The shelves and prices at your local grocery store could look a little different soon.
The Colorado River, which provides water for about 15% of our country’s agriculture, is shrinking, and the current agreement that divvies up the water usage ends in 2026.
California’s first monthly snowpack survey comes on Thursday. It’s likely to be reasonably good for this early part of the rain and snow season.
As the new year begins, it’s good to take a look back and see what’s happened with California’s fire and water; essential elements, but also something that can lead to real problems. The Golden State had some big fires last year, but not in swarms.
New York City is the water poverty capital of the United States, according to a study citing census data, with 56,900 residents living without access to running water in 2021.
In second place was Los Angeles, with 45,900 people, followed by San Francisco, with 24,400. In Chicago and Houston, more than 22,000 residents do not have access to running water.
The Newsom administration is refining a contentious set of proposed rules, years in the making, that would reshape how farms and cities draw water from the Central Valley’s Delta and its rivers. Backed by more than $1 billion in state funds, the rules, if adopted, would require water users to help restore rivers and rebuild depleted Chinook salmon runs.
The administration touts its proposed rules as the starting point of a long-term effort to double Central Valley Chinook populations from historical levels, reaching numbers not seen in at least 75 years. But environmental groups have almost unanimously rejected it, saying it promises environmental gains that will never materialize and jeopardizes the existence of California’s iconic salmon and other fish.
The Sweetwater Authority, which supplies drinking water to more than 200,000 households in southern San Diego County, alerted city officials in its service area on Friday that it had discovered toxic industrial chemicals in its main reservoir at levels that exceed state and federal standards.
The PFAS chemicals, also known as “forever” chemicals because of their longevity in the environment, were discovered during newly mandated testing in late October. The chemicals, known by the technical names PFHxS and PFOA, have been shown to interfere with thyroid function and cause cancer in laboratory animals.
A major Southern California water supplier voted Tuesday to approve a motion to help move forward a project that would tunnel water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Southern California.
Members of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California approved allocating $141.6 million for the planning and preconstruction of the Delta Conveyance Project.
After years of decline and the threat of reaching “dead pool” status, Lake Mead’s water levels are finally on the rise, the Colorado River Board of California announced last week.
The fate of the Nevada reservoir has long been intertwined with the actions of farmers in California’s Imperial Valley, who hold some of the oldest water rights to the Colorado River and receive the largest share of the drought-stressed river’s water in California. Now, efforts to cut back water use in California’s hot and dry southeastern corner seem to be paying off.
For the second year in a row, the San Diego County Water Authority and its partners have struck a deal to conserve water in Lake Mead, support the long-term sustainability of the Colorado River and save local ratepayers money.
The agreements between the Water Authority, the Imperial Irrigation District, and the Metropolitan Water District, with funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, are designed to promote voluntary water conservation. The 2024 agreement was announced during a meeting of the Colorado River Board of California at this year’s Colorado River Water Users Association’s conference in Las Vegas.
As a part of these deals, the Water Authority agreed to leave 50,000 acre-feet of water from its Quantification Settlement Agreement supplies in the Colorado River, helping California meet federal conservation goals.
The 2023 agreement between the three parties was the first of its kind. The 2024 deal will save San Diego County ratepayers approximately $20 million, which will be applied to 2026 wholesale water rates.
“For the second year in a row, the Water Authority and its partners have struck a deal to conserve water in Lake Mead and save our local ratepayers approximately $20 million,” said Water Authority Board Chair Nick Serrano. “This is a win-win for all of us and demonstrates how the Water Authority is strategically using its assets to help protect ratepayers and the Colorado River through innovative thinking.”
The Water Authority’s efforts are part of a larger commitment by California water users to protect the overtaxed Colorado River, including plans to save at least 400,000 more acre-feet in 2025 after conserving more than 1.2 million acre-feet over the last two years.
“It is really a model partnership and collaboration between states and local entities and the federal government,” said U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner M. Camille Calimlim Touton.
California’s efforts have led to the equivalent of 16 feet of water being added to Lake Mead in two years, providing much-needed stability to the entire river system as the seven Basin states work with the federal government to create a post-2026 operations plan for the river.
“Our collective achievements not only have made a profound impact on Lake Mead today, they also illustrate the can-do spirit that the Water Authority and our partners bring to future conservation work on the river,” said Colorado River Board Vice Chair and Water Authority Director Jim Madaffer. “We are both proud of what we have accomplished and committed to delivering additional solutions for the Southwest in the years ahead.”
The Colorado River Basin is the most important water source in the West, providing water for more than 40 million people and generating hydropower in seven U.S. states.
The Water Authority will continue to pursue other water transfers and exchanges to maximize the value of San Diego County’s water resources and minimize the cost to local ratepayers. Those steps include budget cuts, project deferrals, debt refinancing, increasing grant funds and restructuring rates.
No country is immune from water scarcity issues—not even wealthy countries like the United States.
Population growth and climate change are stretching America’s water supplies to the limit, and tapping new sources is becoming more difficult each year—in some cases, even impossible.
The California state water board on Monday formally announced that the Sites Reservoir project failed to get federal approval, a situation they say isn’t permanent and can be rectified.
The rejection by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the latest setback for the estimated $4 billion project in Northern California that would capture water during the rainy season. Officials have said the reservoir would hold up to 1.5 million acre-feet of water, or enough for 3 million homes a year.
