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California Water Managers Raise 2026 Deliveries as Reservoirs Remain Near Full

/in , /by /Sacramento Beeby Nicole Buss

California officials announced Friday that the State Water Project will deliver more water than expected in 2026.

The Department of Water Resources increased the project’s water allocation to 45% from 30% of requested supplies. The allocation tells the state’s 29 public water agencies how much water they can expect to receive. Those agencies supply water to 27 million Californians and irrigate about 750,000 acres of farmland.

 

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Data Centers Are Guzzling California’s Water. We Have No Idea How Much

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Rachel Becker

Data center builders don’t tell the public how much water they use, according to a new report — and the industry is encroaching into water-stressed and vulnerable communities.

The report, by the think tank Next10 and researchers at Santa Clara University, finds that planned data centers — the ganglia of artificial intelligence — are spreading to regions reliant on overtapped groundwater and strained surface water, with potentially major effects in the Central and Imperial Valleys.

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Deep in the San Diego County Desert, New Research Has This Town at Loggerheads on What to Do About Water

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Maura Fox and Lucas Robinson

Just off Palm Canyon Drive in Borrego Springs, a dead honey mesquite tree remains rooted in the hot sand. It’s lifeless but not yet useless — not to the creatures that find shade under its branches or the plants that count on its nutrients.

Over the last year, mesquite has been at the heart of a growing water war in Borrego Springs, a tiny but scenic town deep in the San Diego County desert that for years seemed blessed with a rare combination of blazing sun and a font of available groundwater.

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US Plan for Colorado River Could Cut Up to 40% Supply for Arizona, California and Nevada

/in , /by /Th Guardianby Uwa Ede-Osifo

The US government has proposed a plan for the drought stricken Colorado River that could cut up to 40% of current supplies to Arizona, California and Nevada, as the waterway’s reservoirs continue to plunge to critically low levels.

A top Arizona water official shared details of the Trump administration’s plan at a state meeting on Wednesday.

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The US City on the Brink of Running Out of Water

/in , /by /Newsweekby Joe Edwards

“We’re running out of water.”

That blunt warning from Republican Congressman Michael Cloud, who represents Corpus Christi in the U.S. House, captures how dire the situation has become in the South Texas coastal city, where falling reservoir levels and looming mandatory cuts have brought officials closer to the prospect of severe water shortages across its primary reservoir system.

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Nevada Wants to Cut Its Own Colorado River Share for Emergency Conservation Need

/in , /by /Las Vegas Review Journalby Alan Halaly and Bryan Horwath

Nevada, along with its sister states of California and Arizona, has proposed taking a significant cut to its share of the Colorado River, pending approval from officials from each state.

Through a news release earlier this month, the Lower Colorado River Basin states of Nevada, California and Arizona said they are willing to up their commitment to stabilize the river’s water supply with a plan that would deliver up to 3.2 million acre-feet of water savings through 2028.

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A Dire ‘Math Problem’ on the Colorado River and Wholly Inadequate Responses

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Among the leading experts who study the Colorado River, Anne Castle stands out.

During the Obama administration, she was assistant secretary for water and science at the Interior Department. During the Biden administration, she served on the Upper Colorado River Commission. She is now a senior fellow at the University of Colorado Law School Getches-Wilkinson Center.

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Golden Mussels Spreading Through California Waterways, Prompting Urgent Warnings to Kern County Water Agencies

/in , /by /ABC 23 Bakersfieldby Riley Nagel

Golden mussels may be small, but experts say they could create major problems for California’s water systems, prompting urgent warnings to local water agencies across Kern County.

“The message we’re trying to convey today is the mussels are here. They’re down the water project. They’re here. We’re dealing with them now,” Said Samuel Lux, President of Diversified Project Services International.

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Money for Clean Drinking Water Threatened by Newsom Administration’s Climate Overhaul

/in , , /by /Cal Mattersby Rachel Becker

Seven years ago, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law to bring safe and affordable drinking water to the state’s most disadvantaged communities.

Last week, Newsom celebrated the program’s accomplishments.

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Heavier Storms and Longer Dry Spells Are Drying California and the West

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Rainfall across much of California and the West has become more clustered in heavier storms, with longer dry spells in between.

The net effect is a drying out, researchers found in a new study. It isn’t just the western United States; the same is true in much of the rest of the world.

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