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.
With an El Niño winter threatening heavy rain, the State
Auditor warns that California’s aging dams “continue to pose a
risk to public safety,” especially in the Bay Area, San
Diego, and Los Angeles areas. Lawmakers gave the
state the power to penalize dam owners that violate
safety requirements in 2017, after the Oroville
spillway failure forced the evacuation of nearly
200,000 people. Water managers have yet to use
that power, the audit found. Even if state water
managers had wielded their enforcement powers, dam owners
likely couldn’t have afforded the fixes. An audit released
Monday found 57 dams in poor or unsatisfactory
condition as of May, up from previous counts. … The
auditor applauded the water resources department’s inspection
program but blasted its failure to enforce against dam owners
who fail to meet state planning, safety or other
requirements.
… This year, as California faces what experts are calling
“Super El Niño” conditions, residents in the Delta are
preparing for the prospect of devastating
flooding. … But if predictions hold, keeping the
water out won’t be an easy task. The volume of water pushing
against the Delta’s roughly 1,100 miles of
levees — many built by hand more than a hundred years
ago — will be much higher. With warmer ocean temperatures, tide
levels and storm surges will rise, and wet, warm storm systems
will become stronger and more frequent. In a possible scenario
this year, a supercharged King Tide may coincide with
an atmospheric river, sending powerful floodwaters downhill
from the Sierra Nevada to meet a water level in the Delta up to
six feet higher than normal.
Wyoming has shelved a state-funded project to measure
water use in the Green River and Little Snake River
basins after it could not get enough data to create a
basin-wide estimate of water lost during irrigation. At a
meeting in the Cowboy State capitol of Cheyenne last month,
members of the Wyoming Water Development Commission (WWDC)
reported that difficulty gaining access to landowners’
ditches coupled with unexpected costs prevented the
contractor from securing access to all 20 irrigation ditches
the company planned to survey.
… Wyoming water managers said the
measuring efforts could one day resume as part of a coordinated
effort with Colorado, New Mexico and Utah to gauge water
consumption in each state’s portion of the
UpperColorado River Basin,
which includes the Green and Little Snake rivers in Wyoming.
California lawmakers have already made a decisive move in the
battle against golden mussels, the tiny bivalves that
are clogging waterways and pipes in the Delta. But
it’s a waiting game in Congress. … Gov. Gavin Newsom signed
the Golden Mussel Response Act, authored by Assemblymember
Rhodesia Ransom, D-Stockton. The new law could help
water agencies around the state cut through any red tape in
taking action to rid their systems of the rapidly producing
mollusks. … In Congress, the House Natural
Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held a
hearing last month on the Golden Mussel Eradication and
Control Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Tracy.
It’s yet to be determined whether the measure will pass
by the end of the legislative session, on Jan. 3. The
bill would deliver more federal funding to try to find
treatments to slow the spread of the invaders.
New satellite observations show that some global river
models struggle to account for dams, reservoirs, and other
human influences, raising questions about their
reliability for water planning. A new NASA satellite is
revealing major flaws in the computer models scientists use to
understand rivers, including waterways across the
American West. Researchers found serious modeling
errors in nearly 10% of the river stretches they studied
worldwide. But those errors often occurred in waterways that
are especially important for managing water supplies,
generating hydropower, and preparing for climate
change. The study, published in Geophysical Research
Letters, compared global river models with observations from
NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite. In some
cases, the models showed rivers behaving oppositely to what the
satellite observed.
After a year marked by drought, frost, and
rising costs, Utah farmers now look at recent rain and snowfall
as signs of hope for the year ahead. Farmers across the state
said 2026 brought a series of challenges that affected crops
and profitability, making moisture heading into winter
especially welcome. … As rain moved into Utah
and snow began falling at higher elevations, agricultural
leaders shared how the moisture provides optimism.
Snowpack plays a critical role in supplying water to
farms throughout the valleys during the growing
season. … As Utah farmers head into winter,
many hope fall moisture will lay the groundwork for a stronger,
more productive 2027.
Amid a nationwide race to develop large data centers to drive
the artificial intelligence boom, some local Colorado
governments hit pause by enacting moratoriums to research what
local regulations make sense. Public criticism concerns the
environmental and health effects of data centers, especially
hyperscale sites that provide massive computing power for
companies like Google and Amazon, and inaction from the
state government. … Recently, data centers increasingly
are built to train and run AI and cloud storage, a workload
that requires a bigger footprint and significantly more energy
and water. … A recent Gallup poll found that about 70%
of Americans oppose data center construction in their town.
Respondents were concerned about centers’ energy and water use,
which they fear could lead to higher utility bills.
… Ormat Technologies, one of the biggest geothermal
operators in the world, could begin exploratory drilling in
Surprise Valley by the end of the year. The
Reno-based company is preparing to develop up to 11 geothermal
test wells on nine well pads across a nearly 40-acre span in
the valley. … Some see it as a harmless, renewable
energy that’s safe and heavily regulated by the state. A power
plant could also kick-start the sluggish economy by bringing
jobs and families back to the area. Others worry that if a
plant comes online, it would disrupt the valley’s rural
character. Some even fear it could be a detriment to the
geothermal reservoir. … Ormat representatives fielded
questions in March from residents who worried about threats to
the groundwater from drilling and chemicals.
Rumors that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security allegedly
illegally used water from New Mexico in order to aid in
construction of its border wall circulated in
October. Specifically, people claimed that DHS
had issued a waiver to remove the state’s protections and
ownership of the water wells despite ongoing disputes with
land owners and lawsuits against the federal government’s
actions regarding its construction plans. The claim was
true. On Oct. 2, the Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne
Mullin issued a directive — available to read on the Federal
Register — that it was “necessary to waive certain laws,
regulations, and other legal requirements in order to ensure
the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the
vicinity of the international land border in the state of New
Mexico.” Included in the waiver was the entirety of the New
Mexico Water Code.
An elected board member of Silicon Valley’s largest water
agency was removed from the agency’s public meeting by security
on Tuesday after she began shouting that the other six board
members had a vendetta against her and she refused to yield the
floor. Rebecca Eisenberg, a Palo Alto attorney who is running
for a second four-year term for the Santa Clara Valley Water
District on Nov. 3, was escorted out after chairman Tony
Estremera threatened to call the police to end the disruption.
It was the second time in the past three months that Eisenberg
has been removed by security from a public meeting of the
district, a government agency based in San Jose that provides
water and flood protection to 2 million residents in Santa
Clara County. The previous incident occurred July 14 following
a similar clash.
A quarter of the glaciers in the contiguous United States have
disappeared since the mid-20th century while the total
area and volume of glaciers has dropped by about a
third — and even more in California — a new
study shows. The research, published Monday in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, is a particularly
comprehensive assessment of the bleak state of glaciers and a
stark indictment of climate change. Glacial melting in the
Lower 48 states, a product of warming temperatures, is
most severe in the Sierra Nevada and parts of the
Rockies, the study suggests, due to warmer, drier
conditions and glaciers that are generally smaller and less
resilient. … The decline of the glaciers, long a
nourishing — and defining — fixture of the mountain West, is
already having repercussions. Foremost, it’s robbing
alpine ecosystems of needed moisture and squeezing
water supplies for cities and farms.
In Northwest Colorado, local communities depend on water, not
only to support their growing populations, but also to bolster
outdoor recreation and tourism, agricultural production and
more. As Colorado and the West face growing aridification
driven by climate change, threats to water quality,
quantity, timing and more are increasing — and driving
overall economic uncertainty. A new report from the
Northwest Colorado Council of Governments Water
Quality/Quantity Committee seeks to illustrate the
relationships between economic activity, water and emerging
threats in Eagle, Grand, Gunnison, Pitkin, Routt and
Summit counties. Collectively, the report refers to these as
the headwaters counties, owing to the vast number of source
waters and major tributaries that originate within their
mountains — including theColorado
River, which has its headwaters in Grand
County and delivers water to over 40 million downstream
users.
Arizona finished this year’s monsoon with above-average
precipitation in many parts of the state, following
two years of below-average monsoon rain and mountain snowpack.
Forecasters are now watching a strong El Niño pattern
thatcould bring snow to the state’s
high country this winter. In Flagstaff, soil remained
saturated this week from weekend rainfall. Hydrologists say
the moisture helps the state’s water supply and
prepares the water system to retain more water this
winter. Arizona has been in a long-term drought
for decades, and the past few years have been especially dry,
raising concerns about the state’s limited water
supply. … Rain also saturates the soil, which
increases the likelihood that runoff from high-country snow
will refill the water supply. … [First Alert Meteorologist
Pete] Mangione said Arizona’s high country typically sees more
snow during an El Niño pattern.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and his administration are back in
court today defending against claims they failed to
protect Colorado waters and public health from factory farm
pollution. After a Colorado district court ruled in
2024 current regulations for operating permits were sufficient
to comply with the federal Clean Water Act,
conservation groups appealed. Emily Miller, staff attorney for
the advocacy group Food and Water Watch, a plaintiff in the
case, said the main problem is factory farms are
operating as sewer-less cities. “They store vast
quantities of untreated waste that is not just manure. It is
filled with pollutants, including harmful nitrates, bacteria,
heavy metals, antibiotics and hormones that are fed to the
animals,” Miller outlined. … The state agency charged with
regulating factory farms argued monitoring for leaks
was unnecessary because there was no evidence manure pits
leak.
The Poway City Council unanimously approved to ban large,
third-party data centers used for artificial intelligence
applications throughout the city. The ordinance approved by
council members on a second reading Oct. 6 amends the Poway
Municipal Code and the South Poway Specific Plan to prohibit
data centers in all zones of the city. … A staff report
stated there is increasing evidence that these types of data
centers use significant water and electricity and
result in a strain on water and electricity
infrastructure, and have an adverse impact on utility
rates. Additionally, concerns include potential negative
impacts on air quality, noise and increased fire risks.
The Klamath River in the U.S. was heavily dammed over the 20th
century, blocking spawning Chinook salmon. As a result, the
population of salmon that spawned in the river, which runs
through Southern Oregon and Northern California, declined by
roughly 90%. However, a recent study found that removing the
dams resulted in a quick return of the fish to the river. In
2024, four dams were removed from the Klamath, allowing Chinook
salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) to recolonize habitat that
had been unavailable to them for roughly a century. Shortly
after the dams were removed, 7,742 Chinook salmon migrated up
the Klamath River past the former dams. In 2025, that number
jumped to more than 13,000. The fish expanded into 345
kilometers (214 miles) of formerly blocked river, recolonizing
88% of their known historical habitat, the study found.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has issued a
danger advisory for San Luis Reservoir in Merced County due to
a harmful algal bloom that can expose people and animals to
potentially dangerous toxins. DWR announced the danger
advisory Friday, Oct. 9, and reiterated the warning through its
official social media accounts, urging visitors to keep
themselves and their pets away from algal blooms. The
announcement follows an earlier warning documented by the
California State Water Resources Control Board. Records updated
Oct. 2 showed that San Luis Reservoir was already under a
lake-wide warning advisory, which prohibited swimming and
advised visitors to avoid algae and scum in the water. The
latest danger designation represents an escalation from that
earlier warning and is the highest of California’s three
harmful algal bloom advisory levels.
In collaboration between nonprofit organization Imperial Valley
Equity and Justice and the State of California’s Salton Sea
program, community organizers hosted an Eco-alebrije Community
Art Workshop in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on
Saturday, Oct. 11. … Miguel Hernandez [public
affairs officer with the California National Resources Agency]
explained how community engagement and restoration efforts of
the Salton Sea have already provided progress in supporting the
Salton Sea ecosystem. Through the Salton Sea Species
Conservation Habitat Project, which began in May 2025, about
2000 acres of water have been restored to the Salton Sea.
… The implementation of art and hands-on building from
the community when addressing the importance of protecting the
ecosystem allowed IVEJ to deliver a much more substantial
message in a way that resonated with the community.
A wisp of smoke on a cloudless early August morning was one of
the first indications that a wildfire had started in the Sangre
de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico.
Lightning struck near the village of Cundiyó, and a blaze
quickly erupted in the drought-stricken canyons surrounding the
Río Frijoles. Both this 13-mile stream and the Río en Medio
descend from the Sangres and flow into Santa Cruz Lake, a
reservoir that releases their water into the Santa Cruz River,
which is then joined by another tributary, the Río Quemado.
Like the spurs of a railway, some 30 hand-dug channels,
or acequias, deliver that water — collectively owned
by around 3,000 parciantes or members — to the small family
farms of several historic communities. … But with more than
half of the Río Frijoles in the direct path of the fire,
the health of the watershed — and the future of the
area’s irrigation — were at risk.
Life isn’t a beach for one Boulder property owner, even after
he brought his own sand. The City of Boulder filed a lawsuit
against Marco Campos and his Jaguar Paw Ranch (JPR) LLC on Oct.
7, claiming the property owner violated an agreement between
the two parties by blocking the city’s access to a ditch
connected to Eggleston Reservoir. The city also claims Campos
placed sand around his portion of the reservoir. … The
dilemma surrounding the property near 3200 S. Foothills Hwy,
just west of Superior, goes back to 1879, when the city took
over the Eggleston Reservoir and Eggleston Ditch 4. While the
ditch and part of the reservoir remain on private property, the
city says it has an easement that allows it to maintain,
operate, inspect and repair the systems that are used “for the
diversion, conveyance and storage of water,” according to the
claim.
