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.
Stormy weather that has been battering the Pacific Northwest
and southwest Canada is expected to spread into
California in the coming days, bringing the region’s first
major dose of winter rains. The storms are arriving
amid dire forecasts that this year’s El
Niño, the climate pattern that scrambles and
intensifies weather around the globe but especially in
California, is one of the strongest on
record. … The first storm, which is likely to be
the stronger of the two, was expected to bring rain to far
Northern California as early as Thursday night and
gradually spread south through Saturday. The second
will sweep the state Sunday into Monday, forecasters said.
California’s North Coast is likely to record the most rain in
these storms, with over five inches possible.
… Several inches of snow is expected in the
Sierra Nevada.
With Colorado River water cuts looming, the city of Phoenix is
preparing to enter Stage 2 of its drought management
plan, which includes an extra charge for high-volume
users. City officials said Tuesday they expect to
enter Stage 2 in January, when a new two-year
Colorado River operating agreement with
significant cuts to Arizona’s share is scheduled to
take effect. Arizona and the fellow Lower Basin states
California and Nevada still need to approve the deal, but
Phoenix officials are working under the assumption it will be
finalized as is. … The goal of Stage 2 is to get
residents and businesses to voluntarily cut water use
by 5% and for city departments to reduce their use by
10%.
With California’s 2025–26 legislative session coming to a close
this fall, it’s time to take stock of bill outcomes. While the
legislature addressed hot-button issues during this
session—including affordability, data centers, and
wildfire—a number of bills that focused on significant
natural resource issues did not make it to the governor’s desk
or were not signed into law. … SB 872 would have
created a dedicated fund for Delta levee and State Water
Project conveyance repairs. The bill was vetoed, with
the governor citing existing funding of more than $170 million.
… And, though groundwater recharge has become an increasingly
important water supply strategy for the state, it continues to
face both legal and physical barriers. AB 2026 would
have streamlined permitting for diverting floodwater
underground. The bill did not pass the legislature.
Neighbors near a rustic, mostly unknown park east of Fresno
near the Kings River, say a gravel company’s
proposal to change how it mines could dry up their
wells and decimate an ancient oak grove in China Creek
Park. Vulcan Materials Company wants to resume “dry”
mining at its Sanger-area quarry nearly 20 years after the
county approved its switch to “wet” mining, according to Fresno
County Planning Department documents. The company wants to
switch back to dry mining, Vulcan area manager Terry Marshall
wrote in an email, because it can no longer reach the
deeper permitted reserves by wet mining. So, it is
seeking an amendment to its conditional use permit to dewater
two pits to more easily access those reserves. Marshall
confirmed that dewatering the pits would cause “a
localized drop in the water level elevation.”
Half of the groundwater used to grow America’s favorite fruits,
nuts, veggies, seeds and greens is drawn from aquifers faster
than they can refill, according to a new study. Irrigating 75%
of produce and specialty crops with groundwater between 2008
and 2020 helped spare farms from the immediate impacts
of droughts, but dependence on draining aquifers could set up
producers for future water supply strife. A new
study appearing in Water Resources Research provides the first
county-level data on irrigation sources for 65
different specialty crops, including everything from
cantaloupes to cabbage. … Knowing where
irrigation water goes and where it comes from—rivers,
reservoirs or underground aquifers—is vital for
farmers and policymakers deciding how to manage finite water
supplies for farms in the face of mounting water scarcity.
The population of the endangered Devils Hole pupfish,
one of the world’s rarest fish, more than doubled over
the past year. Wildlife biologists counted 137 Devils Hole
pupfish during a National Park Service survey on Oct. 10—
nearly twice the 77 fish recorded during the spring 2026 survey
and more than double the 69 observed in fall 2025. The
tiny blue fish, whose entire wild population lives on a shallow
limestone shelf in a sinkhole within Nevada’s Ash Meadows
National Wildlife Refuge, has struggled to keep its population
over 100. … The Devils Hole pupfish was listed as
endangered in 1967 under the Endangered Species Preservation
Act, the predecessor to the current Endangered Species Act,
which was enacted in 1973. Its population began to
decline in the 1990s, following growing groundwater
pumping.
Ahead of the January legislative session, Wyoming lawmakers are
moving forward with one of two proposed ways to
regulate responsible water use as data center development
grows across the state. During a meeting on Friday,
the Select Water Committee considered a proposal for
caps on water consumption for hyperscale data centers
and a suggestion for further study of groundwater
resources. The conversations come amidst significant
data center development across the state in recent years. In
Cheyenne, there are 10 existing data centers, with
seven under construction and eight more in the planning
phase, according to economic development non-profit
Cheyenne LEADS. Two of these data centers began construction in
the last three months, according to the nonprofit’s reports.
As aggressive water conservation, agricultural recycling, and
water transfers reduce the flow of runoff into California’s
largest lake, receding shoreline waters are exposing broad
swathes of dry lakebed — exposing local residents to new
airborne health risks. A study led by University of California,
Riverside researchers for the California Institute for Water
Resources provides crucial baseline chemical profiling of dust
emerging from the exposed Salton Sea lakebed, known as playa.
The research underscores how shifting water management
practices in Southern California are directly impacting
regional air quality in a basin that already fails to meet
state and national standards. … The team’s analysis
revealed distinct chemical fingerprints distinguishing lakebed
dust from traditional desert soil.
In northwestern Mexico, where rainfall is scarce and aquifers
cannot keep up with demand, desalination has become a central
part of the water strategy. Baja California, Baja California
Sur and Sonora already operate or are building plants that turn
seawater into fresh water. However, the technology faces
questions about its cost, its energy consumption and its impact
on fragile ecosystems such as the Gulf of California.
… The greatest environmental risk is brine. Most
processes generate about 1.5 liters of brine for every liter of
drinking water, which can raise the salinity, temperature and
turbidity of seawater and damage seagrass beds, reefs and
seafloor communities. Water intakes can also trap plankton,
fish eggs and larvae. The risk is greater in the northern Gulf
of California, which UNESCO added to its List of World Heritage
in Danger in 2009.
For the average person in a war zone – in Kyiv, say, or Khan
Younis or Khartoum – daily life is more dangerous than in
conflicts past. Your water supply could be cut. Or an exploded
dam could flood your uncle’s place in the countryside. Not to
mention being killed in a drone attack while at the hospital.
… That disturbing trend is reflected in water-related
conflict, said Peter Gleick, author of When the Well Is Dry, a
new book on water, violence, and peace. … In When the
Well Is Dry, Gleick traces the shifting patterns of conflict
and violence over water. Natural resources have always been a
source of tension. But norms about what targets are off limits
are eroding. And climate change is upping the ante, with higher
temperatures and more extreme droughts increasing competition
for water.
… Turbine A8, the eighth turbine on the Arizona side, is one
of only five wide-head turbines at the dam that are primed for
drought, able to function with water levels below 1,035 feet
elevation at Lake Mead without guaranteed risk
of permanent damage. A8 has been out of commission
awaiting repairs for months. The dam has 17 turbines
in all. Now, Lake Mead’s projected decline could
spell crisis for rural utilities across Nevada, Arizona
and California that have counted on Hoover Dam hydropower for
decades. The federal government intends to see how far
it can push the dam’s infrastructure. Bureau of Reclamation
spokesman Peter Soeth said the agency will, for the
first time in history, test whether those older turbines can
operate at lower water levels, with strict limits on
operating hours as well as monitoring and frequent inspections
to ensure safety.
First came the flood. Then the fire. In a matter of weeks,
neighboring cities in Orange County were battered by
dueling disasters that laid bare the risks posed to California
as the world warms. In early September, powerful waves
from the Pacific Ocean began to wallop the houses along Beach
Road, a ribbon of multimillion-dollar waterfront properties
hugging the coast in the picturesque hamlet of Dana Point.
Several factors conspired to create the strongest swell that
anyone in the area can recall. But a main culprit was
El Niño, the natural climate pattern that typically
happens a few times a decade and scrambles weather patterns
worldwide. The current El Niño is dangerously strong.
In California, it is elevating sea levels and creating
more intense storms. A phenomenon known as a Kelvin
wave — a huge, slow-moving pulse of warm water in the ocean
that’s linked to El Niño — is raising sea levels as well.
A project that could carry groundwater about
162 miles across the desert from Cadiz, in a remote area of San
Bernardino County, to Mojave has garnered some support in Kern
County. The Kern County Board of Supervisors, the city of
Tehachapi, the Boron Community Services District, and the
Desert Lake Community Services District have expressed varying
levels of support for the project in letters to the California
State Lands Commission. The right-of-way for the
project — known as the Cadiz Northern Pipeline —
was approved by the Bureau of Land Management in July,
but the project still needs additional approvals. The
project is sometimes called the Mojave Groundwater Bank. The
BLM’s approval was challenged in court in late
July by the Center for Biological Diversity and the
Sierra Club, and the litigation is ongoing.
PG&E has a conditional OK to drill into Cape Horn Dam on
the Eel River, one of two dams it wants to tear
down. The holes will test the dam, the ground under it
and the river sediment that has built up behind it, according
to records filed with state and federal dam regulators. Cape
Horn Dam holds back Van Arsdale Reservoir. An intake 400 feet
upstream of the dam takes in Eel River water.
The water runs through the Potter Valley Project’s tunnels to
the East Fork of the Russian River, according to the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission. … In a Sept. 2 letter,
PG&E told FERC the drilling is meant “to characterize
reservoir sediments as well as to evaluate the Cape
Horn Dam embankment and foundation materials in
support of the Potter Valley decommissioning.”
The Water Education Foundation has selected MacKenzie Elmer,
reporter for Voice
of San Diego, as the recipient of its annual
journalism award recognizing outstanding coverage of water
resources in California and the West. Elmer’s reporting
on the Tijuana River sewage crisis, Colorado River management
and Southern California water policy has helped audiences
understand some of the region’s most complex and significant
water challenges. “Her reporting brings clarity, accountability
and context to topics that are often difficult to explain yet
critical to the public interest,” said Jenn Bowles,
executive director of the Water Education Foundation. Elmer has
covered water issues in San Diego County, including water
rates, desalination and the financial challenges facing water
suppliers.
The rehabilitation of a sewage plant addressing the
ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis may slip past
its 2027 deadline. The end of next year has long been the
finish line for the rehabilitation and expansion of the South
Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant (SBIWTP). The
International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) no
longer expects to finish it by then, Councilmember
Mark Fleming told the Coronado City Council on Nov. 3. Mayor
John Duncan, who recently met with IBWC Commissioner Chad
McIntosh for about two hours, heard something more hopeful.
McIntosh is still committed to the end of 2027, Duncan
said, though it “could be a few months into 2028.”
October 2026 was the fourth warmest in 132
years of recordkeeping for the contiguous 48 U.S. states,
NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction reported
on Monday. This was a microscopic cooldown at best in the wake
of July, August, and September (plus March) all having set
monthly U.S. heat records. … When pulled together for
the nation as a whole, October wasn’t a standout month for
precipitation: it came in as 51st-wettest across 132
years of data. However, Fig. 3 below suggests how much
is hidden behind that number. A total of 22 states were drier
than average. … Meanwhile, although just 11 states were
wetter than average in October, these included most of the
larger southwest and south-central states. Arizona,
Colorado, Nevada, and Utah each had a top-ten-wettest
October.
CEMEX’s proposed Rockfield Expansion Project near Friant is
drawing criticism from environmental advocates who say it could
threaten the San Joaquin River, and nearby
homes. The company wants to expand its existing quarry using
explosive blasting to mine rock for construction materials. The
proposal has raised concerns about wildlife, water
quality, and families living near the site.
… The conservation group American Rivers ranked the San
Joaquin second on its 2026 list of America’s Most Endangered
Rivers, citing the proposed expansion. But supporters say the
project is important for the valley’s economy. The Central
Valley Business Federation, which counts CEMEX as a member,
says the quarry supports 100 union jobs and an estimated 750
indirect jobs.
Located in the center of the San Francisco Estuary, Suisun
Marsh is an ecological hotspot in the
intermediate zone between the freshwater Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta and salty San Francisco Bay. The Suisun Marsh landscape
looks wildly different today compared to its historic past. In
1850, U.S. Congress passed the Swamp Land Act, which
handed federal wetlands to states to encourage rapid
reclamation for agriculture. … However,
agriculture succumbed to high salinity and, over time, was
converted into seasonally managed wetlands for waterfowl
habitat and recreational hunting. Now, managed wetlands
comprise about 70% of Suisun Marsh and include both public and
private lands mainly managed for waterfowl habitat.
… The flood schedule of these wetlands plays a large
role in how much and what kind of life thrives in each of these
systems. This intermittent seasonal connectivity provides
opportunities to concentrate and then export plankton-rich
water to adjacent sloughs.
