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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The Colorado River system’s immediate outlook got even worse
this week when federal forecasters downgraded the expected
inflows into Lake Powell to just 27 percent of
average. … The news comes days after the
Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that manages water
and dams in the American West, released a bleak warning
for levels at Lake Mead. … Meanwhile, officials from the
seven states in the Colorado River Basin have blown past two
separate deadlines to update river operation guidelines that
will expire this year. The Bureau of Reclamation and its parent
Interior Department have said they will decide for the states
in the absence of an agreement. … In a statement Wednesday,
the Bureau of Reclamation said its staff is keeping a close eye
on the forecast.
… [A] rapidly-shrinking snowpack is undercutting plans from
the governor’s office and White House, exposing the limits of
California’s water playbook and leaving the state on
the precipice of drought. The early-season heat wave
now gripping the state is wiping out much of its remaining
Sierra Nevada snowpack, which acts as a frozen reservoir to
dribble out roughly a third of California’s water supply
throughout the spring and summer. … The Department of
Water Resources said on Wednesday that it got permission from
the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees flood control,
to fill up Lake Oroville past the usual safety limit
meant to accommodate possible floods to capture remaining
snowmelt.
The analyst for California lawmakers advised Wednesday for the
Legislature to lean into its oversight role of an upcoming
water plan to firm up water supply throughout the parched
state. The Legislative Analyst’s Office in its
report focused on an update to the water quality control
plan for the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. That plan will create water quality standards
intended to protect fish and wildlife in the Bay-Delta, along
with the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their
tributaries. … The analyst’s office noted that the State
Water Resource Control Board likely will approve an updated
Bay-Delta plan this year.
As California has endured increasingly severe droughts, a
long-running federal research program has used planes to
survey, and help explain, the growing toll on the landscape:
how many trees have died, what areas are being hit hardest and
where wildfire risk is greatest. The state Aerial Detection
Survey, run by the U.S. Forest Service, however, has become a
casualty of the Trump administration. … The research flights,
which for decades crisscrossed California’s forests to assess
their health, ground to a halt last year because of funding and
staffing reductions, federal officials say.
Registration closes Mondayfor ourWater
101 Workshop, a
once-a-year daylong course on California water hosted
nextThursday
at Cal State Sacramento’s Harper Alumni Center!
Speakers will go beyond the headlines to give participants
a deeper understanding of how water is managed and moved across
California. Workshop participants are also able to grab
one of the few remaining seats on the optional
watershed tour the next dayfrom the foothills of the Sierra Nevada
along the American River to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta,
including alunch cruise on the
Sacramento River aboard the River City
Queen.View an agenda herefor our popular workshop taught by some
of the state’s leading policy and legal
experts, andregister
here by Monday, March 23!
The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority board agreed at
its March 11 meeting to provide the data it used to set its
safe, or sustainable, yield amount to the Department of Water
Resources for review. DWR made the request as a trial over the
issue is upcoming this June where a judge will look over
evidence and set a safe yield figure for the eastern Kern
County basin independently. … The Indian Wells
Groundwater Authority groundwater plan, including its safe
yield estimate of 7,600 acre feet per year, was approved by DWR
in 2022. Others in the basin, principally the Indian Wells
Water District, have disputed the authority’s safe yield
figure, suggesting the amount is closer to 14,000 acre feet a
year.
Crews are putting dead salmon back into the Sacramento River,
trying to rebuild something most people never see: the
nutrients that keep the river alive. Along a stretch near
Jellys Ferry Bridge, workers are releasing fish carcasses from
a nearby hatchery into the water. The goal is simple: feed the
river so young salmon have a better chance of surviving.
… The program uses salmon from Coleman National Fish
Hatchery, which was built decades ago to make up for habitat
lost when Shasta Dam blocked natural spawning areas upstream.
The state of California has received $540 million for critical
water infrastructure projects that will help bolster water
conveyance and improve capacity, including the state’s largest
reservoir. The money will go to five federally managed projects
across the Central Valley and Northern
California. … The Delta-Mendota Canal will receive
$235 million. … The Friant-Kern Canal will receive $200
million. … The 102-mile San Luis Canal will receive $50
million. … The Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority pumping
plant will receive $15 million. … $40 million will go
towards efforts to raise the Shasta Dam.
The Westside Water Authority, at its March 11 meeting, got an
idea of how much it will likely cost to combat the golden
mussel invasion – at least $3.8 million. And that’s just
the start. The authority is composed of Belridge Water Storage
District, Lost Hills Water District, Berrenda Mesa Water
District, and Dudley Ridge Water District. Belridge first
detected the mussels in its facilities in October 2025. The
mollusks have since spread throughout all four districts on
Kern County’s western edge. … If authority member
districts agree to use GreenLeaf Ag, it would employ the
chemical EarthTecQZ. … Even at lower doses, the chemical
could potentially affect carp but not game fish.
Bipartisan opportunities exist for updating the Endangered
Species Act, lawmakers and witnesses agreed at a notably
even-keeled Senate panel hearing Wednesday. Forgoing the
rhetorical fireworks that sometimes light up ESA discussions,
the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on
Fisheries, Water and Wildlife hearing suggested at least the
possibility of legislative compromise. That’s a sharp contrast
to developments in the House, where Republicans are moving
forward with a proposed overhaul that many Democrats have
blasted as little more than an industry wishlist. “Contrary to
popular belief, I think there are many bipartisan avenues to
explore for improving the implementation of the Endangered
Species Act,” said subcommittee ranking member Adam Schiff
(D-Calif.).
Hydrogen sulfide’s chemical formula is H2S, it’s also refered
to as “sewer gas,” but no matter what you call it, there’s
plenty of it circulating in the Tijuana River Valley. The
compound is created by the high levels of sewage coming in from
south of the border via the Tijuana River. The gas, known to
cause respiratory illnesses, is monitored at several stations
set up by the County of San Diego along the Tijuana River.
… Since Saturday night, extremely high levels of
hydrogen sulfide have been recorded, especially at the one set
up at Berry Elementary, located no more than half a mile from
the river.
Rising energy bills for ratepayers, exorbitant water use,
feeding the big appetites of companies racing to power AI –
debate on how to harness and accommodate the data center boom
is sweeping the nation. As developers clash with communities
over hyper-scale data centers nationwide, two bills that would
curb potential economic, environmental and public health
impacts on residents have cleared hurdles in
California. … [SB 887] would require data center
projects to abide by the California Environmental Quality Act
while also providing an avenue to fast-track construction if
they meet certain conditions, including using recycled
water and avoiding the use of fossil fuel energy.
Audubon Southwest released a new report to help
illustrate the economic value of
water in Arizona’s rivers, lakes, and
streams. The National Audubon Society’s southwest
regional office worked with Southwick Associates, an
outdoor-focused research firm, to analyze the economic
contributions associated with
water-based outdoor recreation in Arizona.
… Comparatively, water-based outdoor recreation as an
industry creates more economic output ($11.7 billion) than
Arizona’s golf ($6 billion) or wine ($5.7 billion) industries.
… Arizona’s rivers, lakes, streams, and the habitat they
support are critical for people, birds, fish, and other
wildlife. This report shows they are also an economic
powerhouse for the state.
Certain types of fungi produce proteins that could, in the
future, be used to manipulate the weather via a process known
as cloud seeding. In a study published in
Science Advances, researchers explain how proteins secreted by
members of the Mortierellaceae family can trigger ice formation
at subzero temperatures — a process that could be exploited for
use in weather modification. … The researchers believe that
the proteins’ ability to remain efficient and active, even when
concentrations are low and conditions are harsh, means they
could maintain their function when aerosolized and, therefore,
offer a viable method for cloud seeding. Importantly, these
proteins appear to be much safer than silver iodide.
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it will spend $540
million on water infrastructure projects in California, much of
it to repair aging and sinking canals in the Central Valley.
The largest share, $235 million, will be used to rehabilitate
the Delta-Mendota Canal, which carries water
to farmlands. An additional $200 million will help continue
repairs on the Friant-Kern Canal, another
major conduit for water in the valley. … The Interior
Department said it also will spend $40 million to begin a plan
to raise the height of Shasta Dam — a proposal
that growers and water agencies have supported. … The
plan to raise the dam and expand the reservoir is strongly
opposed by tribes, fishing advocates and environmental groups.
A mixed coalition of 60 Northern and Southern California
interests, as well as environmentalists, are backing
legislation they consider critical to protecting the state’s
water supply. Solano County also has sent a letter of support
for Senate Bill 872, which goes before the Senate Environmental
Quality Committee today (March 18). … The
environmental group, Restore the Delta, agrees, noting the bill
by Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, addresses two “major
threats” to California’s water supply: aginglevees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta and sinkingcanals in
the State Water Project. …The
legislation calls for $300 million annually
from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund over 20 years.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says concerns over record warmth and
the low snow pack prompted his decision to activate the state’s
Drought Task Force on Tuesday. The task force will study
drought conditions statewide and report on their effects
on farmers, cities, and other areas. … Activating
the Drought Task Force is phase two of the state’s Drought
Response Plan. They’ll monitor snowpack, precipitation,
temperature, streamflow, soil moisture and reservoir storage.
If conditions worsen, the state will move into phase three. The
governor will declare an official drought, and water
restrictions could be implemented.
To save California’s celebrated yet very parched Mono
Lake, the city of Los Angeles needs to stop taking water from
the basin, or at least sharply curtail its draws. That’s the
takeaway from a new, state-commissioned report on how to revive
the depleted saltwater body, widely known for its extraordinary
tufa towers and curious alkali shores. But that’s not the
only takeaway. Even if Los Angeles is to halt pumping from the
remote eastern Sierra watershed — and the city has no intention
of doing so — the report says Mono Lake will still struggle to
rise to healthy heights, due to the drying effects of climate
change.
Gov. Katie Hobbs delivered a keynote address in Washington,
D.C., on Tuesday at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event ahead of a
new federal infrastructure bill. At the Keep America Moving:
Transportation, Infrastructure, and America’s Future event,
Hobbs used her speech to emphasize Arizona’s importance in
infrastructure advancements, the need for Colorado River water
solutions and international trade agreements. “Let me be
very clear, this administration’s goals rely on Arizona
receiving our fair share of Colorado River water,” she said.
“It relies on Arizona-made missiles, Arizona-made
semiconductors and Arizona-grown agriculture.”
California farms are drastically undercounting the amount of
manure they accumulate each year, which could adversely affect
the state’s water supply. The undercount
could be more than 200 times what recent farm reports
show — likely as much as 44,000 tons of unrecorded
manure — a new study from Stanford University’s Environmental
and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program
found. … The regional boards are required to
monitor farms’ annual reports detailing manure and wastewater
to prevent adverse effects and ensure water quality, but the
study found that many of the regulations aren’t adequately
enforced.
