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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Federal water managers are soon expected to announce a
round of water releases that would prop up Lake Powell, the
nation’s second-largest reservoir. Water levels there
are near record lows, and they are expected to plummet even
lower after a historically dry winter. The Bureau of
Reclamation, the federal agency which manages dams and
reservoirs around the West, is trying to protect Glen Canyon
Dam in northern Arizona. If water levels there drop much lower,
it could become impossible for the dam to generate hydropower.
Farther drops could make it impossible to pass water into the
Colorado River on the other side. Reclamation has
indicated that it will explore a release of up to 1 million
acre-feet of water from reservoirs in the Rocky Mountains and
send it downstream to Lake Powell.
Residents in the South Bay say the rolling chronic sewage
crisis has gone from a nuisance to an acute health hazard.
… County officials say the toxicity of the Tijuana River
has reached record levels, and local leaders are calling on the
Governor and the President to declare a state of emergency,
which would waive all local, state, and federal regulations,
allowing emergency action to address the overwhelming sewage
health disaster. … Currently, while work is ongoing with
catch collectors, [San Diego Supervisor Paloma] Aguirre says
there is no plan to address the root cause of the issue, which
is the broken Mexican waste management system.
Commercial salmon season is opening off the coast of California
for the first time since 2022 this May. … This season,
though, might be less propitious than hoped for [by] fishermen
on the North Coast, who have hoped their three years of
sacrifice would pay immediate dividends. Salmon fishing will
remain closed from the Oregon border to Point Arena (the
Klamath Management Zone, or KMZ, and the zone immediately to
the south of that) and further restricted from Point Arena to
Pigeon Point. … What’s more, California has adopted a quota
for the number of salmon to be caught, a model not unlike how
salmon fisheries are managed in Washington state, which is a
departure from the state’s traditional “wide-open season.”
Methane, the second-biggest contributor to climate change, is
spewing into the atmosphere from the oil and gas industry,
landfills and dairy farms. It’s also coming from another
lesser-known source: reservoirs. As plants break down
underwater, they form methane, which then bubbles to the
surface. California doesn’t monitor how much is coming from
these waters, but now several environmental groups are urging
air regulators to find out, and some experts agree it’s
important. … The coalition of environmental groups —
including Friends of the River, Tell The Dam Truth and five
other organizations, as well as the clothing company Patagonia
— submitted a petition last month saying the California Air
Resources Board should require reports on greenhouse gases from
dams and reservoirs.
The weekend storms that drenched the Bay Area left rain totals
that are significant for April. … In the Sierra, the
weekend storm produced feet of snow. UC Berkeley’s
Central Sierra Snow Laboratory received more than 3.5
feet of snow over the past three days. Tahoe ski
resorts also logged big snow totals, with Palisades Tahoe
reporting 43 inches over the recent storm. The statewide
snowpack remains well below average, however, at just 23% of
normal for this time of year, as of Monday. An exceptionally
warm and dry March contributed to the second-lowest snowpack
measured in modern times earlier this month.
Governor Gavin Newsom has announced the creation of the Salton
Sea Conservancy, which is meant to restore the habitat in the
area and improve air quality. It’s the state’s first
conservancy in 15 years. … Residents like Imari Kariotis
say they’ve developed chronic health issues from living in the
area. “I have breathing issues. So I am on this Nova disc in
the morning. I have a rescue inhaler,” Kariotis says. She’s
lived in the area for 30 years and says affordability is
what brings most people to the area. But she says the
government has neglected the region. … Joe Shea, who
works on Salton Sea policy with the California Natural
Resources Agency, says the conservancy will expand the state’s
capacity for projects at the Salton Sea.
There are currently no active applications for a data center in
Cochise County. Still, many residents wanted to ban the
facilities outright. On Tuesday, the county adopted a set of
data center regulations after a 3-0 vote by its supervisors.
… Its new regulations ask data center developers
to submit noise impact analyses and water use plans.
They will also require them to show they can supply power
without “adversely impacting existing users” and mostly bar
them from using potable water for cooling servers.
… Still, many county residents who spoke at the April 7
board meeting felt that a moratorium, not the regulations,
better reflected their wishes.
Hundreds of water sector professionals are meeting with
lawmakers in Washington, D.C., this week as part of the annual
National Water Policy Fly-In during Water Week, urging Congress
to take action on funding, PFAS, and affordability challenges.
The fly-in is a joint effort led by National Association of
Clean Water Agencies, Association of Metropolitan Water
Agencies, The Water Research Foundation, Water Environment
Federation, and WateReuse Association. … A key focus of this
year’s discussions is declining federal investment in water
infrastructure, with sector leaders warning that authorizations
for the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds
could expire in September without congressional action.
The state is demanding farmers in Kings and and parts of Tulare
counties begin reporting how much groundwater they pump or face
fines starting May 1. But it apparently doesn’t have a reliable
system to take in that information. The state Water Resources
Control Board’s reporting platform, known as GEARS, had already
received criticism for being clunky and hard to navigate. …
Then GEARS quit functioning altogether on Monday. …The
breakdown comes just weeks before farmers in the Tulare Lake
and Tule subbasins are required to begin reporting their
pumping as part of being placed on probation by the Water Board
in 2024 for lacking a plan that would stop rampant subsidence
in the region.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s board
has voted to allocate $150 million over the next two years to
continue planning for its Pure Water Southern California
wastewater recycling project. This project aims to provide
enough local water to meet the daily needs of at least 1.5
million people when fully developed. Environmental advocates
have praised the decision, emphasizing the importance of
investing in sustainable local water supplies, particularly
given the challenges facing the Colorado River and California’s
snowpacks. Bruce Reznik, executive director of Los Angeles
Waterkeeper, highlighted that Pure Water Southern California
represents a resilient water solution that could help address
ongoing water scarcity concerns.
Due to the threat of the highly invasive golden mussel,
Stanislaus National Forest (STF) officials will close the
Beardsley Lake Boat Ramp for the next two months. … The
Tri-Dam Project is a partnership between the Oakdale Irrigation
District (OID) and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District
(SSJID). They noted that the closure is needed to prevent the
spread to Beardsley and to downstream partners, including
Pacific Gas & Electric, the United States Bureau of
Reclamation, irrigators, and water treatment plants in the
valley. Forest officials added, “The action is aligned with
actions taken by many reservoirs in California in response to
the golden mussel threat.”
The mighty-but-little-known Amargosa River
gained dubious national recognition this week. Without
intervention preventing mining and solar farm development, the
river that makes life possible in one of America’s harshest
deserts is in grave danger, the nonprofit American Rivers
declares in its top 10 most endangered rivers list, which
was released Tuesday. … Today, after small-town Nevada
successfully pushed back against exploration for
lithium near the refuge in the early 2020s, the area is
experiencing pressure from developers who hope for expanded
mining, solar energy development and even AI data centers.
California is resuming commercial salmon fishing after three
consecutive years of closure due to concerns over declining
populations. Gavin Newsom and state officials celebrated the
move, citing the state’s conservation efforts as a key factor
that has contributed to the progress. … The state has
restricted commercial fishing for three consecutive years since
2023 and has leaned on a number of efforts to support the
salmon population, including increasing the number of
hatchery-reared salmon, while conservationists continue to call
for stronger measures and increased water
allocations. “The return of salmon seasons in 2026 is a
testament to the heavy rains of 2023, not a shift in
management,” Vance Staplin, executive director of the Golden
State Salmon Association said in an email.
Despite pressure from Colorado’s congressional delegation,
around $140 million in federal funding previously granted to
Western Slope water projects has lingered in limbo for nearly
16 months. The funds, awarded to 17 Western Slope projects in
the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration, were
part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s drought mitigation grant
opportunity for the Upper Colorado River Basin. This included
$40 million granted to the Colorado River District to aid in
its purchase of the Shoshone water rights, the oldest and
largest non-consumptive right on the Colorado River tied to the
hydropower plant in Glenwood Canyon. … In June, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation released funds for two of the projects in
the Orchard Mesa Irrigation District in Palisade, but the rest
remain frozen.
Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill aimed at funding the recovery of
brackish groundwater— one of the ways some leaders want to
address the water shortage in Arizona. Brackish
groundwater requires some extra treatment than non-brackish
groundwater due to its higher salinity levels. Experts say this
veto doesn’t close the doors on options helping provide
Arizonans with sustainable water
sources. ”Groundwater in the state of Arizona
needs to be managed as a non-renewing water supply,” said Sarah
Porter, the director of ASU’s Kyl Center for Water Policy.
… In her veto letter for the bill, Gov. Hobbs said the
legislation “diverted important funding” to “speculative
groundwater extraction proposals” that she says are already
eligible for funds.
… Now, an even more costly water project is about to break
ground in the Carpinteria Valley—a $90 million system for
converting wastewater to drinking water. It’s a joint project
of the valley’s water and sanitary districts, and it’s the
first of its kind in the county. The purified
wastewater, 1.3 million gallons per day, will be enough to
supply a quarter of the valley’s yearly water demand.
… This kind of water recycling, called “indirect potable
reuse,” or, more indelicately, “toilet-to-tap,” has been
rejected by water agencies elsewhere on the South Coast as too
expensive. But, armed with $34 million in state and federal
grants and a 30-year, $50 million low-interest loan from the
state, the Carpinteria Valley agencies are moving full steam
ahead.
Five years ago, a tragic and depressing environmental story
unfolded when thousands of giant sequoia trees, an iconic
California species that tower 300 feet high and can live for
3,000 years, were killed during multiple large wildfires that
roared across the southern Sierra Nevada. The fires in
2020 and 2021 at Sequoia National Park, Sequoia National Forest
and other areas burned with unprecedented intensity, killing
nearly 20% of the world’s giant sequoias, and
exposing the growing vulnerability of the most massive
trees on the earth. … Another added stress is climate
change. Hotter temperatures dry out soils and vegetation,
making fire more severe. The drought of 2012-2016 and 2020-2022
killed millions of other trees in the Sierra, providing more
fuel for fires.
… Mountain snowpack is the West’s largest reservoir,
providing water for 100 million people and diverse ecosystems.
The amount of water stored in the snowpack historically peaks
around April 1. But this year, the snowpack in many places was
absent, or nearly so, by then — the lowest level in the 45
years since automated measurements began. … The lack of snow
was unusually widespread across the Western U.S. But
considering it as a whole makes it easier to miss the regional
manifestations and implications of a winter that also brought
record flooding and record dryness in addition to record heat.
Here’s how the snow drought played out in a few regions that
exemplify this winter’s variability.
After years of planning, permitting, and massive earth-moving
work, California’s landmark Species Conservation Habitat (SCH)
Project at the southwest end of the Salton Sea has begun
filling with water. … The 2026 Annual Report on the Salton
Sea Program, released by the California Natural Resources
Agency, highlights this achievement as a watershed
moment—literally and figuratively—for restoring
habitat, suppressing dust, and improving air quality around the
shrinking lake. … Salton Sea Management Program
(SSMP), now evolving under the newly established Salton Sea
Conservancy, continues its Phase I 10-Year Plan aimed at
constructing 30,000 acres of projects to combat exposed lakebed
dust and create vital habitat for fish and birds.
A nationwide expansion of controversial and resource-guzzling
artificial intelligence data centers has reached Los Angeles
County, and the wave has cities in the region grappling with
questions over their impact. In addition to data centers’
energy demands, critics highlighted concerning impacts to
water, pollutants from backup generators and data centers
creating heat islands. … Underpinning the data
center question is the amount of energy they use and the impact
on the environment as they power vast servers needed for modern
tech life. Many data centers use water for cooling. That
same size data center may consume about 40 acre-feet of water
per year, the equivalent of the water use of 120
households.
