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.
Subscribe to our weekday emails to have news delivered to your inbox at about 9 a.m. Monday through Friday except for holidays.
Please Note:
Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing.
We occasionally bold words in the text to ensure the water connection is clear.
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.
The US Bureau of Reclamation has added two new categorical
exclusions for hydropower-related activities under the National
Environmental Policy Act, in a move the agency says will speed
up environmental reviews for selected projects and maintenance
work across its hydropower portfolio. The changes were
announced on Friday as part of Reclamation’s ongoing Hydropower
Action Plan, which the agency says is intended to support
capital investment, regulatory efficiency and technological
innovation in the US hydropower sector. … The agency
said the exclusions were developed after identifying categories
of hydropower activity that have “consistently demonstrated no
significant environmental impacts.”
Governor Cox (R-UT) signed an executive order establishing a
statewide framework to guide the evaluation and development of
large data center projects across the state. On Friday morning,
Governor Cox signed Executive Order 2026-03 with the goal
to direct state agencies toprioritize
protecting water resources, including the Great Salt
Lake. The order also is set to safeguard utility ratepayers,
protect air quality, mitigate wildlife impacts, support
transparent public engagement, and ensure future development
aligns with the long-term interests of Utah. … The
guiding principles of the framework include: Protecting the
Great Salt Lake and other water resources by ensuring
water consumption is not increased and water quality is
protected.
Congressman Jim Costa announced Friday that more than $131
million in federal funding is being awarded for major water
infrastructure improvements across the San Joaquin Valley,
including two main components of the federal water delivery
system, the Friant-Kern Canal and the O’Neill Pumping Plant.
… Groundwater overpumping had caused a 33-mile
section of the canal in Tulare County to sink,
crimping its carrying capacity by 60%. … The O’Neill Pumping
Plant is 12 miles west of Los Banos and lifts water from the
Delta-Mendota Canal into the O’Neill Forebay, where water then
travels to contractors of the federal Central Valley Project.
… It took nearly twenty years for Lake Powell to fill to
3,700 feet in elevation. It only stayed near that level for two
decades before climate change-induced drought and overuse
started shrinking the flows of the Colorado, San Juan
and other rivers that feed the reservoir. Now Lake
Powell teeters on the brink of collapse: Forecasts show it
could drop to its lowest level since filling and reach
elevations at which Glen Canyon Dam was not designed to
operate. That could threaten Reclamation’s ability to safely
and reliably send water downstream to major cities and
agricultural regions in Arizona, California, Nevada and
Mexico. But environmental groups and scientists have
found a silver lining to the Southwest’s water crisis: As Lake
Powell recedes, the once-drowned Glen Canyon is surfacing and
thriving ecosystems are emerging.
A recommendation to toss out a restriction for how far
groundwater can be moved out of the South Fork Kings
Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) will be considered at
the board’s next meeting on June 18. The recommendation was
made during the board’s May 21 meeting after South Fork was
repeatedly threatened with a lawsuit by John Vidovich, who
controls Sandridge Partners, a large landowner in the GSA. The
export restriction, which limits movement of groundwater pumped
out of South Fork to within one mile of its boundaries, is part
of the GSA’s allocation policy, or how much growers can pump.
A pipeline that carries wastewater through Tijuana has
collapsed again — just two weeks after Mexico made emergency
repairs to the same line. The U.S. Section of the International
Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) on Saturday reported an
overnight collapse on the Parallel Gravity Line. The cause of
the collapse is unknown. Mexico has shut down several pumps
along the border to allow crews to make repairs. That same line
failed on May 14, resulting in emergency repairs that were
completed on May 16. … The IBWC said it’s monitoring
expected flows, sediment, and trash in the canyon collectors
and is ready to respond. The agency also said it is
coordinating with Mexican water authorities and pressing Mexico
to bring all suspended pumps back into operation as quickly as
possible.
Reservoir levels in the East Bay are above average for this
time of year, signaling residents won’t have to conserve water
– or incur extra drought-related charges – in the coming summer
months. Water storage levels are nearly full at 96%, according
to the most recent East Bay Municipal Utility District water
supply report. Nelsy Rodriguez, a public information
representative for EBMUD, said that an early Sierra Nevada
snowpack melt, in addition to a lot of April rain, helped
refill reservoirs. “We are in a strong position heading
into summer. We are well above any potential drought trigger,”
Rodriguez said. “We have enough storage now to meet our
customers’ needs.”
California just committed $80.4 million to wildlife
connectivity and salmon recovery, and one of the biggest
projects is happening on the Feather River in Sutter
County. The Wildlife Conservation Board approved the
funding package [last] week, which includes removing the Sunset
Weir on the Feather River near Live Oak. The project, led by
CDFW and the Department of Water Resources, will restore
natural fish passage to 28.5 miles of river, giving salmon and
steelhead unobstructed access to spawning habitat that has been
blocked by the weir for decades. The Sunset Weir removal will
also include replacing and upgrading the Sunset Pumps Station,
installing new fish screens on the pumps and restoring an
eroded riverbank section downstream with native plants.
The Kern County Water Agency will erase a $14 million debt and
continue selling water at a lower rate to the Western Hills
Water District as part of a deal struck just days before it
said it would cut off the tap. The draft deal caps more than a
year of start-and-stop threats from KCWA to cut off water to
Western Hills, which is the exclusive purveyor to the 600-home
Diablo Grande development in the foothills west of Patterson.
The most recent cut-off date was May 31. … The details
of the deal are still vague as the two sides have only signed a
“letter of intent.” … However, some basics, including the
erasure of the $14 million debt, were released in a public
announcement sent to Diablo Grande residents.
As part of its comprehensive effort to address per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has announced new investments in
multiple PFAS treatment projects across Southern California.
The funding, which totals $15.7 million for seven projects,
will advance concrete, tangible solutions to water
contamination challenges, and is in addition to EPA’s recently
announced $77.257 million investment in California communities’
efforts to address PFAS. … EPA has provided $4 billion
nationwide in Drinking Water State Revolving Funds dedicated to
address PFAS and emerging contaminants.
Tucked along the edge of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Big
Break Regional Shoreline offers visitors a rare glimpse into
one of California’s most endangered ecosystems at no
cost. The 1,600-acre park, which opened in 2012, sits at
the confluence of two major rivers where saltwater and
freshwater meet. Most of the park consists of submerged former
farmland. … [T]he park’s wetland habitat is its most
significant feature, as roughly 90 percent of similar
ecosystems in California have been lost to agricultural
development. The remaining landscape at Big Break supports a
variety of aquatic mammals, including river otters, beavers,
muskrat, and American mink, along with dozens of bird species.
Denver Water customers have yet to embrace a strict water diet
this year, cutting water use just 5% this month as the outdoor
watering season begins. The utility, which serves 1.5 million
customers, has asked residents and businesses to slash
water use by 20% this summer to combat extreme
drought. At the same time, reservoirs, unable to
refill after melting snows evaporated early due to a surprising
March heatwave, are dropping. The utility said its storage
system is just 79% full, down from the 89% mark normally seen
at this time of year. … Aurora homeowners and businesses
have cut use 6.5%, Aurora Water spokesperson Shonnie Cline
said. And the city’s reservoirs are similarly low, standing at
just 56% full. This time last year they were 66% full.
As the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence drives an
unprecedented boom in data center construction across
California, a bipartisan push for tighter industry oversight is
gaining traction in the state capitol. Assemblyman Jeff
Gonzalez (R-Indio) cast his vote this week in favor of a
sweeping package of legislation designed to pull back the
curtain on the secretive, energy-hungry facilities. The move
highlights growing anxiety in rural and suburban communities
over how the massive computing hubs will affect local
infrastructure. … The legislative package targets the
core operational demands of data centers, which require
massive amounts of electricity to run servers and millions of
gallons of water to keep them cool.
… A late-season storm has brought rain across much of
California, particularly the northern half, and snow to
the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada range. Many
locations have recorded a quarter inch to an inch of rain this
week. The precipitation is welcome at a time of year when
vegetation is drying out and the risk of wildfires is
increasing. … But the low threat of fires is not
expected to last long with a return to warm, dry weather
forecast for next week. … On Tuesday, thunderstorms
rumbled through the Central Valley, and short bursts of rain
and hail were reported in the greater Sacramento area. On
Wednesday, snow dusted the Sierra Nevada. … “These are
beneficial rains, nothing that causes flooding,” said Brian
Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.
The Interior Department unveiled Thursday the first iteration
of a new public tool for mapping federal lands and waters,
rolling out a unified “national map” with boundaries used by
five agencies. The U.S. Geological Service led creation of the
digital map to meet requirements laid out by Congress in the
“Modernizing Access to Our Public Land (MapLand) Act” signed
into law in 2022. That legislation directed Interior to
standardize data on federal lands across five agencies: the
Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, Bureau of Land
Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest
Service. Congress subsequently passed the “Modernizing
Access to Our Public Waters (MAPWaters) Act,” which was signed
into law in late 2025, which applied similar requirements to
federally managed waters.
… At an outpost on state-owned land in the eastern mountain
range, a rotating cast of volunteers lent their hands and help
in service of the mission, a collaboration between the Arizona
Game and Fish Department and the Amphibian and Reptile
Conservancy, to create wetlands for a creature that
many people have never seen: Chiricahua leopard frogs.
… The frogs will also share their new wetlands with
other fauna, like bighorn sheep, deer and birds, all of which
need access towater resources in an
increasingly arid Southwest where drought, groundwater
depletion and wildfire are transforming the
landscape.The project depends on the
promise of summer storms.
Three top-level personnel changes at two San Joaquin Valley
water agencies have come with significant compensation
packages, according to employment documents reviewed by SJV
Water. Starting salaries for the three new hires range from
$360,000 to $400,000 a year, with likely increases for each
after the first year. The three, connected personnel changes
started in January when Johnny Amaral was promoted to Chief
Executive Officer of Friant Water Authority from his previous
position of Chief Operating Officer for the authority. In
March, Eric Limas, formerly General Manager of the Lower Tule
River and Pixley irrigation districts, was hired to fill
Amaral’s COO position at Friant. A month later, attorney
Alex Peltzer was hired as General Manager for the Lower Tule
and Pixley districts. All three are key positions in the
southern valley and Tulare County, which is reflected in the
compensation.
The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved $80,450,797 in
grants for 23 projects across 16 counties to protect
biodiversity, restore wildlife habitat and expand public access
to nature. The board met today at the California Natural
Resources Agency headquarters in Sacramento. Among these, seven
projects advance the California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter,
Drier Future(external link), restoring floodplains,
improving stream function and enhancing habitat for
coho salmon, Chinook salmon and steelhead trout. Projects also
include investments in wildlife corridors, wildfire resiliency,
wildlife-oriented recreation and butterfly pollinators.
In a single-paragraph assent this week, the U.S. Supreme Court
accepted a deal between Texas and New Mexico, ending the
13-year lawsuit between the states and the federal government
over the waters of the Rio Grande. With the dismissal of
the case, the deal establishes new rules in the stretch of Rio
Grande below Elephant Butte, an area reshaped by water scarcity
and agriculture. Among other agreements, the parties will
divide irrigation water into a 57-43% split, with the majority
going to New Mexico farmers. The agreement also mandates less
groundwater pumping by New Mexico. … Under the
settlement, New Mexico will need to reduce groundwater
pumping in the Lower Rio Grande by 18,200 acre-feet
within the next 10 years.
Senate Bill 583, passed by the California Legislature and
signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024, created the
Salton Sea Conservancy (SSC), the first state conservancy
created in the last 15 years. On April 10, the governor
announced the inaugural appointees to the conservancy board.
… The initial 22 conservancy board members—15 voting
members, and seven ex-officio members—include state and
regional agency, department and non-governmental organization
representatives, including two local longtime advocates for
long-term solutions: Castulo Estrada, a member of the Coachella
Valley Water District Board of Directors and a 12-year member
of the Salton Sea Authority; and Silvia Paz, founder and
executive director of Alianza Coachella Valley. The Independent
spoke with both of them about the role the SSC will play.
