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.
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.
Denver Water has enacted Stage 1 drought restrictions for all
customers across the service area, effective immediately. The
Denver Water board approved the plan Wednesday morning, aiming
to cut water use by 20% due to worsening drought. They warned
that this year’s low snowpack could impact supply.
… This is the first time a level of restriction
this high has been in place since 2013, according to
Denver Water. Other areas, such as Thornton, Erie, and the
mountain communities of Fairplay, Bailey, and Shawnee, are also
under restrictions. The move comes as drought conditions deepen
across Colorado.
Under pressure to strike a compromise on water cuts, and amid
talk of litigation, Wyoming and other upper Colorado
River Basin states are pointing to the climate-driven
disaster unfolding in the West to insist they can’t cut what
Mother Nature isn’t providing in the headwaters. While
some observers suspect that argument is cover for withholding
more cuts in water use, the upper-basin contingency insists it
has negotiated in good faith and still hopes to strike a deal
with its lower-basin counterparts despite missed deadlines.
They simply cannot commit to calculations that are beyond their
control. … Upper Colorado River Commission members [met]
Tuesday to discuss what they say are ongoing negotiations with
lower Colorado River Basin states Arizona, California
and Nevada, as well as 30 tribes and Mexico.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released more than 6.2
million juvenile Chinook salmon from the Coleman Hatchery into
the Sacramento River this week, even as the river faces unusual
March heat and low water flows. The announcement of the release
came during a spell of extreme heat throughout California,
prompting urgent calls from conservationists who warn the young
fall‑run Chinook could die in the river’s warm, low‑flow
conditions before making their way to the ocean, unless the
Bureau of Reclamation releases more water from Shasta
Dam.
As the Arizona Department of Water Resources works to regulate
groundwater pumping in western Arizona, a megafarm responsible
for more than 80% of all pumping in a 912-square-mile
groundwater basin seeks to stay a public nuisance lawsuit in
which it’s accused of excessive pumping. In a state courthouse
Wednesday, Fondomonte Arizona LLC argued the ongoing process to
designate the Ranegras Plain Basin as an active management area
would achieve the same groundwater regulation goals as the
lawsuit Attorney General Kris Mayes filed against it in 2024.
Rather than move forward with the litigation, Riley Snow of
Rose Law Group suggested the court allow the two-year process
to play out and address any remaining concerns later.
At 4:30 a.m. on a recent Wednesday, three alpine scientists
arose from fitful sleep in a chilly research lab in the
Colorado mountains. … They had a satellite to meet. … The
satellite, known as NISAR, was launched last summer by National
Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Indian Space
Research Organization. The satellite’s capabilities are the
closest humans have come to measuring water content in snow
across vast regions, from space, the holy grail of snow
science. The new technology comes at a critical time. As
the world warms, snow is vanishing across many parts of the
planet. That includes Western United States, which is currently
undergoing a record snow drought.
Last week fog crept over the Tijuana Estuary in Imperial Beach,
oozing a pungent rotten-egg smell, as hydrogen sulfide bubbled
up from the polluted Tijuana River. … Later that day,
Thursday, March 19, air pollution monitoring data showed
hydrogen sulfide levels at 500 parts per billion, more than 15
times the California state standard of 30 parts per billion.
… When raw sewage enters the river in Mexico because of
wastewater system failures or spills, the health impacts are
felt across the border. Imperial Beach residents describe
asthma, migraines, rashes, nausea, eye irritation, dizziness
and brain fog when the sickening smell of hydrogen sulfide
wafts off the water.
Lake Mead National Recreation Area is having a very bad start
to spring. The water level is dwindling in Lake Mead,
America’s largest reservoir and a major
supplier of drinking water to California, and soaring
temperatures are driving toxic algae outbreaks in the water and
prompting federal officials to close hiking trails. … As
unseasonably warm winter weather scorched much of the American
West over the past several weeks, Lake Mead has lost crucial
opportunities for replenishment. … Meanwhile,
hydroelectric power output continues to decline at Hoover Dam
as Lake Mead shrinks.
… Water Resource Advocates was one of more than a dozen
groups that gathered Wednesday for a joint meeting of the
[Nev.] interim committees on natural resources and
infrastructure. The meeting focused solely on data centers and
their water and energy needs. … Representatives of
the data center industry suggested existing estimates related
to water use are inflated because they are based on outdated
technology. … Groups more critical of data centers
emphasized a need for more transparency and reporting on actual
water usage. … Beyond the water used on site for
cooling, there remains the fact that producing electricity also
requires a lot of water.
A beaver no-kill bill pitched as a way to expand Colorado’s
wildfire and drought mitigation efforts failed in a state
legislative committee Monday, preserving current rights to hunt
and trap the animals on public lands. Hunters and trappers
loudly opposed House Bill 1323, which would have made it
illegal in Colorado to kill beavers for recreation on state
public land or federal lands where state rules apply.
Governments could still have trapped beavers for forest or
wetlands management. But the House Agriculture, Water and
Natural Resources committee indefinitely postponed the bill,
thereby killing it for this session, in a 10-3
vote. … Wildlife and wildfire researchers are
increasingly relying on the wetlands that beavers naturally
create behind river dams and lodges to serve as beneficial fire
breaks.
When you think of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where do
you picture its boundaries? Some may see it as part of a larger
whole, an estuary and landscape that stretches from the upper
watershed in the Sierra to the Pacific Ocean at the Golden
Gate, and beyond. Others may think of the Delta in terms of a
specific community or their favorite fishing spot. While all of
these and many more make up the Delta, the Delta Plan
references specific jurisdictional bounds: the Legal Delta and
Suisun Marsh, political boundaries that we commonly refer to as
the “Delta.” … Council staff built an interactive online
Delta atlas as a useful reference tool to make data accessible
and more easily answer these types of questions.
Just over 75 years ago, the California Legislature passed the
Dickey Water Pollution Act, the nation’s first comprehensive
attempt to address pollution control at the state level. Though
still protective of industry, the act established the framework
for the State Water Board and nine Regional Water Quality
Control Boards. … The Dickey Act created the State Water
Pollution Control Board, a predecessor to the State Water
Board, that was comprised of gubernatorial appointees and state
officials who set statewide policy and coordinated pollution
control efforts. … Here are stories about the dramatic
improvement in the San Diego Bay, San Francisco Bay and the
Klamath River.
Valley farmers will see a 5% increase in the region’s water
supply following Tuesday’s announcement from the Bureau of
Reclamation. After rainstorms in late February, this increase
boosts the Central Valley Project water supply from 15% to 20%.
“20% is significantly under what we need to grow most of those
crops,” said Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen.
While growers and water experts say every drop of water counts,
it’s simply not enough. Jacobsen says this drought could be a
hit to our economy, food production, and jobs. … In
a statement, the Bureau of Reclamation says it is being
cautious to protect long-term sustainability.
The Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District has completed
emergency repairs to a hydraulic gate at the R.W. Mathews Dam
on Ruth Lake, according to a press release issued today.
Environmental containment and cleanup operations have also been
wrapped up following a March 3 failure in the dam gate’s
hydraulic operating system. The subsequent discovery of a
hydraulic fluid leak triggered “an all-hands emergency that
demanded immediate action to protect our community’s water
supply,” District General Manager Michiko Mares says in the
press release. No oil was observed in the Mad River at any
point during the incident or repair operations, according to
the district.
A boat traveling through Wyoming from Oklahoma to Montana was
found to have zebra mussels on it. Wyoming Game and Fish
officials found viable mussels attached to the hull of the
craft during an inspection at a check station. The aquatic
invasive species (AIS) are a threat to Wyoming’s lake, pond and
river habitats. Once established, it’s nearly impossible to
eradicate an infestation of zebra or quagga mussels, which can
cause clogged pipes, damage boats and make shorelines less
enjoyable. The boat was purchased near Lake Oologah in
Oklahoma, which is known to be infested with zebra mussels. The
owner removed the craft from the water 24 hours before
transporting it.
… [T]he California Ocean Protection Council (OPC), in
partnership with the California Ocean Science Trust, released
the 2026 California Coast and Ocean Report – the first
comprehensive, science-based assessment of coastal and ocean
health in California history. … The Council also approved
over $6 million in funding for nine key science and restoration
projects that support healthy oceans and advance the state’s
goal to conserve 30% of its coastal waters by 2030. Scientific
research projects will help identify biodiversity “hotspots” to
prioritize for conservation, while restoration work will
bolster biodiversity in eelgrass, estuary, and
kelp forest ecosystems impacted by climate change, wildfire,
and other threats.
Water managers along the Colorado River are looking for
an amount of water equal to what the entire state of
Utah has rights to in order to head off a water and power
crisis across the West, they said Tuesday. …
Speaking at a meeting of the Upper Colorado River Commission on
Tuesday, Wyoming State Engineer Brandon Gebhart said the
upstream states estimate an additional 1.7 million acre-feet of
water will need to be added to Lake Powell to keep the water
level there from falling below the hydropower turbines at Glen
Canyon Dam. The Bureau of Reclamation has said it will not let
water levels fall below the turbines because of concerns that
doing so could damage the dam, which sits on the river near the
Arizona and Utah border.
The heat dome that settled over California, broke records, and
scorched most of California last week is creeping eastward,
with some temperature relief in sight. In the meantime,
temperatures across the Golden State will remain slightly above
average into April. … Weather experts say the state’s
snowpack was reported below normal, with less than 50% of the
average across much of Northern California.
… California’s reservoirs are in good shape,
above historic averages, with many nearing capacity.
But that summertime snowbank on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada
is disappearing early and fast, dropping to 38% of average for
mid-March statewide.
Other snowmelt and heat wave news around the West:
An update from the Bureau of Reclamation means a modest
increase in water sent to south-of-Delta contractors, including
Westlands Water District. On Tuesday, the bureau announced the
yearly allocation would increase to 20% from 15%. This comes as
a recent heat wave has experts worried about accelerated
melting of the vital Sierra snowpack. Allison Febbo, general
manager of Westlands, said in a release that the
government needs to better coordinate with experts to adapt
allocations to real-world conditions and decrease the need for
groundwater pumping.
Do you use Chat GPT? Do you talk to Siri on your phone? If so,
you’ve helped fuel the rise in data centers. Now, the
energy-hungry, water-thirsty centers are
coming to places in the Southwest, including the lands of
native peoples. That was the topic of a panel discussion Friday
in Window Rock, Arizona, organized by Diné C.A.R.E., a Navajo
environmental organization. Executive director of Diné
C.A.R.E. Robyn Jackson said data centers have become a serious
concern for the Navajo Nation. She said five centers have been
proposed in and near the nation, three in Arizona and two in
New Mexico. … Water required to cool the facilities is
also enormous. Yet centers are being built in hot, arid states
such as Arizona, even as it and six other states wrangle over
how to allocate Colorado River water.
California’s largest solar energy project won approval Tuesday
with the Kern County Board of Supervisors’ 4-0 vote in favor of
a 2-gigawatt photovoltaic installation expected to create 1,300
construction jobs at its peak and generate tax revenue of $1.5
billion during its roughly three-decade lifespan. Complete
with batteries capable of delivering 16 gigawatt-hours of
energy, the Buttonbush Solar and Storage project represents a
significant shift, in that Kern’s other utility-scale solar
farms are located in the eastern portion of the county. San
Diego-based developer Avantus says it chose western Kern for
its transmission capacity and because farmland there is under
stress from groundwater management
regulations.
