The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) is developing statewide water quality objectives for harmful algal blooms (HABs) and a program of implementation to reduce the risk and occurrence of HABs in California’s inland surface waters, […]
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People who come in contact with water with elevated levels of E. coli are at an increased risk of becoming ill. Published on July 21, 2026 by Shelley Ho The Abridged version: Lake Natoma visitors looking for relief from the heat may want to reconsider swimming in the water after recent samples continue to show high […]
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Posted on July 22, 2026 by LarryClimate Crisis By Ian James July 21, 2026 Updated 2:53 PM PT Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country’s two largest reservoirs, have fallen to their lowest combined levels on record, a grim marker in the deepening water crisis across seven states that depend on the Colorado River. The two reservoirs are […]
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by: Katie ChavezPosted: Jul 21, 2026 (FOX40.COM) — Despite multi-million-dollar efforts to combat an invasive species’ impact on a key California water source, Yolo County was forced to declare a local emergency in its latest attempt to slow the spread. The Yolo County Board of Supervisors proclaimed a local emergency Tuesday as golden mussels continue to threaten […]
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Federal agency to use herbicide to clear lands for replanting after 2021 Caldor fire – but public reaction to plan is fierce Carey GillamThu 18 Jun 2026Last modified on Tue 23 Jun 2026 Katherine Levy remembers a childhood deeply rooted in the natural offerings of Lake Tahoe – water-skiing in the summer and working as […]
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The State Water Board is actively developing numeric water quality objectives to protect the MUN and REC-1 beneficial uses from four cyanotoxins: microcystins, cylindrospermopsin, anatoxin-a, and saxitoxins. In addition, they are working on a narrative water quality objective for harmful algal blooms, along with a program of implementation to achieve both the numeric and narrative […]
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The latest flurries that dusted parts of the Sierra Nevada this week are unlikely to do much to ease California’s snow drought. Since April 1 — when the state measured its second-lowest snowpack on record — the Sierra Nevada has seen a few rounds of storms. This week’s system triggered winter storm warnings in the […]
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As 2025 drew to a close, the big news on California’s Eel River was U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins’ unhinged and weird letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) opposing Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) License Surrender Application for the Potter Valley Project. Rollins demanded the commission reject PG&E’s application, contrary to FERC precedent and […]
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Published: Dec 30, 2025 Series of atmospheric rivers provided significant snowpack gains, boosted water supply statewide SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today conducted the first snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. The manual survey recorded 24 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 5 inches, which is 50 […]
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Aug 21, 2025 What you need to know: California’s strategies to expand water storage capacity and provide water to its 40 million residents continue, as Governor Newsom announces new funding to move the Sites Reservoir project forward. SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom is continuing to prepare the state for the water shortages impacting western states and […]
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The upper Eel River is joining many rivers that are being freed from past excessive anthropological influences. A gorgeous PBS documentary [2] describes a process of “restoration” for two rivers – one in Northern California and the other in France: The Klamath River and the Seine River. River Restoration, Season 4, Episode 1, 55 minutes, […]
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KCBX | By Adam SolorzanoPublished May 7, 2025 At Tuesday’s board of supervisors meeting, Public Works director, John Diodati said the contaminated water event was rare and unusual. “For over the last 50 years, we’ve treated Lopez water for the five cities and this is the first boil notice,” said Diodati. “We test the water at the […]
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I’ve always cared deeply about my local watershed’s health. When I was in my 20s, I volunteered with local protection groups—joining stream cleanups and actively monitoring our local water for pollution. Back then, when we discovered contaminants, we didn’t hesitate to report them to our state environmental agency or the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). […]
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Today’s showdown over the White House’s attempt to freeze funds already approved by Congress echoes a similar battle waged by Clean Water Action and allies in the past. Back then, Clean Water Action – and the rule of law – prevailed. In January 1974, not long after he vetoed the original Clean Water Act (the […]
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The largest-ever dam removal is underway, a milestone in the nation’s reckoning over its past attempts to bend nature to human will
It was a small moment, with little fanfare, in one of the most remote patches of northern California. Just the rat-a-tat of three Caterpillar excavators gnawing through concrete signaled the beginning of the largest dam removal project in the history of the country, and perhaps the world.
There was no ribbon cutting or ceremonial dynamite detonation. But the demolition on that June day arrived only after decades of argument and activism.
The Klamath River dams, built between the early 1900s and 1960s, fundamentally reshaped one of the West’s most […]
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In January 2022, the State Water Resources Control Board launched a new project called Updating Water Rights Data for California (UPWARD California) to improve how the state collects and manages its water rights data and information. […]
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What a difference 11 atmospheric rivers make. Metropolitan, as recently as January facing a 574,000-acre deficit, is now anticipating putting 119,000 acre-feet or more into storage this year, the first time since 2019. Metropolitan staff delivered the good news at the One Water Committee meeting on March 14. The big change is attributed to the […]
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By Andrew Fisher, Resilience. January 15, 2023 Instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific. California has seen so much rain over the past few weeks that farm fields are inundated and normally dry creeks and drainage ditches have become torrents of water racing toward the ocean. Yet, most of the state remains in severe drought. […]
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After three years of drought, the massive state and federal water projects that serve California’s cities and farms have less water to distribute, forcing water managers to increasingly ration supplies. This year, squeezed extra tight by the prolonged drought conditions, both the state and federal […]
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On April 6th, the Supreme Court reversed a 9th Circuit decision that limited the ability of states to protect rivers from the harmful effects of hydropower dams under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The rules adopted by the prior administration limited information available to the states, the time for review, and the scope of conditions that states can require in the licensing of […]
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Rooted in Roman law, the public trust doctrine recognizes the public right to many natural resources including “the air, running water, the sea and its shore.”
The public trust doctrine requires the sovereign, or state, to hold in trust designated resources for the benefit of the people. Traditionally, the public trust applied to commerce and fishing in navigable waters, but its uses were expanded in California in 1971 to include fish, wildlife, habitat and recreation. […]
Read MoreRyan Burns / Wednesday, May 13 @ 11:10 a.m. / News In a major development for both water rights and the environment on the North Coast, an unlikely coalition of five regional entities today filed a plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to take over the Potter Valley Project, a hydroelectric facility that […]
Read MoreAugust 6, 2019 Robert Shibatani Guest blogger By Robert Shibatani Whether you are a water utility manager, elected official, or homeowner, future water availability is a concern. There are several factors fostering that concern and one of them is climate change. In fact, these days, climate change is a rapidly growing global hot topic (no […]
Read MorePosted: January 11, 2018 To address future climate change effects on water resources, scientists at five UC campuses, and Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories will study California’s water systems, from the headwaters in the Sierra Nevada, through rivers, reservoirs and groundwater in the Central Valley. The goal is to provide information to optimize water […]
Read MoreTo All, An important film that gives the little known state of California’s water is Water & Power: A California Heist. Here is a link to see it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6290202/ Larry
Read MoreTo All, Are our streams and rivers healthy? Below is a link to a government site that gives general and specific information on this subject with links to specific databases on California’s streams. http://www.mywaterquality.ca.gov/eco_health/streams/index.html Larry
Read MoreBACKGROUND ON CLEAN WATER RULE The 2015 Clean Water Rule outlined which bodies of water would be automatically protected by the Clean Water Act. Large bodies like lakes and rivers were listed, but the rule also included streams, ponds and other, smaller features that have important effects on these bigger, “navigable” waterways. Thanks to this rule, […]
Read MoreSample Editorial Board Memo To: [INSERT NAME OF PUBLICATION] Date: June 1, 2017 From: [YOUR NAME] [TITLE] [ORGANIZATION] Re: Request for editorial – Repealing the Clean Water Rule puts the drinking water sources for more than 117 million Americans and [NUMBER] of [STATE-IANS] at greater risk of pollution and destruction. The Trump Administration recently began […]
Read MoreWHO: Speakers will include Heather Govern from the National Environmental Law Center and Whitey Markle from the Suwannee/St. Johns Sierra Club Group. WHAT: An educational webinar on how to use the Clean Water Act to file and win a citizen lawsuit! WHEN: Tentative date is Tuesday, 6/27. Time will be confirmed at a later date. […]
Read MoreLA Times, April 2017 Rong-Gong Lin II and Paige St. John California’s climate has long been dominated by cycles of intense dry conditions followed by heavy rain and snow. But never before in recorded history has the state seen such an extreme drought-to-deluge swing. Experts and state water officials say California is seeing more of […]
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