Colorado River states have weeks remaining to resolve deep divides over how to manage the river for years to come, officials at a water conference in southwestern Colorado said Friday.
Malynndra Tome was helping to map livestock ponds in the Navajo Nation when she saw something that inspired her to act. An elderly woman was filling milk jugs with water at the back of a gas station in the Native American reservation, where about 30% of people live without running water.
The Trump administration announced a wave of regulatory rollbacks on Wednesday including a repeal of Biden-era emissions limits on power plants and automobiles, as well as reduced protections for waterways.
When President Trump called for the federal government to “maximize” water deliveries in California, commanders of the Army Corps of Engineers quickly found two dams where they could carry out that order. And even though the officials knew the water couldn’t be moved out of the Central Vally as Trump wished, they released billions of gallons anyway, according to a newly released government document.
After the Washington Post revealed late last week that the Army Corps of Engineers knew that releasing water from two California reservoirs at President Donald Trump’s direction in January was unlikely to reach the southern part of the state, Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., is demanding answers from the Pentagon and the Department of Interior for what he calls the “politically motivated, uncoordinated, unscheduled, and opaque water releases” in the Central Valley between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2.
Utah will become the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, despite widespread opposition from dentists and national health organizations.
Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said he would sign legislation that bars cities and communities from deciding whether to add the mineral to their water systems.
Texas senators advanced a resolution Monday that calls on the U.S. State Department to ensure Mexico meets its obligations to deliver water to the U.S. under a 1944 water treaty.
The Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee voted in favor of the resolution after hearing testimony from state and Rio Grande Valley officials on how Mexico’s failure to deliver water has impacted the local farmers and stalled growth.
San Diego water customers are facing a 5.5% rate hike on May 1 that’s expected to be the first of several large increases during the next few years that could cumulatively raise rates by 70%.
The Trump administration has ordered firings and buyouts at the federal agency that operates water infrastructure in California, potentially jeopardizing the agency’s ability to manage dams and deliver water, according to Central Valley water officials.
In these turbulent times, nearly every issue gets filtered through a political lens, where real solutions are often sidelined in favor of scoring political points. When it comes to managing our state’s water supplies, this dynamic is unfortunately all too common.
We do, however, have essential truths: Water is essential to life, and how we manage this resource is one of the most crucial responsibilities we bear, so we must get this right.
