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California’s biggest water districts presented their own framework Tuesday for how to share the Colorado River’s dwindling water supply, including a commitment to conserve 440,000 acre-feet of water per year – enough to meet the needs of 1.5 million households annually.

Last month, the seven western states that rely on the Colorado River missed a federally-imposed deadline to submit a preliminary agreement for a plan to replace the river’s operating guidelines set to expire at the end of 2026.

Lake Mead may be facing historic shortages, but officials from the Colorado River state that uses the most water are celebrating unprecedented water savings.

At a briefing for reporters at Tuesday’s Colorado River Water Users Association conference at Caesars Palace, leaders from California’s biggest water districts said the state is on track to use 3.76 million acre-feet this year. That’s about 1.2 trillion gallons — the smallest amount of water from the river since 1949, despite explosive population growth.

Big rain and snow could hit California around Christmastime, ending a long dry spell for the state.

There’s a high risk for heavy rainfall along the entire California coast between Dec. 23 through Christmas Day, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center said. There’s also a high risk of heavy snow along the Sierra Nevada.

Endangered cold water fish are appearing leaps and bounds ahead of where they were in the past five decades thanks to efforts by one Northern California region to restart local salmon runs.

From the Pacific Ocean to 20 miles up Alameda Creek, the endangered red chinook salmon have made it farther than in any season since the 1950s, according to the Alameda Creek Alliance.

Water officials in Kentucky spotted a worrying increase of one specific chemical in the local drinking water, according to NPR, and their attempts to address it revealed a frustrating level of corporate coddling.

Last December, officials at the Louisville Water Company identified a “sudden spike” in levels of HFPO-DA in drinking water. More commonly called “GenX,” HFPO-DA is one of several synthetic fluorochemicals used to create polymers, and it’s classed as a “forever chemical,” or PFAS.