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When it comes to determining the fate of big water projects in California, there is no bigger influencer than the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Metropolitan is the largest water wholesaler in the nation, supplying water to 26 water districts throughout the region that in turn keep the taps flowing to 19 million people. As such, the agency is often the 800-pound gorilla in the room when big-ticket water infrastructure projects are looking for investors in California.

As Metropolitan’s board represents communities from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties, it should be no surprise that its members do not always see eye-to-eye on the best way to provide economically and environmentally sustainable water supplies to the region. And as much of the state’s gray infrastructure ages and climate change worsens, the agency will continue to face tough choices about which investments to prioritize in a world with limited resources and escalating climate concerns.

America’s has a hidden water crisis. Parts of the US are drying out, and scientists warn the aquifers that keep the Southwest alive are disappearing far faster than they can be replenished. Jay Famiglietti, a global futures professor at Arizona State University who has extensively studied the nation’s water supplies, joins The Excerpt to explain.

The most important water job in this region, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, is in flux.

Three people have held the position over the past five years, including two since the end of January. Now, Met Water is in the process of hiring yet another new leader, with district officials saying their goal is to find a general manager who will stay on the job for several years.

A dry summer in Colorado and across the Colorado River Basin is ratcheting up the pressure to cut back on water use, fast, but one federal conservation program has been stalled in Congress since June.

The reason why isn’t clear to U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat who represents Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District.

The program, called the System Conservation Pilot Program, pays people in four Western states, including Colorado, to voluntarily and temporarily cut back on their water use. Officials re-launched it in 2022, with $125 million in federal funds, as a two-decade drought tightened water supplies across the basin. It initially ran from 2015 to 2018 and restarted in summer 2023.