California Democrats tried last week to dissuade Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum from cuts to water infrastructure funding. Instead, they got a clear view of the Trump administration’s priorities. The water security programs may be working, but budget cuts are more important, Burgum told lawmakers during a House hearing on President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the Department of the Interior.
President Donald Trump promised to break California’s water rules wide open. So far, he’s mostly working within them. Five months after Trump issued a pair of directives for federal agencies to overturn state and Biden-era rules limiting water deliveries, the federal government has done no such thing. Instead, it’s quietly increasing water flows following the very rules Trump once railed against — at least for now.
President Trump threatened tariffs and sanctions against Mexico this year, claiming the country violated a treaty and is stealing water from Texas farmers. It’s part of a dispute over shared water in the Rio Grande River and its tributaries. A fight exacerbated by higher temperatures and a greater demand for water. Stephanie Sy reports for our series on the impact of climate change, Tipping Point.
In an age defined by self-driving cars, autonomous spacecraft, and artificial intelligence, it may come as no surprise that the science of effective water management often goes unnoticed. Many of us—especially in the U.S.—have grown accustomed to the convenience of clean, reliable water, and often take it for granted. In fact, most Americans engage with the U.S. water system only via a series of fleeting touch points—when they turn a faucet, water their lawn, or start their dishwasher—and have come to expect a seamless experience.
Storks scatter, white against blue water, as Dan Mohring’s pickup truck rumbles down the dirt road. He’s towing a trailer full of ground-up beef, chicken, fish and nutrient bits behind him, ready to be shot out of a cannon into the ponds below. It’s time to feed the fish. Mohring fires up the machine and the food flies out in a rainbow arc. Then the water comes alive.
Water pouring from the faucets of at least 42 million Americans is contaminated with unacceptable levels of “forever chemicals,” according to a USA TODAY analysis of records the Environmental Protection Agency released June 2. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a family of chemicals engineered to be nearly indestructible. Studies have shown they can accumulate over time in human bodies, leading to certain cancers and other health complications.
California has often positioned itself as a leader in responding to the dangers of climate change. From pioneering clean energy initiatives to enforcing some of the strictest emissions regulations in the nation, the state has consistently taken bold steps to prepare for the future. Yet when it comes to water infrastructure, which is also an important part of our response to climate change, we are falling dangerously behind.
For decades, California officials have debated and discussed various projects to redirect more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta toward communities and farms in the southern portion of the state. The latest iteration of these plans is the Delta Conveyance Project, a single tunnel along the Sacramento River stretching just south of Clarksburg near the town of Hood, to a reservoir near Livermore.
On scorching days when winds blow across the California desert, the Salton Sea regularly gives off a stench of decay resembling rotten eggs. New research has found that the shrinking lake is emitting the foul-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide more frequently and at higher levels than previously measured. The findings document how the odors from the Salton Sea add to the air quality problems and health concerns in communities near the lake, where windblown dust drifts from exposed stretches of lakebed and where people suffer from high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
As the pumps whir around us, Denis Bilodeau motions to the liquid in the vats below. It looks like iced tea, but in fact it’s secondary treated sewage, cleaned of any solids by the plant next door. In less than an hour, and after three steps of processing, we will be drinking it – as pure water. The Groundwater Replenishment System facility in Orange County, California, houses the pipes, filters and pumps to move up to 130m gallons each day – enough for 1 million people – processing it from dark to clear.
