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There’s an invasion plaguing the coastal waters of Southern California. Waves of tiny interlopers spark havoc at fisheries, clog municipal water pipes and frustrate boaters who must dislodge buckets of sea crud. They’ve altered our coastal regions’ ecosystems, endangered native fish and birthed such nasty problems as “swimmer’s itch.” Accelerated in recent decades by international trade, invasive sea creatures have hitchhiked here in and alongside massive cargo vessels from around the globe.

Sacramento County led a cascade of area governments suing the state in an effort to block the Delta tunnels, saying the $17 billion project would harm local farmers, endangered fish and low-income communities at the south end of the county. The lawsuits come as the tunnels project, championed by Gov. Jerry Brown as a means of improving south state water supplies, makes headway with environmental regulators. In July, the state announced that the massive project complies with the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, and wouldn’t hurt fish, wildlife or human health in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Delta tunnels proponents really want you to read the latest blog post by fish experts Peter Moyle and James Hobbs. The project’s official Twitter account, @CAWaterFix, has tweeted links to the post six times over the past day. “Dr. Moyle & Dr. Hobbs explain why they are optimistic about #CAWaterFix from a fish perspective,” one tweet reads. The scientists do share some reasons for optimism, explaining their “qualified support” for the project.

Now that there’s a list of projects vying for the $2.7 billion in Proposition 1 dedicated to water storage, you’d think the chances of the proposed Sites Reservoir in Colusa County getting some of that cash would be clearer. Not so. There are few surprises in the list of projects seeking the money. Most are proposals that have been around for years, have been studied endlessly, and haven’t gotten built due to a lack of funding.

Dumping billions of gallons on California every year, rain is the state’s way out of drought — if only all that water could be captured instead of washing into drains and out to sea. An ambitious new collaboration spanning five University of California campuses, including UC Santa Barbara, hopes to do exactly that. The research partnership of UCSB, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside and UC San Diego aims to revolutionize the collection and management of stormwater — and demonstrate its potential for addressing drought and flood risk. A $1.9 million UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) grant will help get it done.