State lawmakers are proposing new limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in tap water as questions emerge about the Trump administration’s stance on regulating the chemicals. Democratic lawmakers in at least five states have introduced bills to set maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for PFAS in drinking water.
Both U.S. senators from Arizona joined those from California and Nevada in a plea to end a federal freeze of $4 billion in water management and conservation for the Colorado River Basin and other Western areas in drought.
This desert city gets less than 9 inches of rain a year and experienced the two hottest years in its recorded history in 2023 and 2024. But El Paso Water started planning decades ago for this hotter, drier climate. Last Thursday, the utility broke ground on its latest project to secure water for the city of 700,000: an advanced water purification facility that will deliver 10 million gallons per day of purified water from the city’s wastewater stream directly into its drinking water supply.
In a case that centered on unusual alliances and unpleasant descriptions of raw sewage being released into San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean during rain storms, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed San Francisco a victory in a long-running legal battle with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Handing down a 5-4 decision, the court narrowed the Clean Water Act, America’s landmark water pollution law, and ruled that the EPA set requirements too broadly in issuing permits for the city’s wastewater treatment plants.
Fourteen California water agencies have appealed to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, urging him not to proceed with planned staff reductions at the Bureau of Reclamation. The agencies argue that terminating 100 employees will not benefit taxpayers. The Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water infrastructure projects such as Millerton Lake and the Friant Kern Canal, is set to reduce its workforce through terminations and buyouts.
The Trump administration has ordered firings and buyouts at the federal agency that operates water infrastructure in California, potentially jeopardizing the agency’s ability to manage dams and deliver water, according to Central Valley water officials.
In these turbulent times, nearly every issue gets filtered through a political lens, where real solutions are often sidelined in favor of scoring political points. When it comes to managing our state’s water supplies, this dynamic is unfortunately all too common.
We do, however, have essential truths: Water is essential to life, and how we manage this resource is one of the most crucial responsibilities we bear, so we must get this right.
Measurements taken across the Sierra Nevada show that California’s snowpack, which typically supplies nearly a third of the state’s water supply, now stands at 85% of average for this time of year. The latest state data released Friday also show the amount of snow in the mountains varies dramatically depending on the region.
Saturday commemorates the 89th anniversary of the Hoover Dam’s completed construction, considered by most experts “a modern miracle” and one of the most visited sites in the world. The 726-foot-high arch-gravity dam stretches 1,244 feet across the Black Canyon and was built over five years starting in 1931, helping provide water and hydroelectrical power to the West.
DOGE-ordered firings at the federal agency responsible for delivering water to farms and cities across California are getting in the way of President Donald Trump’s order to maximize the state’s water supplies. The Bureau of Reclamation’s California office has lost 10 percent of its staff due to buyouts and orders by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency to fire short-tenured employees, according to three people close to the office who were granted anonymity because they feared retaliation.
