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Colorado River Water Conservation Program Remains Stalled in Us House

/in , /by /Colorado Sunby Shannon Mullane

A dry summer in Colorado and across the Colorado River Basin is ratcheting up the pressure to cut back on water use, fast, but one federal conservation program has been stalled in Congress since June.

The reason why isn’t clear to U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat who represents Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District.

The program, called the System Conservation Pilot Program, pays people in four Western states, including Colorado, to voluntarily and temporarily cut back on their water use. Officials re-launched it in 2022, with $125 million in federal funds, as a two-decade drought tightened water supplies across the basin. It initially ran from 2015 to 2018 and restarted in summer 2023.

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OPINION: Ringside: Tips to Understand Our Convoluted Yet Obligatory Units of Water

/in , /by /California Globeby Edward Ring

Those of us following water politics and the water industry have become familiar with the most common units of water volume and water flow. Professionals in the industry make constant use of terms, often reduced to acronyms, forgetting that the rest of us may have no idea what they’re talking about.

When it comes to encouraging meaningful discussions over water policy, understanding these terms is mandatory. But whether it’s politicians who rely on staff members who are themselves usually spread too thin to become expert anyway, or journalists who often just grab a quote with a number in it to give their story a whiff of verisimilitude, water numeracy is unusual.

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California Imposes Historic Permanent Water Restrictions

/in , /by /News 3 Las Vegasby News 3 Staff

California has made history by imposing permanent water restrictions on cities and towns for the first time.

This move is part of a broader trend affecting several states across the western United States, including Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona. Even states like Florida and Texas have implemented water restrictions.

Last year, the California State Water Resources Control Board approved a policy requiring hundreds of urban water suppliers to reduce their water provision over the next 15 years.

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The Delta Conveyance Project Is Key to Modernizing the State Water Project and Delivering Water to Millions of Californians

/in , /by /Mavens Notebookby Karla Nemeth

When two of every three Californians pay their water bills each month, they pay for reservoirs and aqueducts that were designed for them a half century ago. The State Water Project was conceived in the mid-1950s, when California’s population had doubled in the previous 15 years. Floods had recently ravaged Northern California towns. The concept was as simple as it was bold – bring water from the wetter parts of the state to the cities and agricultural operations that were outgrowing water supplies in the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, and Southern California.

Fast-forward decades, and the State Water Project has helped resolve groundwater problems in the Santa Clara Valley, South Coast, and elsewhere. In the San Joaquin Valley farm belt, groundwater overdraft persists, but by law irrigation districts must bring aquifers into sustainable conditions by 2040.  The 27 million Californians who pay for the State Water Project have become a $2.3 trillion economic engine, the equivalent of the eighth-largest economy in the world.

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La Niña Could Soon Raise Wildfire Threat in Already Parched San Diego County

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

The already high risk of wildfires in San Diego County could soon jump with the arrival of La Niña, a natural, periodic form of climate change that can produce periods of unusually dry weather.

The National Weather Service has issued a watch that says that La Niña could take hold in October and last into early next year. The western half of the county is currently experiencing severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The eastern half is in extreme drought.

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Will Massive Water Needs of Data Centers, Farms, Mines Be Too Much for the Great Lakes?

/in , /by /USA Todayby Caitlin Looby

While the Great Lakes may seem to offer an endless supply of water, the balance is actually quite delicate.

Each year, only 1% percent of the water in the Great Lakes is replenished by rain, snow and groundwater.

Now, a new report from the Alliance for the Great Lakes shows that this delicate balance may be at risk because of rising demand from industries that use tremendous amounts of water, like data centers, mineral mining, and agriculture, all of which put pressure on groundwater resources.

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Newsom Says California Needs to Build a Water Tunnel. Opponents Argue Costs Are Too High

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

As Gov. Gavin Newsom pushes for building a giant water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, his administration is saying it’s the “single most effective” way for California to provide enough water as the warming climate brings deeper droughts and more intense storms.

Environmental advocates and political leaders in the Delta, among other opponents, condemned a new state analysis that draws that conclusion, arguing that building the tunnel would harm the environment and several types of fish and would push water rates much higher for millions of Californians.

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Heat Wave to Descend on San Diego for the Rest of the Week

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby City News Service

An intense late-summer heat wave will descend on inland San Diego County this week, generating dangerously high temperatures in some locations into the weekend, forecasters advised Tuesday.

The expected onset of scorching conditions prompted the National Weather Service to issue an extreme-heat warning for local desert communities, effective from 10 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Saturday. Over the period, daily highs in those areas could reach 110 to 116 degrees, the NWS said.

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Wildfire Is a Growing Threat to the West’s Water Systems

/in , /by /High Country Newsby Faith Kearns

As wildfire crews battled the Dragon Bravo Fire on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim in July 2025, the air turned toxic.

A chlorine gas leak had erupted from the park’s water treatment facility as the building burned, forcing firefighters to pull back. The water treatment facility is part of a system that draws water from a fragile spring. It’s the only water source and system for the park facilities on both rims, including visitor lodging and park service housing.

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Extreme Heat Watch Issued for San Diego County as Triple-Digit Temps Loom

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Elizabeth Ireland

The mercury will soar into the triple digits across parts of San Diego County later this week, prompting the National Weather Service to issue an Extreme Heat Watch for the region.

The Extreme Heat Watch for San Diego County mountains and deserts begins at 10 a.m. Thursday and concludes to 8 p.m. Friday. However, temps are expected to remain elevated through the weekend.

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