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OPINION: Want Food Security? Keep Water on Western Farms

In the distant past, hunters and gatherers relied on what nature provided. Today, farmers grow food for billions of people around the globe—and that takes water.

Yet there’s a growing drumbeat about the amount of water agriculture consumes in the Colorado River Basin and beyond. Critics say farmers use a disproportionate share compared to cities and if farmers would simply use less, there would be plenty for everyone else.

OPINION: Logging Saves Species and Increases Our Water Supply

There are obvious benefits to logging, grazing, prescribed burns, and mechanical thinning of California’s forests. When you suppress wildfires for what is now over a century, then overregulate and suppress any other means to thin the forest, you get overcrowded and unhealthy forests.

California’s trees now have 5 to 10 times more than a historically normal density. They’re competing for an insufficient share of light, water and nutrients, leading to disease, infestations, dehydration and death. Up through the 1980s, California harvested 6 billion board feet per year of timber; the annual harvest is now 25 percent of that. We have turned our forests into tinderboxes, and that is the reason fires turn into superfires.

In the Central Valley, a First-Of-Its-Kind Project Is Proving That With a Little Innovation, Water and Energy Can Work Together

In Hickman, solar panels are going up over the Turlock Irrigation District’s main canal. For Solar AquaGrid co-founder Jordan Harris, seeing it covered in solar panels is the realization of a decade-long vision.

“It’s been a crazy journey, this last decade, and it’s a big deal for me to stand here and see that we’re making shade, and electrons,” said Harris.

How Technology, Resilience Demands, and Cybersecurity Are Transforming the Water Industry

For 14 years running, the Black & Veatch Water Report has been an essential compass for understanding the evolving landscape of the water industry. The 2025 edition, built on the insights of over 600 U.S. water stakeholders, offers a comprehensive look at the pivotal trends shaping the sector today.

The water industry stands at a critical juncture, grappling with evolving regulations, ageing infrastructure, and significant workforce shifts. To better understand these challenges and the path forward, we sat down with Donnie Ginn, Executive Vice President and Water Solutions Group Leader at Black & Veatch. With over three decades of experience, Ginn’s expertise spans water and wastewater facilities, collection and distribution systems, and complex water conveyance programs. In this interview, Ginn provides a deep dive into the insights from Black & Veatch’s latest Water Report, offering perspectives on how utilities can build sustainable and resilient water solutions.

8 Things to Know About New Research on Earth’s Rapid Drying and the Loss of Its Groundwater

The continents are rapidly drying out and the earth’s vast freshwater resources are under threat, according to a recently released study based on more than 20 years of NASA satellite data. Here are the report’s key findings and what they portend for humankind.

Newsom’s Plan to Give Water Agencies More Leeway in Meeting Rules Moves Forward

California regulators are supporting a controversial plan backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom — and opposed by environmental groups — that would give water agencies more leeway in how they comply with water quality rules.

The Newsom-backed approach is included as part of a proposed water plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, released by the State Water Resources Control Board on Thursday.

California Proposes Major Drinking Water Change: What to Know

A bill introduced in California by state senators Anna Caballero and Alexandra Macedo, a Democrat and Republican, respectively, would give water agencies immunity from civil lawsuits regarding chromium-6 contamination in their supply if they are actively working on plans to address the issue.

Caballero argued California Senate Bill 466 is needed so water agencies can concentrate on removing the potentially cancer-causing contaminant from their supply, rather than spending their limited resources on legal cases.

Key Player in California’s Water Wars Embraces Controversial Pact

After decades of deterioration and ecological collapse in the heart of California’s water system, state regulators today embraced the Newsom administration’s controversial plan to overhaul how farms and cities take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and rivers that feed it.

It’s a major development in a long-running battle over how much water must flow through the Delta for the survival of iconic Chinook salmon, sturgeon and other species — and how much can be tapped for tens of millions of Californians and vast tracts of Central Valley farmland.

OPINION: If Yuma Loses Water, America Could Be Left With Empty Plates

In Arizona’s desert Southwest, water is life. It grows the food that fills grocery stores across the nation — even in the middle of winter.

But today, Arizona farms face unprecedented challenges, and our food security hangs in the balance.

For Millions in Us Mobile Home Parks, Clean and Safe Tap Water Isn’t a Given

The worst water Colt Smith has seen in 14 years with Utah’s Division of Drinking Water was at a mobile home park, where residents had been drinking it for years before state officials discovered the contamination.

The well water carried cancer-causing arsenic as much as 10 times the federal limit. Smith had to put the rural park under a do-not-drink order that lasted nearly 10 years.