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 Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribes have been
pushing for the federal government to uphold its water-related
responsibilities for years. Now, Colorado legislators are
jumping back into the fight. Lawmakers in the Colorado House of
Representatives unanimously passed a resolution advocating for
tribal water access Friday, during Ute Day at the Capitol. The
resolution — which lists a series of longheld tribal water
priorities and urges federal agencies to respond — awaits
consideration in the Senate. It calls on the feds to take
action on everything from releasing frozen funding for tribal
water projects to repair deteriorating federal water systems
and improving access to reservoirs like Lake Nighthorse near
Durango.
Seeing little indication that states in the Colorado River
headwaters will accept or impose new cuts on their water users,
Arizona has hired a law firm to defend its water rights at
trial or before the U.S. Supreme Court, Gov. Katie Hobbs’s
office announced. The hiring allows Arizona to prepare for a
legal fight, though it has not yet initiated one. That decision
would come after the U.S. Department of Interior this summer
adopts new guidelines for sharing the burden of a shrinking
river that has struggled to maintain adequate reservoir storage
for existing uses in Arizona, California and
Nevada. Absent a seven-state deal that has so far
eluded negotiators, the new guidelines appear likely to hit
Arizona hardest.
The consequences of Colorado’s unprecedented hot, dry winter
will begin to show this week. Denver Water is expected
to declare a Stage 1 drought on Wednesday, March 25,
which would immediately implement mandatory watering
restrictions for customers. This would be the first time since
2013 that Denver Water has set use limits beyond the typical
summer rules for outdoor watering. The move comes after
Colorado’s warmest winter in recorded state history, resulting
in one of the worst snowpacks on record. … The proposed
water restrictions will impact all of the 1.5 million people
served by Denver Water, extending beyond just outdoor watering
and into restaurants, hotels, parks and car washes.
A stunning heatwave that shattered records in the US west is
threatening to rapidly melt the sparse snowpack and ramp up
wildfire risks in the seasons ahead. … This heatwave is
also posing significant threats to the water supply. After one
of the warmest winters in the west, the snow that feeds
streams, reservoirs and soil moisture as it melts through the
summer season is already dismally scarce in key watersheds.
… “Anomalous warmth and historic snow drought will still
lead to ecological and wildfire-related impacts as soon as this
spring, and possibly wider water challenges by late summer and
beyond,” climate scientist Daniel Swain said.
Other snowmelt and heat wave news around the West:
A just-hatched Chinook has been spotted in an Upper Klamath
Lake tributary, the first time a young salmon has been
observed there in over 100 years. It follows last
year’s return of adult Chinook here for the first time in over
a century following the removal of four dams on the Klamath
River in far northern California and southern Oregon.
… The baby Chinook was discovered via rotary screw traps
operated by the tribes’ fisheries agency. … Officials
said that around 10,000 adult-sized fish were counted this past
fall at a sonar station below the former site of Iron Gate Dam,
the lowest of the four dams on the Klamath. That figure was 30
percent higher than the previous fall, the first that fish
could go past that point.
Water is known for being a cautious sector. While pressure
grows on some workers to use AI for more tasks, most California
water agencies are just beginning to take advantage of the
technology. Eventually, AI is likely to help water agencies
with a range of applications, including finding ways to save
time, reduce water use, and bring down costs. So how are
California water agencies currently using AI, and what should
agencies consider as they adopt the technology? We spoke with
experts who shared some key first steps.
The State Water Resources Control Board on Friday unveiled a
draft approval that would advance Sites Reservoir, marking
another step forward for what would be the largest reservoir
project for California since the 1970s. The draft decision came
two months after the Bureau of Reclamation gave the project a
green light on environmental review, moving a plan forward that
would store up to 1.5 million acre-feet of
water west of Colusa County in the Sacramento Valley.
… Environmental groups have long opposed the Authority’s
premise, arguing that the claimed environmental benefits
promoted by the project advocates “rely on promises of
responsible management by the people who give away too much
water in the first place.”
… Alameda is among the first to align with a
state-led sea-level rise plan, mandating that every
coastal city and county in the Bay Area develop plans to
address sea level rise. … California has experienced about 8
inches of sea level rise over the past century. As the world
continues to warm due to fossil fuel burning, the bay could
rise about a foot by midcentury and more than 6 feet by the end
of the century, according to the state’s latest sea level rise
guidance. Alameda can expect water from all directions: rising
seas, torrential downpours, storm-driven surges that intensify
high tides and groundwater pushed upwards as soils
become saturated.
Workshops explaining how groundwater pumping will be tracked
and allocated for Hanford-area landowners and growers will be
held this week. After passing its groundwater pumping
allocation policy in December, the Mid-Kings River Groundwater
Sustainability Agency (GSA) will hold two workshops to explain
its policies and how groundwater usage will be tracked.
… On Dec. 16, the Mid-Kings board approved a pumping
allocation of 1.43 acre feet per acre of land – a controversial
move considering most of its neighboring GSAs allocated less
than half that amount to their landowners as a base
allocation.
A lack of snow and unseasonably warm temperatures in Colorado
have significantly increased the risk of wildfires this year,
and some state lawmakers are taking an unusual approach to
help lower that risk. HB26-1323 would outlaw the killing
of beavers on public lands in Colorado, except in cases where
beavers threaten infrastructure or public safety. Supporters
say not only do the dams built by beavers help regulate the
state’s water supply, but the wetlands created by them also act
as natural firebreaks, provide refuge for other wildlife during
fires, and reduce downstream pollution after fires.
Nevada Irrigation District is required as part of the Water
Shortage Contingency Plan to provide an analysis of forecasted
water availability for the upcoming summer months. The forecast
incorporates current reservoir storage and anticipated snowpack
runoff based on snow survey data. This analysis is used to
determine the amount of water available for the summer
irrigation season, and to make a determination on whether a
Water Shortage Contingency Plan will need to be
enacted. Tomorrow, the board of Nevada Irrigation District
(NID) will meet and receive an update on current and forecasted
water supply and adopt a resolution making a declaration of
surplus water availability for 2026.
On March 19, Western Water and the San Diego County Water
Authority signed a water exchange agreement that will provide
benefits across much of Southern California. … This agreement
represents a major change in thinking among water agencies,
beginning with a June 2025 shift in Metropolitan Water
District’s rules that for the first time allowed exchange of
water between Metropolitan member agencies. Rather than
competing and being territorial, as has been traditional among
water agencies, Western Water and the San Diego County Water
Authority worked in a spirit of cooperation and mutual support
to negotiate this first-of-a-kind agreement. –Written by Mike Gardner, member of the Western Municipal
Water District Board.
The plan to build California’s largest reservoir in nearly 50
years has cleared one of its last and most fundamental hurdles:
tentative approval of the project’s water
right. The State Water Resources Control Board on
Friday released a draft permit that would allow Sites
Reservoir, a proposed 13-mile-long storage facility 70 miles
northwest of Sacramento, to draw water from the
Sacramento River. While not final, the
much-awaited draft permit indicates that state water regulators
support the project. … This could pave the way for
construction of the $6 billion reservoir to begin as soon as
late this year or early next. … Sites Reservoir
… has been widely supported by cities and farms as well
as by state leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom. However, some
environmental groups and tribal communities have opposed the
venture, saying it will take water from an already-stressed
watershed, thus harming plants and wildlife — including the
state’s biggest salmon runs.
Critical negotiations about the future of the Colorado River
took a two week hiatus last month after the seven states in the
basin missed a key Valentine’s Day deadline for striking a
deal, New Mexico’s water negotiator said Thursday. Estevan
López said talks resumed March 2, and the upper and lower basin
states are using a short-term pitch from Nevada as a starting
point. “Right now, we’re in discussions with the lower basin
about a potential short-term agreement,” Lopez told New
Mexico’s Interstate Stream Commission. Nevada is proposing to
increase water releases from upper basin reservoirs like
Flaming Gorge by at least 500,000 acre feet to help prevent
Lake Powell from dropping too low.
… Southern California urban areas are typically on the hunt
for more and more water from agricultural regions. In this
case, though, four Kern County, and one Kings County, ag water
districts have entered into a 59-year agreement to
buy water from an over-the-Grapevine agency in southern
California. The water will come from Santa Clarita Valley Water
Agency. … Over the years, it [SCVWA] has parked its
excess water in a variety of Kern County banks, sometimes in
one-off, or longer term deals. This new agreement sets up a
framework so both sides can have longer term certainty.
… Iconic mountain towns like Aspen, Colorado, and Park City,
Utah, were seen with shockingly bare slopes, as the region
endured a historic snow drought that experts warn could bring
water shortages and wildfires in the months ahead.
… Colorado hasn’t experienced such a severe snow drought
in more than 40 years. Neither has Utah … and newly released
federal drought data show similar conditions in New Mexico and
Arizona. All four states are contending with record-low
snowpack. … A snow drought of this magnitude has the
power to disrupt fundamental aspects of life in the West.
… In addition to increasing the risk of water shortages
for states already strapped for those resources, low snowpack
can make wildfire-prone land even more vulnerable.
More than three decades after a landmark decision called for
Los Angeles to limit its taking of water to raise the level of
Mono Lake, California regulators are reexamining why the lake
still hasn’t rebounded and what should be done about it. At the
request of state water officials, UCLA climate scientists
developed a new model to analyze why the lake remains far below
its state-mandated target level. In a new report, they said
that without L.A.’s use of water from creeks that feed the
lake, its waters would be about 4 feet higher — closer to that
required threshold. … DWP managers said they have
questions and want to vet the UCLA analysis.
A California lawmaker wants to ban the use of long-lasting
chemical pesticides in the state within a decade. Assembly Bill
1603 would ban the use, sale and manufacture of PFAS pesticides
in California beginning in 2035. More than 20 of the chemicals
already banned in the European Union would be prohibited
earlier, starting in 2030. The bill would also halt state
approvals of PFAS pesticides and require public disclosure.
… The group said PFAS in drinking water has drawn
increased attention from regulators and lawmakers. Affected
crops include almonds, pistachios, wine grapes and tomatoes.
… After decades of viewing beavers as pests, California is
finally beginning to welcome them home. And not a moment too
soon. With perhaps the world’s most intensely modified
hydrology, the state leads the country in acres burned by
wildfires and number of homes at risk from them, and according
to one study, it is second only to Nevada for drought risk.
California’s vaunted biodiversity is also imperiled. But these
legendarily industrious architects are primed to help us out.
… Critical for California, beaver dams create spongy
land that is resilient in the face of wildfires, resists
erosion, and retains precious groundwater.
San Diego County’s water agency is selling some of its water to
another Southern California agency to help limit increasingly
high water costs for 3.3 million people. The water is going to
Western Municipal Water District, which serves a growing area
of nearly 1 million people in Riverside County, including
Corona, Riverside and Temecula. … The San Diego County agency
has invested heavily to get more water in recent decades. In
2003, it struck an agriculture-to-urban transfer deal and it
also buys water from the Carlsbad desalination plant under a
30-year agreement. These actions have brought San Diego County
plentiful water — also some of the most expensive in the state.
