official on the Colorado River said his agency
is targeting the middle of this summer to formalize a new
water-sharing plan. Scott Cameron, the acting commissioner of
the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency which manages the
nation’s largest reservoirs, addressed a crowd of water experts
in Boulder, Colorado. “I can’t give you exact dates,” he
said, “But I would expect mid to late summer, and as we get
closer, we’ll try to signal a bit more precision around that.”
… Federal water officials have urged the seven states
that use the Colorado River to agree on a plan for sharing its
water. If they don’t, Reclamation will likely
install its own, but risk getting sued by states that could
accuse the federal government of overstepping its
authority.
The environmental footprint of data centers already rivals some
of the world’s largest countries, according to a United Nations
University report, which also predicts their water and energy
use and pollution will double in just four years as use of
artificial intelligence grows. Last year, global data centers
used 448 trillion watt-hours of electricity, more than all but
10 countries of the world, said the report issued Wednesday.
That electricity use produced about 208 million tons of carbon
dioxide, about the same amount as Argentina, and
producing that much energy consumed about 1.2 trillion
gallons of water, according to the report on the
environmental consequences of AI’s energy use.
Mexico completed emergency repairs Thursday to a ruptured
sewage line in Tijuana that spilled tens of millions of gallons
of raw sewage into San Diego’s South Bay waterways over the
weekend, but residents may continue smelling lingering odors.
The Tijuana parallel gravity line break sent an estimated 40 to
50 million gallons of sewage into the Tijuana River, according
to Chris Helmer, Environmental and Natural Resources Director
for Imperial Beach. The massive spill caused hydrogen sulfide
levels to spike in communities near the Tijuana River Valley,
creating a strong rotten egg smell. … Helmer warned that
similar infrastructure failures will likely continue,
especially during storm events. With El Niño conditions
expected this winter, he anticipates more potential breaks in
Mexico’s aging sewage systems.
As Colorado continues to navigate recurring drought and growing
water demands, researchers and water experts are looking beyond
traditional conservation measures and finding innovative ways
to reuse water that would otherwise go down the drain. At the
center of that effort is Water TAP, a technology accelerator
located at CSU Spur in Denver, where new ideas are being tested
to help communities make the most of every gallon. … One
of the facility’s flagship projects is called GRETA, Colorado’s
first commercial and legal graywater collection and reuse
system. Water from showers and handwashing sinks on the
building’s second floor is collected, treated, and reused to
flush toilets throughout the facility.
The Klamath Fish Hatchery near Chiloquin, Oregon, is back in
business after a five-year rebuild that turned a devastating
fire into a fresh start. The Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife reopened the hatchery to visitors on June 1, marking
the end of a long recovery from the 2020 Two Four Two Fire that
destroyed the facility’s 100-year-old main building and killed
approximately 50,000 triploid brown trout. Volunteer
firefighters saved staff residences and outbuildings by using
the hatchery’s own water pumps to fight the blaze.
Reconstruction took far longer than expected. … The result is
a new concrete, noncombustible building that is slightly larger
than the original and includes expanded fish-rearing capacity.
Boaters will have enhanced access between the Sacramento River
and the central Delta this weekend. The U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation announced it will open the Delta Cross Channel
Gates “to improve recreational boating access in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.” The gates are scheduled to
open at 10 a.m. Saturday (June 6), and will remain open through
10 a.m. Monday (June 8). … The Delta Cross Channel
facility is a gate-controlled diversion channel on the east
bank of the Sacramento River, about 30 miles downstream of
Sacramento. It facilitates the diversion of fresh water
from the Sacramento River into the interior Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta to the Central Valley Project and State
Water Project conveyance.
As California’s ocean salmon season returns, anglers now have a
new way to monitor catch progress and stay informed throughout
the season. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife
(CDFW) recently announced the launch of new digital tracking
tools designed to provide real-time visibility into both
recreational and commercial in-season ocean salmon harvests.
Available through CDFW’s Ocean Salmon Fishery Information
webpage, the new tools allow anglers to track the number of
salmon landed and monitor how much remains under each region’s
harvest guideline. The information is intended to help anglers
better plan trips while supporting in-season fishery management
and sustainable harvest goals.
Lake Mead could soon benefit from the nation’s largest
desalination plant thanks to an agreement that
would allow water agencies in Nevada, Arizona, and California
to explore ways to exchange water supplies across the
drought-challenged Colorado River Basin. On Wednesday,
the federal government and water agencies in the three states
signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a framework for
an interstate pilot program that could let agencies in Arizona
and Nevada tap San Diego’s Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad
Desalination Plant. … The plan would not
directly send desalination-treated water to Lake Mead, but
would allow “paper” transfers and exchanges between states
using existing infrastructure and credits.
Water contractors can expect to pay between 1% to 3% more for
the energy it takes to bring supplies down the state through
California’s largest project thanks to just one renewable
energy project that came online recently in Kern County – the
Pastoria Solar Project. And that’s just the beginning. When the
Department of Water Resources (DWR) brings on enough renewable
energy projects to fully power the State Water
Project (SWP), contractors can expect their costs to
increase another 10% to 20%, according to a presentation at the
May 20 California Water Commission meeting by DWR Manager of
Power Operations Jorge Quintero. … The SWP is the
state’s largest single electricity consumer, using between 2.5
million and 9.5 million megawatt hours a year, depending on how
much water it’s moving.
Voters in a Southern California city moved to cement what is
believed to be the nation’s first ban on data
centers, appearing to resoundingly approve a ballot
measure that prohibits the facilities citywide. The
Monterey Park City Council unanimously voted in March to submit
the ballot measure — known as Measure NDC — to the June 2
special municipal election, seeking to permanently prohibit
data centers within city limits. The measure amends the city’s
general plan and land use framework to add a citywide ban on
data centers, according to city officials. … City
officials described the ban as a way to protect air
quality, drinking water resources, and public health,
and to avoid potential impacts to electricity and water rates
from the large-scale computing facilities.
Other data center moratorium news around the West:
Denver Parks and Recreation is taking steps to reduce water use
across the city as drought conditions persist along Colorado’s
Front Range. The department announced a water reduction
strategy in response to Denver Water’s Stage 1 Drought
declaration, which calls for voluntary conservation
efforts to help protect water supplies. As part
of the plan, Denver Parks and Recreation will reduce irrigation
at select parks, medians and other landscaped areas. Officials
said watering schedules will be adjusted to focus on
maintaining the health and safety of trees and high-use
recreational spaces while allowing some turf areas to go
dormant. … City officials said they will continue
monitoring drought conditions and could implement additional
conservation measures if conditions worsen.
Lake Tahoe inspectors stopped a watercraft carrying invasive
golden mussels from entering the lake last week, their second
such stop since the mollusk was first discovered in California
waters in 2024. Officials earlier this week in Meyers spotted
four of the invasive species aboard a craft during an aquatic
invasive species inspection, officials with the Tahoe Regional
Planning Agency said Wednesday in a news release. That craft is
now under watch of California Department of Fish and
Wildlife. The vessel was arriving from the Sacramento
area, said agency officials. The first sightings of
golden mussels in North America were in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta near the Port of Stockton in 2024.
A new county survey could help capture a fuller picture of how
much the ongoing cross-border sewage crisis has cost the
region, particularly for those living near the sewage-laden
Tijuana River. County officials announced May 28 the launch of
the Tijuana River Sewage Crisis Economic Impact Study. It poses
questions about how pollution in the river and beach closures
have affected local businesses, employment, property values,
tourism and school attendance. … Questions for business
owners include whether employees have missed work because of
health impacts related to the pollution, whether they have
struggled to attract new workers or customers and how much
revenue they have lost because of the crisis.
Have you ever wondered where exactly your wastewater goes? The
water from your dirty dishes, the water that goes down the
shower drain, and yes, the water for every flush. All that
water is treated by the Sacramento Area Sewer District
(SacSewer) at its wastewater treatment plant known as the
EchoWater Resource Recovery Facility. Located in Sacramento
County, near Elk Grove, the facility is the second largest
sewage treatment plant in the U.S. and the region’s largest
sewage collection, treatment and resource recovery utility,
according to its website. This site is the only wastewater
facility in Sacramento County and serves every city and
multiple unincorporated areas, including Locke, Walnut Grove,
Freeport, Franklin, and Hood.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District joined
the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation
District May 8 for a hard hat tour of the Riverside Levees
Rehabilitation Project in Riverside, California. The tour
brought together USACE leaders, project team members, local
partners and stakeholders, including U.S. Rep. Mark Takano of
California’s 39th Congressional District. Participants gathered
on the still-active left side of the levee system, where
construction is currently focused, to highlight ongoing
engineering efforts and gain a clear view of the recently
completed repairs on the right side. Originally built in the
1950s to channel floodwater safely through urban areas, the
two parallel levees help provide vital flood-risk
management for nearby communities, including the
cities of Riverside and Jurupa Valley.
The Trinity River is getting its salmon season back, and we
have the full rundown on what anglers need to know. Late
spring-run Chinook fishing on the Trinity opens August 1 and
continues through August 31. … The Klamath River opens a
month earlier, with late spring-run fishing starting July 1 and
running through August 14. Fall-run on the Klamath begins
August 15 and continues through December 31. This is the first
salmon season on the Trinity and Klamath rivers since 2022.
Three consecutive years of closures devastated fishing
communities, guides, tackle shops and the rural economies that
depend on salmon season traffic. The reopening is the result of
increased hatchery production, habitat restoration, dam removal
on the Klamath and three years of ocean and inland closures
that gave populations room to recover.
The State Water Resources Control Board is lowering the
notification and response levels for manganese in drinking
water based on data evaluating potential health risks to
formula-fed infants. Public water systems must now take certain
actions when manganese levels are exceeded. Notification and
response levels are non-regulatory health-based thresholds used
for contaminants that do not currently have a state-established
primary maximum contaminant level. Public notification or
additional actions may be warranted to reduce exposure.
… Officials say that as the first step toward
establishing a primary maximum contaminant level for manganese,
the State Water Board has requested that the Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment develop a Public Health
Goal for manganese.
KJZZ’s Alex Hager is reporting that the Bureau
of Reclamation, the top federal agency for Colorado River
matters, is poised to get a new leader in the coming weeks,
according to multiple people familiar with the
situation. Federal officials are soon expected to announce
the nomination of Aubrey Bettencourt to lead
Reclamation.
