You are now in California and the U.S. Media Coverage category.

According to a Feb. 4 press release, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., has introduced two bills aimed at addressing long-term water supply challenges in California and across the American West.

Padilla, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced the Making Our Communities Resilient through Enhancing Water for Agriculture, Technology, the Environment, and Residences Act, known as the MORE WATER Act, and the Growing Resilient Operations from Water Savings and Municipal-Agricultural Reciprocally Beneficial Transactions Act, known as the GROW SMART Act.

A California water official has warned that the longer the Golden State goes without adequate snowfall this winter, the “harder it will be to catch up” to the levels needed to maintain California’s reservoir water supply through the dry summer months.

The message came as the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted its second snow survey of the season last week. Snow surveys are designed to measure water content from statewide snow depth, which is a crucial number for statewide water supply forecasts, given that snowpack provides about 30 percent of the state’s water supply.

California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) has increased the 2026 State Water Project (SWP) allocation to 30% of requested supplies, up from the initial 10% announced Dec. 1, following mid-December storms that boosted available water supplies. The SWP delivers water to 29 public water agencies serving approximately 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.

According to DWR, SWP allocations are based on hydrologic conditions, existing reservoir storage and planning assumptions that the remainder of the year will be dry. While December storms improved conditions statewide, January has been unseasonably warm and dry, leaving snowpack and precipitation below average for this time of year.

America’s water and wastewater infrastructure is entering a period of reinvestment, and because of that, opportunities for collaboration between private sector firms and public entities will be abundant in 2026.

Decades-old treatment plants, pump stations, and collection systems are being pushed beyond their original design lives by population growth, tighter environmental regulations, and volatile weather patterns. Public officials are moving to protect and upgrade the nation’s critical water infrastructure, and demand for experienced partners will be high demand for the next several years.

A historic meeting took place at the nation’s capital on Friday as Colorado Gov. Jared Polis joined governors from across the Colorado River Basin.

He joined the governors of Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, California, Nevada and Arizona in talks centered on how to reach an agreement that protects the Colorado River. Polis said the discussion focused on next steps, timelines and a commitment from all of the states involved to avoid litigation.