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 schism between Democratic environmental ideals and
California voters’ anxiety about affordability, notably gas
prices, were on full display during an environmental policy
forum among some of the state’s top Democratic candidates for
governor on Wednesday. … In another controversial issue
facing the state, most of the Democratic candidates on
Wednesday distanced themselves from the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta tunnel, a massive and
controversial proposal to move water to Southern California and
the Central Valley. … Despite Newsom’s efforts to
fast-track the project, it has been stalled by environmental
reviews and lawsuits. It hit another legal hurdle this month
when a state appeals court rejected the state’s plan to finance
the 45-mile tunnel.
… U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum
said in a statement that the Trump administration is merely
restoring the ESA to its “original intent” and ending “years of
legal confusion and regulatory overreach.” Of the five new ESA
rules so far, four are essentially repeats from the first Trump
administration that were in effect for a few months before the
Biden administration mostly did away with them.
… Karrigan Börk, a professor of law and director of the
Center for Watershed Sciences at U.C. Davis, calls the new
rules a “wholesale attack” on the ESA, compounded by the
administration’s attempts to weaken other bedrock environmental
laws, such as the Clean Water Act and Migratory Bird Treaty
Act.
Some Nevada residents in the Lake Tahoe Basin say they’re
growing increasingly frustrated with how the Tahoe Regional
Planning Agency (TRPA) makes decisions — concerns that surfaced
publicly last week during a legislative oversight meeting in
Carson City. Nevada lawmakers recently began a new round of
oversight hearings focused on TRPA and the Marlette Lake Water
System. The Nevada Legislative Committee for the Review and
Oversight of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the
Marlette Lake Water System met last Friday. … Residents
raised concerns about growing development in the basin,
declining water clarity, overcrowded parking, and risks related
to wildfire and emergency evacuations.
As Wyoming plans to spend $250 million on two new dams,
primarily for agricultural use, the state’s water office warned
lawmakers that it will also cost hundreds of millions of
dollars to restore existing irrigation canals and
infrastructure. Jason Mead, director of the Wyoming Water
Development Office, outlined the state’s challenges in remarks
Jan. 7 to the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee.
… The proposed West Fork or “Battle Lake” dam on Battle
Creek [in the Colorado River Basin] above Baggs is expected to
cost $150 million. An additional $100 million is estimated for
the Alkali Creek reservoir proposed near Hyattville.
The question of how to protect fish and the ecological health
of rivers that feed California’s largest estuary is generating
heated debate in a series of hearings in Sacramento. … The
plan is being discussed in three days of hearings convened by
the State Water Resources Control Board. It sets out rules for
water quality that will determine how much water can be pumped
out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. … The
approach backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom would give water agencies
more leeway in how they comply with water rules. Environmental
advocates said the proposal would take too much water out of
the Delta and threaten fish already in severe decline.
Federal water managers are reopening endangered species and
water-sharing rules in the Klamath Basin as salmon return to
newly free-flowing stretches of the river and as the Trump
administration pushes agencies to maximize water
deliveries. The Bureau of Reclamation formally asked
federal fisheries agencies last week to help rewrite the
endangered species rules that govern its dams and pumps that
deliver water from the Klamath River on the California-Oregon
border. … Alan Heck, the bureau’s Klamath Basin manager, told
the conference attendees [Wednesday] that he expected the new
guidelines to represent a “fairly large shift in the way we do
business” following President Donald Trump’s executive order to
maximize water supply last year.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and the state’s top negotiator are
heading to Washington, D.C., this week to battle with other
states over how the Colorado River will be managed for years to
come. A 19-year-old federal and state agreement for how to
manage the basin’s largest reservoirs, lakes Mead and Powell,
will expire this fall. … Mitchell said mandatory
conservation for Colorado is a no-go. The state’s constitution
preserves the right for Coloradans to put available water to
beneficial use. Mandatory conservation would go against that,
the state’s lawyers argue.
The fight to remove the golden mussel continues in California.
The invasive species is damaging boats, clogging pipes, and
threatening water systems across the state, according to the
San Joaquin Farm Bureau. … Here at home, they have been
detected in the San Luis Reservoir and the Friant-Kern Canal.
These invasive species are causing frustration and costly
concerns throughout the state. … A reservoir in the East
Bay remains closed to boats because of the golden mussel
spread, and experts say more could close as they try to come up
with a solution.
Twenty water professionals from across California have
been chosen for the 2026 cohort of the William R. Gianelli
Water Leaders, a highly competitive and respected leadership
program. … The 2026 cohort will
explore ways to find 9 million acre-feet of
additional water through conservation, storage and other
means by 2040. This goal was part of Senate Bill 72, which
was signed into law last October by Gov. Newsom. The bill
requires the California Department of Water Resources to
quantify water-supply gaps and identify 9 million acre-feet of
additional water supply by 2040 to offset losses anticipated as
the climate continues to warm.
Last weekend’s winter storm may have covered much of the
country in a glut of snow and ice, but the season has not
delivered out West, where several states face a snowpack
drought. … Given those conditions, scientists are
growing concerned about the water supply and a risk of
wildfires later in the year. Because the mountain snowpack in
Western states runs off as water throughout spring and summer,
the levels influence how much water farmers can use to irrigate
crops, how risky the wildfire season will be, and how much
electricity hydropower dams can generate.
Nearly 40 organizations across the Sacramento region are
beginning the formal process of approving the Water Forum 2050
Agreement, a major milestone in advancing the next generation
of regional water management. … “Twenty-five years ago,
the region made a bold decision to move past disagreement and
commit to a shared approach for protecting the Lower American
River and securing reliable water supplies,” said Water Forum
Executive Director Ashlee Casey. “Water Forum 2050 strives for
the same level of foresight. Our goal is that 25 years from
now, people will view this agreement with the same confidence
and appreciation we have for the original.”
Several Colorado agencies have waded into the discussion of
which waters the federal government should protect from
pollution and development under the Clean Water Act. In
November, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency proposed a change to the
federal rule defining “Waters of the United States” or WOTUS to
bring it in line with guidance from the Trump administration
and a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision. … Despite having
state protections, there are concerns with how the proposal
could adversely affect arid, Western states and challenge state
resources.
Three communities – San Diego, Oceanside and parts of East
County – are entering the era of recycled water, at a crucial
moment for local water politics. How that gets sorted out will
be reflected in San Diegans’ water bills. A decade ago, amid
worries about the impact of drought on water supplies, those
San Diego municipalities turned to recycled water, that is,
turning sewage into drinking water. One local city, Carlsbad,
also has a desalination plant, which turns seawater into
drinking water. All those recycled water projects now are
coming to fruition. But angst about drought has been overtaken
by concern about the rising cost of water from the San Diego
County Water Authority.
With Imperial Beach closures stretching into a third
consecutive year, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors has
approved a new executive-level position aimed at speeding up
and unifying the County’s response to the ongoing Tijuana River
Valley sewage crisis. Supervisors voted Tuesday to establish a
County Pollution Crisis Chief, a role designed to serve as the
central point of coordination for sewage-related response
efforts. County leaders say the position will bring urgency,
accountability and clearer leadership during the ongoing state
of emergency impacting South Bay communities.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched the first
step of its expedited review to determine safe levels of
fluoride in drinking water, according to a notice posted in the
Federal Register on Wednesday, advancing a priority of the
Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. The
agency’s final toxicity assessment will inform potential
revisions to fluoride drinking water standards under the Safe
Drinking Water Act and will also support the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations on fluoride in
drinking water, according to the notice.
Stanislaus County supervisors adopted a well mitigation and
management plan Tuesday for the groundwater underlying most of
the northern part of the county. County government has
jurisdiction over the eastern and western unincorporated areas
that are not within irrigation districts — about 22% of the
groundwater basin. … According to a report Tuesday from
county Water Resources Manager Christy McKinnon, groundwater
levels are expected to decline before management efforts
reverse the pattern. Almost 30 wells are at risk of failing if
there is no action.
The Marysville ring levee project started in 2010. Now, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is nearing completion of the
project. Engineers are submitting for federal certification.
… By federal standards, the project is done. FEMA
requires a one-in-100-year level of protection. But the state
of California requires a 200-year level protection. … ”I
think it’s especially important for Marysville because it’s at
the confluence of two major rivers, Feather River and Yuba
River, which has been the focal point of devastating floods
over the last century or so,” said Ryan McNally, the director
of water resources and flood risk reduction with Yuba Water
Agency.
The California Farm Water Coalition has released its 2025
Impact Report. … In 2025, CFWC deepened its leadership
role as a unified voice for California agriculture, working
alongside the Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley and
the San Joaquin Valley Water Collaborative Action Program.
… Key advocacy efforts included supporting the Healthy
Rivers and Landscapes alternative in the Bay-Delta Plan,
championing critical infrastructure projects like the B.F. Sisk
Dam improvements, Sites Reservoir permitting and construction,
Success Reservoir Enlargement Project, and pressing for strong
federal action under Executive Order 14181 with a shared goal
of increasing available water supply by 9 million acre-feet per
year by 2040.
… You could feel the significance of what we were celebrating
[Dec. 11]: the functional completion of statewide LiDAR data
acquisition for California. … We now hold high-resolution,
three-dimensional information for the entire state—a dataset
capable of revealing everything from the heights of individual
trees to the traces of active earthquake faults.
… Across the state, agencies and partners are now
turning raw LiDAR data into actionable information products at
statewide and local scales. A few examples: WERK Initiative:
Advancing watershed-scale remote sensing products calibrated
for forest and landscape stewardship. Department of Water
Resources: Leading California’s contribution to the national
elevation-derived hydrography dataset—essential for modeling
water flow, flood behavior, and watershed resilience.
… As warm and dry conditions continue in the West, the
forecasts for the amount of water flowing through the
Upper Colorado River Basin keep dropping.
… And to top it off, the [Drought Response Operations]
agreement that outlines how Upper Basin states, including
Colorado, can help out in drought years expired Dec. 31, and
it’s not yet clear from a legal standpoint what that means for
this year. … The agreement, called the DROA by the water
wonks, aimed to keep Powell’s elevation above 3,525 feet above
sea level. … It’s one of several agreements that expire this
year and must be replaced, including Mexico’s Colorado River
agreement and reservoir operation rules from 2007.
… Colorado’s mountains harbor a vital water
supply that melts and runs through four major rivers and 19
downstream states each year.
