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 Interim Director Doug Beeman.
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The Trump administration has appointed Josh F.W. Cook as head
of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Southwest
Office, overseeing federal environmental policy in California,
Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, the Pacific Islands and 148 Tribal
Nations. Cook, who lives in Chico (Butte County), is a
government and tribal affairs consultant, according to his
LinkedIn account, and has held a handful of government
positions. He spent a decade as chief of staff for former
Republican State Sen. Brian Dahle, R-Bieber (Lassen County) and
has served on advisory committees for the U.S. Forest Service
and Bureau of Land Management. His resume also includes helping
with the emergency response to California’s deadly Camp Fire in
2018.
The leading trade group representing California’s public water
agencies came out Monday against a bill meant to protect the
state from Trump administration rollbacks. The Association of
California Water Agencies adopted an “oppose” position to Sen.
Ben Allen’s SB 601, which would clarify state law to reclassify
all waters that were previously defined as “waters of the
state” prior to the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett v. EPA
decision. ACWA senior policy advocate Soren Nelson said in an
email the group has “serious concerns with SB 601, as it would
needlessly complicate the state’s regulatory framework for
protecting water quality, lead to frivolous litigation, and
almost certainly translate into higher water bills for
Californians.”
After days of snow falling in the Sierra, the winter season is
inching closer to recovering from a dry start to the year.
According to snow sensor data from the California Department of
Water Resources, the statewide Sierra snowpack fell to 66% of
average on Jan. 30. On Feb. 28, the date of the last manual
snow survey along Highway 50, the statewide snowpack stood at
85% of average.
… The removal of the four dams on the Klamath, which were
owned by the power utility PacifiCorp, represents the first
real attempt at the kind of river restoration that Indigenous
nations and environmentalists have long demanded. It is the
result of an improbable campaign that spanned close to half a
century, roped in thousands of people, and came within an inch
of collapse several times. Interviews with dozens of people on
all sides of the dam removal fight, some of whom have never
spoken publicly about their roles, reveal a collaborative
achievement with few clear parallels in contemporary
activism.
… State and federal agencies, nonprofits and other groups
have spent more than $3 billion over the past quarter century
for more than 800 projects that aimed to protect and improve
(Lake Tahoe) and its environs. And public investment is
accelerating: Congress recently reauthorized the Lake Tahoe
Restoration Act, allocating $300 million for an array of
projects for another 10 years. Work the region has prioritized
for the next five years is estimated to cost more than $2
billion in federal, state, local and private funds. But
despite all of the billions lavished on Lake Tahoe, questions
remain about whether all of this funding and attention have
actually improved the quality of the lake and its surrounding
environment.
Last week, the Sites Reservoir Project received $134 million in
federal funding from the Water Infrastructure Improvement for
the Nation Act (WIIN Act), which provides funding to help
improve water infrastructure around the United States. … With
the $134 million investment, the Sites Reservoir Project has
been designated a total of $780.15 million in federal
contributions to date. The Sites Project Authority says that
they will continue to work with the United States Bureau of
Reclamation on achieving their 16% participation goal as space
in the reservoir becomes available and sufficient funds are
appropriated to the project.
Utah and Colorado are in some ways sisters. They share a border
of over 200 miles, are both world-renowned skiing destinations
that straddle the beautiful and rugged Colorado Plateau, and
both revere the mighty Colorado River that passes through them
on its way to the sea. But they could not be farther apart when
it comes to the new administration and its current and promised
actions regarding open lands and environmental protections. One
embraces it, the other is girding its loins against it.
Why? –Written by Kevin T. Jones, a writer who lives in
southwest Colorado and served as Utah’s state archaeologist for
17 years.
National parks are struggling with an $877 million backlog of
plumbing problems at restrooms and wastewater facilities with a
shortfall of workers needed to make repairs, according to an
audit released last week by the Interior Department’s inspector
general. Moreover, the park system — which hosted 332 million
visits last year at more than 400 sites — also lacks a system
to track critical wastewater hazards identified by NPS’ Office
of Public Health, the report said. The Office of Inspector
General surveyed 30 public health assessments for parks and
found 87 critical-level deficiencies such as permit violations
for sewage discharges, wastewater spills and other
problems.
Mexico will invest $6.1bn on 17 water projects in regions hit
by drought and flooding over the next six years, news website
Aquínoticias reports. The country is increasingly prone to
drought partly as a result of climate change and partly through
rapid urbanisation, which are draining aquifers. The work will
help 36 million people, said Efraín Morales López, director
general of Conagua, which manages Mexico’s water
infrastructure. He said $750m would be spent in the coming
year, and would fund site preparation for a desalination plant,
aqueducts and flood protection. The plant will be built in
Rosarito, Baja California, with a six-year investment of around
$600m. It will provide water to the Tijuana area, benefiting 6
million residents. Work will begin in November.
On March 14, 2025, the Court of Appeal for California’s Fifth
Appellate District issued its decision in Sandton Agriculture
Investments III v. 4-S Ranch Partners, 2025 S.O.S. 659. That
case provided guidance on ownership of captured water and
percolating groundwater. … The opinion in this case is a
timely one that provides guideposts for how parties should
think about property rights when purchasing or selling
property. The water rights at issue in this case were arguably
worth between $200 million and $600 million, and Sandton
acquired them almost for free. This case should be considered
in any acquisition or transfer of property with captured water
or groundwater.
California’s most-destructive and least-welcome swamp rodents
have arrived in its fifth-largest city. To be precise, they’ve
arrived in the stretch of San Joaquin River that traces
Fresno’s northwest border. Eight years have passed since a
reproducing population of nutria was found in western Merced
County — their first discovery in the state since the 1970s.
Despite eradication efforts that began in March 2018, nutria
have since spread north into the Delta, east into foothills
along the Merced River and south into the Fresno Slough and
Mendota Wildlife Area. … Since 2023 more nutria have been
taken from Fresno County than any county in California,
according to CDFW data. In the overall tally of 5,493 animals
that dates to 2018, Fresno County (1,140) trails only Merced
County (2,593). -Written by Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski.
An appeals court on Thursday will hear arguments on Kern River
water diversions, which have killed thousands of fish and
drained the once flowing waterway in Bakersfield. The 5th
District Court of Appeals will consider whether to uphold a
preliminary injunction sought by a coalition of environmental
groups to stop the city of Bakersfield and agricultural water
storage districts from diversions that significantly reduce
river flow. … (A)n appeals court issued a stay on the
injunction, after agricultural water districts appealed. In
October state Attorney General Rob Bonta intervened in the
lawsuit, siding with environmentalists in challenging the
diversions. Thursday’s hearing will determine whether to
restore the injunction and allow Kern River water to flow once
again.
New research released today by the Pacific Institute and
DigDeep outlines over 100 actionable strategies for frontline
communities’ water and sanitation systems in the face of
intensifying climate impacts while addressing systemic
inequities. This report, “Achieving Equitable,
Climate-Resilient Water and Sanitation for Frontline
Communities,” defines specific attributes of equitable,
climate-resilient water and sanitation that are key to
advancing solutions to the climate crisis. … The report
identifies eight categories of attributes and strategies for
achieving equitable, climate-resilient water and sanitation
systems.
Other climate change and water science and analysis:
This spring, students can learn about water use and runoff
through interactive assemblies or explore local water resources
while engaging in class projects — all thanks to water
education programs hosted by Inside the Outdoors. In
celebration of World Water Day on March 22, the OCDE-led
environmental education program is making a splash by opening
applications to Orange County classrooms eager to learn more
about the wonders of water. The traveling scientist programs,
available for students in grades three through 12, are offered
through a grant partnership with the Municipal Water District
of Orange County and the Family of Orange County Water
Providers.
Residents have until 5 p.m. April 11 to submit comments on the
proposed renewal of the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System at the Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant,
6040 Vaca Station Road. Treated wastewater is discharged to Old
Alamo Creek, a tributary of New Alamo Creek, Ulatis Creek,
Cache Creek Slough and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. …
The tentative order includes updated effluent limitations for
ammonia nitrogen, nitrate plus nitrite, dichlorobromomethane,
dibromochloromethane, and cyanide. It removes effluent
limitations for acute whole effluent toxicity and electrical
conductivity.
… The administration is considering terminating the lease
on the Army Corps of Engineers’ Risk Management Center, which
current and former employees say is integral to oversight of
hundreds of dams and thousands of miles of levees nationwide. …
The uncertain future facing the Risk Management Center comes as
the Trump administration has fired employees at other agencies
— like the Bureau of Reclamation and National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration — also integral to dam safety. Now,
some dam safety experts worry the public will be at greater
risk of flooding and other potentially life-threatening
situations given the current trajectory.
Other federal water and public resource agency news:
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its
scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists,
biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, according to
documents reviewed by Democrats on the House Committee on
Science, Space and Technology. The strategy is part of
large-scale layoffs, known as a “reduction in force,” being
planned by the Trump administration, which is intent on
shrinking the federal work force. Lee Zeldin, the administrator
of the E.P.A., has said he wants to eliminate 65 percent of the
agency’s budget. That would be a drastic reduction — one that
experts said could hamper clean water and wastewater
improvements, air quality monitoring, the cleanup of toxic
industrial sites, and other parts of the agency’s mission.
Utah is launching a plan to pay farmers to leave some of their
irrigation water in the Colorado River system. The Colorado
River Authority of Utah board has approved the first round of
applicants for the state’s new Demand Management Pilot Program.
It includes more than a dozen projects along Colorado River
tributaries in eastern and southeastern Utah. The program will
use up to $4.2 million of state money to compensate farmers who
temporarily forgo using some of their water in 2025 and 2026. …
Utah leaders hope quantifying the water those projects save
will help the state avoid mandatory cutbacks as it looks toward
a renegotiated Colorado River agreement in 2026.
The recent rain and snow are much needed for Central
California’s water supply. The latest set of storms is already
sparking talk of a “Miracle March.” “January was a really dry
month. It was really a bust for the amount of water we got,
very little snowpack,” said Steven Haugen, watermaster for the
Kings River Water Association. Haugen is paying close attention
to Central California’s snowpack, which he called our biggest
reservoir, holding more than a million acre-feet of water. Our
actual reservoirs are almost all at or above historical
averages, except nearby Millerton and to the south, Castaic.
Both are just below their average levels for this time of year.
… California’s sport and commercial fishermen have been
walloped by two years of salmon closures and are bracing for a
potential third, which they blame on a years-earlier drought
and state and federal water management policies they say have
made it tough for the species to thrive. … The dim outlook
comes as President Donald Trump has ordered officials to find
ways to put “people over fish” and route more water to farmers
in California’s crop-rich Central Valley and residents of its
densely-populated cities. Trump has professed his love for
farmers and contends too much heed is paid to the tiny delta
smelt, a federally-threatened species seen as an indicator of
the health of California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta. But salmon depend on this same water system for
their survival.
