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Water Officials Knew That Opening Dams to Meet Trump’s Wishes Was Ill-advised. Here’s Why It Happened Anyway

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

When President Trump called for the federal government to “maximize” water deliveries in California, commanders of the Army Corps of Engineers quickly found two dams where they could carry out that order. And even though the officials knew the water couldn’t be moved out of the Central Vally as Trump wished, they released billions of gallons anyway, according to a newly released government document.

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The Salton Sea is California’s Most Imperiled Lake. Can a New Conservancy Save It?

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Deborah Brennan

Haze hung over the Salton Sea on a recent winter day, while black-necked stilts and kildeer waded in the shallows, pecking at crustaceans. Something else emerged a few steps closer to the lakeshore: a briny, rotten egg stench wafting from the water. The Salton Sea is nearly twice as salty as the ocean, laden with agricultural runoff and susceptible to algal blooms that spew hydrogen sulfide, a noxious gas. It’s also a haven to more than 400 bird species and a key stop on the Pacific Flyway, one of North America’s main bird migration routes.

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Levin Demands Answers Following Trump’s Water Releases Amid LA-Area Wildfires

/in , /by /Spectrum Newsby Cassie Semyon

After the Washington Post revealed late last week that the Army Corps of Engineers knew that releasing water from two California reservoirs at President Donald Trump’s direction in January was unlikely to reach the southern part of the state, Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., is demanding answers from the Pentagon and the Department of Interior for what he calls the “politically motivated, uncoordinated, unscheduled, and opaque water releases” in the Central Valley between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2.

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Utah Will Be the First State to Ban Fluoride in Drinking Water

/in , /by /AP Newsby Matthew Brown and Hannah Schoenbaum

Utah will become the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, despite widespread opposition from dentists and national health organizations.

Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said he would sign legislation that bars cities and communities from deciding whether to add the mineral to their water systems.

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Texas Senate Panel Sends Message to Trump: Get Our Water from Mexico

/in , /by /The Texas Tribuneby Berenice Garcia

Texas senators advanced a resolution Monday that calls on the U.S. State Department to ensure Mexico meets its obligations to deliver water to the U.S. under a 1944 water treaty.

The Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee voted in favor of the resolution after hearing testimony from state and Rio Grande Valley officials on how Mexico’s failure to deliver water has impacted the local farmers and stalled growth.

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What the War on California’s Water is Really About

/in , /by /NY Timesby Ryan Cristopher Jones

The sprawling estuary about 70 miles inland from San Francisco feels distinctly out of place — more like the swampy Florida Everglades than arid California. But from that confluence of two great rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, 1,100 miles of webbed waterways and levees send upward of six million acre-feet of freshwater a year to thirstier parts of the state, from farms in the San Joaquin Valley to the Southern California megalopolis. Known as the California Delta, the estuary is among the state’s most important sources of water — and most consistent flash points over environmental protection.

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States Float PFAS Drinking Water Limits as EPA Weighs Biden Rule

/in , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Drew Hutchinson

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.

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Six U.S. Senators Urge End to Federal Freeze of Colorado River Basin Funding

/in , /by /The Center Squareby Ian Hutchinson

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.

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El Paso, Texas, Just Broke Ground on the First U.S. Facility to Turn Wastewater Directly Into Drinking Water

/in , /by /Fast Companyby Martha Pskowski

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.

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Supreme Court Sides With San Francisco in Raw Sewage Case, Limits EPA Ability to Enforce Clean Water Act

/in /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

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.

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