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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Three weeks after Tahoe’s biggest snowstorm in decades, Donner
Summit has as much dirt as snow. Feet of powder quickly
disappeared, as rain and unusually warm temperatures depleted
gains from the February blizzard that had been cheered at the
time as a potential season-saving event. California’s
snowpack is already its lowest since 2015, and
record-shattering March heat arriving next week will make it
worse. The rate of melting is “unprecedented,” said Tim
Bardsley, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service office
in Reno. The entire snowpack, he said, has been wiped away
along sunny parts of the Lake Tahoe shoreline.
Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:
… Information from the Golden State Salmon Association and
the Pacific Fisheries Management Council forecasts a current
adult salmon ocean population of 392,349 in 2026 — more than
double last year’s ocean abundance estimate. The
Klamath River forecast also jumped to 176,233,
up from 82,672 in 2025. For comparison, the upper
Sacramento River saw a return of over 60,000 adult
salmon to natural spawning areas in 2025 compared to just over
4,000 in 2024. … The number of returning jacks is key to
forecasting the adult salmon population in the ocean now, which
informs how many salmon fishery managers will allow to be
caught this year. Both some commercial and sport fishing are
expected to be approved later this spring by the Pacific
Fishery Management Council.
In the midst of historic drought in the Rocky Mountains, many
water managers are looking for ways to get more moisture into
the environment. Some are considering things like cloud
seeding, which is meant to create more precipitation
in certain areas. It’s a technique that has been used for
decades in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. Rain
Enhancement Technologies, a company that’s operated in Oman,
doesn’t use traditional cloud-seeding methods, which are
characterized by putting silver iodide particles into the
atmosphere. Instead, they do what they call “ionization cloud
seeding,” which uses high-voltage rays to ionize naturally
occurring aerosols in the atmosphere. Aerosols are necessary
for cloud formation, and therefore, precipitation.
For over 40 years, the U.S. Forest Service has been monitoring
high-altitude mountain lakes in Colorado to track the
environmental impacts of human-caused pollutants and climate
changes in delicate wilderness areas and
ecosystems. Mountain lakes are extremely sensitive, making
them a perfect testing ground for measuring ecosystem changes
in climate and the environment. … A study
[by researchers from the Forest Service and University of
Colorado Boulder] set out to determine whether
environmental changes — including climate change and air
pollution — have impacted the lakes’ chemistry and ecosystem
over time. … [T]his type of monitoring and data could help
answer questions about how this winter’s historically
low snowpack in Colorado could impact mountain
lakes.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a
new initiative designed to strengthen federal support for
drinking water and wastewater utilities nationwide, aiming to
improve compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act while
helping communities modernize aging water infrastructure. …
[T]he initiative, Real Water Technical Assistance
(RealWaterTA), refocuses federal resources on technical support
and practical guidance for water systems, particularly those
facing operational, financial or regulatory
challenges. EPA officials say the program is intended to
help utilities deliver reliable drinking water services while
maximizing the impact of federal infrastructure funding now
flowing to states and municipalities.
The director of the Border Environmental Education Project says
the San Antonio de los Buenos wastewater treatment plant has
helped reduce beach pollution in Tijuana, but has yet to
operate at full capacity. … … The plant came on line
in June of last year. Prior to the completion of the project,
the plant malfunctioned daily dating back to 2018, resulting in
constant spills of untreated water directly onto Tijuana’s
beaches, material that often flowed northward contaminating the
coastline in California cities such as Coronado and Imperial
Beach, where the beaches have been closed for more than 1,400
consecutive days.
Officials with the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District say
hydraulic fluid observed earlier this week at Ruth Dam has not
reached the Mad River and remains contained
near the dam’s intake structure on Ruth Lake. The district said
the sheen was observed on Ruth Lake near the R.W. Matthews Dam
intake structure and is currently contained within floating
booms placed around the area. District staff surveyed the lake
and reported finding no evidence of oil along the reservoir
shoreline. … According to the district, a mechanical
failure occurred March 3 during a routine inspection by the
California Division of Safety of Dams.
Tribal leaders testified before the Senate committee on Indian
Affairs in support of a landmark water rights settlement. The
agreement would provide 56,000 acre-feet of Colorado River
water annually to the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and San Juan
Southern Paiute Tribe. The Northeastern Indian Water Rights
Settlement agreement has been years in the making. The deal
would help bring water to nearly 30% of Navajo and Hopi
residents without a running tap, often forced to haul water
many miles. Navajo President Buu Nygren tells KNAU that
Wednesday’s hearing was a positive step as tribal and state
leaders push Congress to ratify the settlement.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released the final
version of California’s Groundwater: Bulletin 118 – Update
2025, the State’s official and most comprehensive report of
groundwater monitoring, conditions, and management across
California. The report builds upon the previous update in 2020
and contains critical information about the state’s groundwater
supplies from 2020 to 2024, a period marked by record-setting
dry and wet weather events and increasing ambient temperatures.
It shows considerable progress made by California and local
agencies towards reaching the goals of groundwater
sustainability outlined in the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA).
Residents of Scotia were under a boil water advisory for six
days after turbidity spiked in the water treatment system. The
advisory was lifted Tuesday after operator efforts to flush the
system resulted in tests coming back within regulatory limits —
but structural problems with old water infrastructure remain.
The state water board is pushing for the district to get
funding for infrastructure replacement. The state Water Board,
which regulates drinking water, got involved Wednesday when the
Scotia Community Services District (SCSD) reported a turbidity
of 16 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) measured at the plant.
This is about 50 times above the state’s standard of 0.3 or
below.
Recent court rulings on tiered water rates are creating
confusion and uncertainty at water agencies across California —
including in San Diego, where one of the rulings will mean rate
hikes for most single-family homes. The confusion stems
from conflicting rulings by separate California appellate
courts last year on tiered rates, which aim to reward
conservation by charging heavy water users more per gallon than
people who use less. San Diego’s use of tiered rates was ruled
unconstitutional last April by the Fourth District Court of
Appeal, forcing the city to abandon tiers and then hike rates
by roughly $6 a month for about 150,000 single-family homes.
But tiered rates in Los Angeles were vindicated in December by
the Second District Court of Appeal.
Senior leaders and project delivery team members with the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers joined key partners for a meeting and
site tour of the Salton Sea Feb. 22-23 in Imperial County. The
interagency teams met to discuss updates on the Imperial
Streams and Salton Sea Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration
Feasibility Study and provide leaders with a deeper familiarity
with the issues surrounding the Salton Sea. USACE Los Angeles
District and its partners—the California Department of Water
Resources and Salton Sea Authority—signed a cost-share
agreement in December 2022 for the feasibility study, aimed at
identifying potential ecosystem, flood-risk management, or
other land- and water-resource projects and actions for the
long-term restoration of the sea.
Tribal leaders and U.S. senators spoke out in support of a
measure that would solidify access to water for three tribes
with land in Arizona during a Wednesday hearing at the Senate
Indian Affairs Committee. The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water
Rights Settlement, or NAIWRSA, would settle claims to water by
the Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes, and
provide $5 billion to build new water delivery systems
and help the tribes access their water. The settlement
would need to be authorized by congress to go into effect. At
Wednesday’s Senate committee hearing, impassioned pleas to
bring water to tribal communities ran up against federal
concerns about the cost of a settlement, and talks of
hesitation from some states that use the Colorado
River.
… An “extraordinary and prolonged March heatwave,” was how
Daniel Swain, University of California climate scientist,
described the days ahead. It will “break records and decimate
mountain snowpack across the U.S. Southwest, including much of
California.” … Karla Nemeth, director of the California
Department of Water Resources, said warm temperatures and
below-average snowpack — statewide snow water content
is around 53% of the normal for this time of year —
are creating challenges. … “For public safety reasons,
we have to release much of it to make space for flood control.
That means we forgo having stored that water for release later
in the summer, when rivers and streams run lower and warmer,”
Nemeth said.
Other snowpack and weather forecast news around the West:
In a direct response to the persistent water crisis gripping
the American West, Rep. Raul Ruiz (CA-25) joined a coalition of
California lawmakers this week to introduce the Drought Relief
Obtained Using Government Help Today (DROUGHT) Act. … The
bill, led by Reps. Scott Peters (CA-50) and John Garamendi
(CA-08), would adjust the funding limits for the Water
Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA). Under
current law, the federal government cannot cover more than 80%
of a project’s cost. The DROUGHT Act would raise that cap to
90% for projects in areas facing extreme drought or serving
historically disadvantaged communities.
Two bills in the Arizona Legislature would let groundwater from
western Arizona be sold to cities like Phoenix, drawing
criticism from local leaders who warn it could harm rural
communities House Bills 2757 and 2758 would affect groundwater
in McMullen Valley and Butler Valley in western Arizona.
Investment group Water Asset Management owns thousands of acres
of farmland in both areas and could profit by moving and
selling groundwater from the aquifer under those lands,
according to critics of the bills. … Rep. Gail Griffin,
a sponsor of the legislation, said looming Colorado River cuts
are driving the need for the bills.
… Excess nitrogen from dairies turns into excess nitrate in
the soil, spilling into waterways, seeping into groundwater and
contributing to widespread contamination of drinking water in
the Central Valley. In some counties there, 40 percent of
drinking wells are above the safe limit established by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, posing health risks like
miscarriages and infant mortality. In the next two months, the
State Water Board says it will release a long overdue draft
order that will chart a course to fix that. A first draft
of the board’s thinking came in October 2024, when it proposed
a new framework requiring that Central Valley dairies comply
with a nitrate drinking water standard of 10 milligrams per
liter.
El Niño, the seasonal climate pattern that brings a cascade of
global weather impacts, is emerging in the Pacific Ocean,
according to new data. There is a 62% chance that El Niño
conditions will begin between June and August and last at least
through the end of the year, the National Weather Service’s
Climate Prediction Center reported on Thursday. … In
general terms, El Niño signals a wet winter for California,
especially the southern part. But experts cautioned that may
not always be true. “Even if a Niño is born in summer, there’s
no guarantee that California will get a wet winter,” Alexander
Gershunov, a research meteorologist at Scripps Institution of
Oceanography at UC San Diego, wrote.
For a century, the Colorado River has been managed in pieces.
Legally and politically, it’s divided into two basins, with
each state and community focused on securing its respective
water supply. But that is not how a river functions. The
Colorado River is an interconnected system, sustained by Rocky
Mountain snowpack, rainfall and groundwater. It is fragile, and
under increasing stress. Two and a half decades into this
century, the river that built the modern West has 20% less
water flowing through it than it did on average in the last
century. As heat and drought intensify, so do the stakes.
Authorities charged with cleaning up Tijuana River pollution
should finish upgrades to wastewater plants on both sides of
the border, fund operations as well as construction of those
facilities, and plan for eventual wastewater reuse, a report
issued today recommended. Those are some key suggestions of the
report “Tijuana River Contamination Crisis: A Five-Pillar
Framework for Binational Solutions,” released today by the San
Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Prebys Foundation.
… The report offers an overview of how the cross-border
river became one of the most polluted waterways in the country,
recent efforts to fix that, and what’s still needed to clean it
up.
