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Today, House committee legislators will be voting to approve or deny a California irrigation bill that would forgive $375 million worth of debt owed by one of the nation’s largest farm-focused irrigation districts, Westlands Water District.

Approving the plan would, essentially, relieve the federal government of its obligation to provide drainage for each farm in the 600,000-acre Westlands district. According to The Sacramento Bee, the estimated overall costs to the federal government of providing these drainage services is $3.5 billion and counting.

The Imperial Irrigation District has given California officials an ultimatum on the Salton Sea, demanding the state finalize a 10-year “roadmap” for the shrinking lake by the end of this year.

The Imperial Valley water district made the appeal this week, urging state officials to uphold their responsibility to control dust and protect public health as the lake recedes.

Business as usual on the Colorado River may be about to come to a screeching halt.

One of the worst recorded droughts in human history has stretched water supplies thin across the far-reaching river basin, which serves 40 million people.

Nowhere is this more obvious than Lake Mead, which straddles the border of Arizona and Nevada. The water level in the country’s largest manmade reservoir has been plummeting; it’s now only 38 percent full. With an official water shortage imminent, Arizona, Nevada and California are taking matters into their own hands.

A key House committee on Wednesday approved a big irrigation drainage deal with California’s politically potent Westlands Water District, opening another front in the state’s ongoing conflict over water, money and power.

Watched over by a handful of lobbyists and activists, the House Natural Resources Committee approved the controversial Westlands deal by a mostly party line 27-to-12 vote following an occasionally testy markup. Fresno-area Rep. Jim Costa was one of only three Democrats on the committee to support the legislation.