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On the calendar today …
- WEBINAR: CalWATRS: Your Guide to the State Water Board’s New California Water Accounting, Tracking & Reporting System from 11am to 12pm. Prepare to navigate the future of water rights management with CalWATRS, the State Water Board’s cutting-edge platform replacing eWRIMS. This session offers a comprehensive walkthrough of the system, showcasing its advanced capabilities for record access, form submission, and streamlined annual reporting. Learn how CalWATRS enhances data transparency and efficiency, empowering water leaders to address critical challenges like drought more effectively. Join us to discover how this modernization effort will reshape California’s water management landscape. Click here to register.
- WEBINAR: Access, Visibility, Opportunity (AVO) for All in the Water Sector from 2pm to 3pm. How do we build a future-ready, inclusive workforce in one of California’s most essential sectors? Join HR Playbook architect and educator Victor H. Lopez, J.D., for a dynamic 1-hour session exploring how the newly released HR Playbook—guided by the AVO framework (Access, Visibility, and Opportunity)—can help the sector recruit, modernize, and retain the next generation of water professionals. This webinar invites educators, workforce leaders, HR professionals, and students into deeper collaboration across different sections, water agencies, and community partners. Victor will highlight practical strategies from the HR Playbook that respond to four urgent workforce priorities: recruitment, modernization, retainment, and succession planning. Rooted in real-world data and frontline experiences, this talk will offer actionable AVO-aligned strategies that can be applied immediately—whether you’re in HR, education, or systems-change work. Click here to register.
In California water news today …
Stuck in the mud: Groundwater markets struggle to gain traction under SGMA
“Across critically overdrafted groundwater basins, groundwater market development has faced significant hurdles. These include challenges with determining allocations and resistance to trade due to fears of consolidation and the loss of small-scale farming. As a result, we find that there has been minimal progress, despite the fact that trading could substantially reduce the costs of SGMA compliance and maintain more land in agriculture.” Read the article from the Giannini Foundation for Agricultural Economics.
California surface water costs triple during drought
“California often swings between climate extremes — from powerful storms to punishing droughts. As climate change drives more intense and frequent dry and wet cycles, pressure on California’s water supplies grows. A new University of California, Davis, economic study finds that drought in California pushes the price of water from rivers, lakes and reservoirs up by $487 per acre-foot, more than triple the cost during an average wet year. The research appears in Nature Sustainability. “The extreme volatility in prices surprised me,” said lead author Madeline Turland, a former graduate student in the UC Davis Agricultural and Resource Economics Department and now an assistant professor of resource economics at the University of Alberta. “During dry years we have really high surface water prices and during wet years we have really low water prices, but we found that groundwater seems to have stable prices over time, despite precipitation wings.” … ” Read more from UC Davis.
Tuolumne Irrigation District headed to state water board to talk plans for Tuolumne River
“Representatives from Turlock Irrigation District, along with its partners in the Tuolumne River’s Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Agreement, will be in Sacramento [yesterday] to pick apart a scientific report released by the state water board. In September, the State Water Board Resources Committee released its Draft Scientific Basis Report Supplement – an analysis of the Tuolumne River agreement to inform the water board’s consideration of incorporating the agreement into the Bay-Delta Plan. The Tuolumne River Partners — TID, Modesto Irrigation District and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission — believe the release of the scientific report for the Tuolumne is an important step in moving the agreement forward. The Tuolumne River Partners contend that the agreement adds water to the river in every water year type, with no exceptions, and commits to increased releases even in critically dry years: 63 percent more water in the river in dry years and 52 percent more water in the river in critically dry years. … ” Read more from the Turlock Journal.
Cal WATRS: A new era of transparency and efficiency in water rights
“The launch of Cal WATRS—California Water Accounting, Tracking, and Reporting System—marks a new era in water rights management in California. Replacing the outdated eWRIMS platform, this state-of-the-art system delivers faster, more transparent, and more efficient tools for both water rights holders and the State Water Board. For the first time, water rights holders will file their annual reports through Cal WATRS this year, marking a significant milestone in the system’s rollout. … ” Read more from Maven’s Notebook.
Ecolab, GM & the California Water Resilience Initiative
“The California Water Resilience Initiative (CWRI) is transforming how business and community stakeholders address California’s water challenges, blending innovation with collective action. CWRI, backed by major corporations including Ecolab and General Mills, is forging tangible change against the backdrop of climate-driven water stress and regulatory ambition. “Water resilience doesn’t only involve efforts to increase water supply and efficiency or conserve and reuse water,” says Emilio Tenuta, SVP and Chief Sustainability Officer at Ecolab. “It also includes projects that deliver community impact.” … ” Read more from Sustainability Magazine.
Statewide study taps 3,000 students for salmon research
“In addition to predators, river diversions, and reduced spawning grounds, California salmon now face a new challenge: Thiamine Deficiency Complex, or TDC, a nutritional deficiency that leads to neurological problems and early death. Thankfully, more than 3,000 high school students offer a way forward in tackling this urgent issue. As research assistants in a nationwide study — created in collaboration with experts from the UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science and the Center for Watershed Sciences — the high schoolers worked with scholars from 2020 to 2025 to collect the data needed to determine the cause of rising TDC rates. Together, they monitored hundreds of spawning salmon for early signs of thiamine deficiency, most notably, swimming in spinning patterns. … The high schoolers’ data collection helped advance efforts to protect local salmon, bringing fresh insight to an urgent conservation challenge that’s already impacting the students’ own communities. … ” Read more from UC Davis.
As rain pounds parts of California, the year’s closest supermoon spurs king tides, coastal risks
“A supermoon — the closest such moon to the Earth this year — is wreaking havoc with ocean tides up and down the state’s coast just as an atmospheric river storm moved through Northern California. The “Beaver Moon” has brought with it king tides. And forecasters say that Southern California could see dangerous rip currents and an increased risk of drowning from large breakers, as well as the chance of coastal flooding over the next two days. But the Southland will largely be spared the rain that has inundated some areas of Northern California in a storm strong enough that the state dispatched emergency services personnel in two counties. The National Weather Service office in Sacramento was forecasting the heaviest downpours in three areas, where the rain was expected to continue into Thursday afternoon. Two to three inches of precipitation was expected in Blue Canyon in the Tahoe National Forest, Quincy in the Plumas National Forest and Sims in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Senate Bill 72 Bolsters California Water Plan and advances long-term water supply goals
Nick Shockey / California Department of Water Resources
“In 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom released California’s Water Supply Strategy, outlining necessary actions for the state to adapt to a hotter, drier future where the changing climate leaves less water to meet California’s needs. Since then, California water managers have been looking at ways to address the fact that the warming climate means that when storms do come, a greater share of that rain and snow will be absorbed by dry soils, consumed by thirsty plants, or evaporate into the air. As a result, the state will see less water going into our streams, rivers, and reservoirs, creating a new strain on our water supply, especially during the dry summer months. In October, Governor Newsom and the legislature gave the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) an important opportunity to tackle this problem. … ” Read moire from DWR.
Of Pistachios and Water Features: What might be included in the SB 131’s CEQA exemption for advanced manufacturing may surprise you
Eric Biber, a specialist in conservation biology, land-use planning and public lands law, writes, “One of the most controversial provisions of SB 131, which created a range of new CEQA exemptions, was an exemption for “a facility for advanced manufacturing, as defined in Section 26003, if the project is located on a site zoned exclusively for industrial uses.” But what on earth might that cover? Is this a broad or narrow exemption? What kinds of projects are we exempting from environmental review? With a term like advanced manufacturing, you might suspect projects relating to semiconductors, maybe batteries and electric vehicles, or robotics. And the definition of “advanced manufacturing” in Section 26003 (both as amended in legislation this year, and the text in place before that amendment, the relevant definition was enacted in 2012 in SB 1128) seems to invoke those kind of projects, but is also fairly vague and broad … ” Read more from the Legal Planet.
California State Water Resources Control Board issues new and revised PFAS advisory levels
“On October 29, 2025, the California State Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Drinking Water (State Water Board) issued new and revised notification levels and/or response levels for four per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) … California’s notification and response levels are non-regulatory, health-based advisory levels established for contaminants in drinking water for which State MCLs have not been established. These are established as precautionary measures for contaminants that may be considered candidates for the establishment of MCLs. MCLs, in contrast, are legally binding limits that public water systems are required to meet. … ” Read more from Best Best & Krieger.
The future of data centers
“Artificial intelligence is the transformative technology of our time. As argued in the Brookings Press book, “Turning Point: Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence,” it is powering applications in finance, health care, education, transportation, defense, and e-commerce, among other sectors. AI’s ability to process large amounts of information and act independently on that basis is altering communications, service delivery, financial transactions, administrative processing, and a host of other areas. Undergirding this growing use of AI is the need for state-of-the-art data centers. This paper examines the future of these entities. It examines what they are, their numbers and distribution, the different types of centers, financial investments, barriers to development, workforce impacts, economic implications, and considerations for guiding their future growth. Briefly, we argue for a framework for data centers that addresses challenges such as access to critical minerals, workforce shortages, community benefits, permitting reforms, energy and water needs, electric grid investment, national security considerations, and geographical placement. Improvements in these areas will be crucial to ensuring a smooth transition to a digital economy. … ” Read more from the Brookings Institution.
In commentary today …
C-WIN: Follow the Money: A commentary series on California’s corrupt water politics and policies
Carolee Krieger, President and Executive Director of the California Water Impact Network, writes, “California’s water policy history is a skewed obverse of the Robin Hood story. The State has taken from the poor – low-income ratepayers, small farmers, tribal and underserved communities, the fishing sector – and given to the rich: wealthy Central Valley corporate growers and Southern California developers. As California’s population and agricultural production grew in the early 20th Century, state officials developed plans to divert most of the water from Northern California to the Central Valley and Southern California’s burgeoning cities. With support from the federal government, the Central Valley Project (CVP) was completed in the 1930s to supply water to the valley’s agricultural dynasties. Spurred by Southern California’s explosive growth following World War II, state officials subsequently hatched plans for a sister project to the CVP: the State Water Project (SWP). … ” Read more from the California Water Impact Network.
Biggest illusion in California is what water use and development does and doesn’t do
Dennis Wyatt, editor of the Manteca Bulletin, writes, “Water is a mirage in California. We tend to see what we want to see. In my case, the biggest illusion was Auburn Dam. If you were a resident of Placer County in the 1960s to 1980s, you viewed it as almost as a birthright that the American River be dammed in the canyon below Auburn. The fact that a previously unknown earthquake fault was detected running right beneath where work had started on the dam’s foundation wouldn’t shake your faith that the dam thing needed to be built. The proposed 2.3 million acre feet of water storage — just 100,000 acre feet less than New Melones on the Stanislaus River — was the last big dam envisioned for the Central Valley Water Project. It was supposed to do wonderful things, such as combine water captured behind Auburn Dam to allow deep plowing in the valley floor west of Roseville and Lincoln to turn it into a productive farming area rivaling segments of the San Joaquin Valley. … ” Read more from the Manteca Bulletin.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Klamath River ecosystem booming one year after dam removal
“At a virtual press conference in October, Klamath River scientists announced that a year after the last of the dams were removed, river health has begun to bounce back. With salmon swimming upstream, bald eagles flying overhead, and increased bear, beaver, otter and osprey activity, the ecosystem is booming with ecological shifts thanks to the completion of the world’s largest dam removal effort. “The rivers seem to come alive almost instantly after dam removal, and fish returned in greater numbers than I expected, and maybe anyone expected,” said Damon Goodman, Mount Shasta-Klamath regional director for California Trout, a conservation nonprofit that works to keep waterways and wild fish healthy. According to Goodman, the fish monitoring effort done by California Trout is likely the most comprehensive science and monitoring project ever done to evaluate a dam removal effort. The monitoring efforts include sonar and video weirs that track the abundance of timing of returning fish, boat surveys documenting spawning habitat and distribution of fish, telemetry for migration behavior, netting and eDNA for tagging and species composition, and traps for downstream mitigation timing. … ” Read more from the North Coast Journal.
Board of Supervisors pass revised resolution on Potter Valley Project
“After hearing again from local residents regarding the need for increasing water storage infrastructure before the Pacific Gas and Electric Company fully decommissions its Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project and removes the dams that help fill Lake Mendocino, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors this week passed a resolution that many argued did not express their needs forcibly enough. “The previous resolution asked for help from both state and federal partners,” said First District Supervisor Madeline Cline at the Nov. 4 meeting, referring to the version she had drafted and brought before the board last month. “It’s a call for help, and it’s a statement of what we need for our community. We shouldn’t be shying away from what we need … and saying, ‘Oh, there’s nothing for us to advocate for.’ If there’s nothing for us to advocate for, then I’m not really sure what the point of this entire entity is, other than to oversee county operations.” … ” Read more from the Ukiah Daily Journal.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Warm weather delivers bad news for Tahoe skiers looking for an early opening day
“Mt. Rose was hammered with snow this week, but it won’t be enough to open up Tahoe’s highest-elevation ski resort on schedule. The resort canceled its upcoming opening day Wednesday, delaying the official start of Lake Tahoe’s ski season. Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe, which is usually the first area resort to spin its chairlifts thanks to its high elevation on the Nevada side of the lake, had originally planned to open Nov. 8. But Mike Pierce, a spokesperson for the resort, said Saturday’s opening day has been postponed. “Yes, we’ve got a little quick blizzard bearing down on us today! No, Mt. Rose will not open this weekend, but we’re optimistic about colder temps ahead that should allow us to crank up the snowmaking system,” Pierce told local news station KTVN-TV on Wednesday. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Sacramento water agencies invest in future with major groundwater recharge effort
“In a major stride toward water sustainability, the Regional Water Authority (RWA) has announced that Sacramento-area water providers banked 35,231 acre-feet — nearly 11.5 billion gallons — of water in the Sacramento Regional Water Bank during 2024. This reserve could supply approximately 105,700 households for a year. The Water Bank is a vital network of wells, pumps, and pipelines that allows local agencies to store surplus surface water in underground aquifers. These aquifers are key to adapting the region’s water system to climate change impacts, including shrinking snowpack and more frequent droughts and floods. “Once again, water banking has proven to be an effective solution for storing water that will be available when it’s needed most,” said Jim Peifer, RWA Executive Director. “In a year with near-average conditions in the American River watershed, local water providers were still able to bank a significant amount of water to support both our communities and the environment during dry periods.” … ” Read more from Smart Water Magazine.
BAY AREA
New assessment of the health of the San Francisco Estuary released
“Scientists have released an updated report card for the San Francisco Bay-Delta for the first time since 2019, which spotlights the health of the waterways that carry nearly half of California’s rain and snow. The State of Our Estuary tracks 17 indicators that reveal how the Bay and Delta are changing, and whether efforts to protect the Estuary are succeeding. Wetland development, water diversions, and pollution are just a few of the ways that people have altered this vast place where rivers meet the sea. “The health of the Estuary is linked to the health of the region. Its shorelines protect cities from flooding, families flock to its beaches to play, and it’s home to abundant fish, birds, and marine mammals,” says April Robinson, Lead Scientist for State of Our Estuary. The 2025 Scorecard shows that San Francisco Bay is mostly in fair condition and stable, while the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is mostly in poor condition and declining. Where scientists observe improvements, they are linked to large-scale habitat restoration projects and regulations to reduce pollution. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Estuary Institute.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Stanislaus County reconsiders sale of tax-delinquent parcels at Diablo Grande
“Stanislaus County supervisors postponed a decision Tuesday on holding a sale of tax-delinquent properties. The decision came at the urging of Diablo Grande community leaders who said the auction would dash hopes of resolving a water crisis. Mark Kovich, president of the Western Hills Water District, said the property sale would eliminate any chances for future development at the resort community on the county’s West Side. The district is in the middle of negotiations to secure an affordable water source for the 600 homes at Diablo Grande, as well as water for developing 1,600 additional homes there. More than 90 of the 173 parcels scheduled for a county tax sale Feb. 23 are under the name of Western Hills Water District, which is responsible for water, sewer and other services at Diablo Grande. The total tax debt on the 173 parcels is $5.1 million. … ” Read more from the Modesto Bee.
Almonds propel Fresno County to top ag county in nation
“Fresno County is once again the No. 1 agricultural producing county in the country. The Fresno County Department of Agriculture published the 2024 Crop and Livestock Report, reporting over $9 billion in production last year. The big picture: Fresno County had a record-breaking $9.03 million in production in 2024, coming in at a 5.7% increase from 2023. The report included over 300 agricultural commodities, with 82 of them having a gross value over $1 million. … ” Read more from the San Joaquin Valley Sun.
SEE ALSO: Fresno County reclaims its spot as country’s top agriculture producer, from Your Central Valley
Clovis plans to raise annual water rates soon, citing rising inflation costs
“Clovis plans to increase city water rates by an average of 23% annually over three consecutive years starting in January 2027. The proposed increase aims to offset rising inflation and operational costs, and fund water infrastructure upgrades, staff told the Clovis City Council on Monday. If the proposed rate goes into effect, most households will see a rise in their monthly water bills ranging from $6 to $15, depending on the water usage. Currently, Clovis implements a three-tier pricing system for residential use of water. The usage below 23,000 gallons per month is charged at $1.13 per thousand gallons. Between 23,000 and 40,000 gallons, the rate is $1.88 per thousand gallons. The rate for households using more than 40,000 gallons is $2.33 per thousand gallons. There are two tiers for non-residential water billing. … ” Read more from the Fresno Bee.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
LA County awards $24 million for stormwater capture projects in six cities
“Six cities in Los Angeles County’s Fourth District will receive a combined $24 million in grants to advance local stormwater capture and water quality improvement projects, Supervisor Janice Hahn announced this week. The funding, awarded through the Safe, Clean Water Program, will support new stormwater infrastructure in Downey, Long Beach, Lynwood, Norwalk, Paramount and Signal Hill. The program is funded by revenue from Measure W, a parcel tax approved by voters in 2018 that generates about $285 million annually for projects improving local water supply and resilience. “These projects are investments in the future of LA County,” said Hahn in a press release. “Not only will they allow us to capture, treat, and reuse millions more gallons of water, but they also give us an opportunity to improve our parks and make our green spaces more resilient for generations to come.” … ” Read more from Stormwater Solutions.
Scattergood Generating Station Modernization Project EIR approved by Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners
“The Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners yesterday approved and certified the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (LADWP) Scattergood Generating Station Units 1 and 2 Green Hydrogen-Ready Modernization Project. The approval is the first step in transitioning the plant to a carbon-free system and supports the City of Los Angeles goal to achieve 100 percent clean energy, while ensuring grid reliability. “The Scattergood Modernization Project is a step in the right direction as L.A. continues to lead on clean energy,” said Richard Katz, President of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners. “LADWP must balance its sustainability goals with bringing reliable electricity to its customers while meeting regulatory requirements and modernizing its infrastructure. The CEQA process transparently facilitates and informs how LADWP will achieve that with Scattergood.” … ” Read more from the LA DWP.
Land movement in Rancho Palos Verdes has slowed down, but the city is bracing for winter rains
“Rancho Palos Verdes officials said Tuesday the landslide that has rendered dozens of homes uninhabitable and crippled infrastructure has slowed significantly, but with the rainy season approaching, the city is bracing for a potential uptick in damage. The movement has gone from 1 foot a week at one point last year to 1.4 inches a week, the city’s geologist Mike Phipps told councilmembers. City staff attributed the slowdown to dry weather and the effectiveness of dewatering wells that pump water out of the ground. But the slowdown doesn’t mean life goes back to how it was. Last year, accelerated land movement forced utility providers like SoCal Edison and SoCal Gas to turn off services for hundreds of residents. “We’re trying to get down to that magic number of 1 inch per week and sustain that for a while for Edison’s purposes and probably other utilities,” Phipps said. … ” Read more from the LAist.
Along the Colorado River …
Without a deal on the Colorado River, deeper cuts loom. How 9 Arizona cities will respond
“As Chuck Cullom addressed an audience at a June water conference in Colorado, the snows high in the Rocky Mountains behind him were warming into water, which would soak into dry soils, evaporate into sere air and yield only a paltry portion to the runnels, streams and small rivers that collected in the Colorado River’s strangled southwestern march to the sea. In 2025, the river had only half its normal flow. And even water content considered “normal” is smaller than it once was, as the drought plaguing the river has lasted long enough to alter the 30-year averages scientists use to judge a river’s normal flow. “We’ve built culture, economies, myths and legends around what the Colorado River is,” Cullom said. “We’re at a point where we need to adapt our expectations and how we manage the river, the river we have, and not the river as we want it to be.” … ” Read more from the Arizona Republic.
Arizona governor asks Trump administration to enter Colorado River fight
“Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs called on the Trump administration Wednesday to step into the brawl among Western states over access to the drought-depleted Colorado River. Speaking to a meeting of the National Water Resources Association, Hobbs blasted upstream states Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico for refusing to commit to reducing their water use while demanding sharp reductions from the downstream states of Arizona, California and Nevada. “This is the extreme negotiating position we are confronted with as the Upper Basin States, led by Colorado, continue to run down the clock,” Hobbs said, according to prepared remarks. “As we approach critical deadlines, we need the Trump administration to step in, exert leadership and broker a deal.” The remarks come as negotiators for the seven states that share the river are meeting in Las Vegas to try to hammer out a water-sharing deal ahead of a Nov. 11 deadline set by the Trump administration. … ” Read more from Politico Pro (sorry, subscription required).
2 of Arizona’s biggest water sources, CAP and SRP, to connect in massive $250M project
“The Central Arizona Project (CAP) delivers Colorado River water to about 80% of Arizona’s population through a canal system that stretches more than 300 miles. It begins at the Colorado River near Lake Havasu and ends south of Tucson. Now, state leaders are working to expand Arizona’s water supply flexibility by connecting CAP, which delivers Colorado River water across the state, with the Salt River Project (SRP), which supplies water from the Salt and Verde rivers to the Phoenix metropolitan area. The new SRP–CAP Interconnection Facility (SCIF) will allow water to flow both ways between the two systems. … ” Read more from Channel 15.
Zebra mussels found in Colorado River, lakes; golden mussels spreading in California
“The battle against invasive quagga mussels at Lake Mead is continuing and two more types of the mollusks have been detected — one in western Colorado and another rapidly expanding into Southern California. Zebra mussels were found in two lakes in western Colorado, and in the river near the Colorado-Utah border, according to information posted Sept. 15 by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. In California, golden mussels were first found near Sacramento a year ago. Now they have spread to Southern California lakes. They have been found at Silverwood Lake, just south of where Interstate 15 descends into San Bernardino, but not yet at Lake Arrowhead. The golden mussels haven’t made it to the Colorado River or Lake Mead yet, but water managers are worried that boats could spread them directly into our water system. Boaters need to thoroughly inspect and clean their vessels before reuse. … ” Read more from KLAS.
Fish species illegally introduced at Utah reservoir within Colorado River drainage
“Utah wildlife officials are again reminding people that it’s illegal to dump fish into bodies of water after state biologists discovered an unapproved species had been introduced at a southeast Utah reservoir. Biologists found smallmouth bass at Loyds Lake, located within the Colorado River drainage located southwest of Monticello, while doing routine surveys, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reported on Wednesday. The reservoir is home to rainbow trout and green sunfish, but not bass, largely because of its proximity to the Colorado River and the threat to native fish within it. “Due to several endangered fish in the Colorado River, we partner with other agencies to ensure that our sportfish stocking does not interfere with the recovery of native fish. The stocking of sportfish in any drainages in the Colorado River Basin is therefore highly regulated,” said Trina Hedrick, the division’s sportfish coordinator, in a statement. “This illegal introduction is very problematic.” … ” Read more from KSL.
October storms brought damaging floods to southwestern Colorado, but also much needed drought relief
“The October floods in southwestern Colorado damaged homes and upended people’s lives, but there was one silver lining: A lot of the water also helped replenish reservoirs in the state. The deluge, caused by tropical storms and hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean, dumped more than 480 billion gallons of water on five counties in southwestern Colorado. The flooding between Oct. 9 and 15 prompted evacuations, boil water advisories and repair work for residents, roads and bridges. But the water also bumped parts of the region out of severe and extreme drought. The amount of water stored in Colorado reservoirs surged or even doubled. “Some of the smaller, more local reservoirs saw significant improvement,” said Peter Goble, a climatologist for the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University. “If we look at our reservoir giants, like Powell and Mead, unfortunately at that scale this is kind of a drop in the bucket.” … ” Read more from the Colorado Sun.
In national water news today …
Spending for municipal reuse to grow over next decade, report says
“According to a new report from global water market research firm Bluefield Research, capital expenditure (CAPEX) for municipal reuse infrastructure and treatment systems are forecasted to average $47.1 billion (USD) from 2025 through 2035. Water reuse, the process of recycling treated wastewater for beneficial uses, represents a viable cornerstone of resilient water supply planning for utilities, municipalities, and industries, unlocking a potential surge in infrastructure investment across the United States. The insight report, U.S. Municipal Water Reuse: Market Trends and Forecasts, 2025–2035, notes that the largest share of spending will be directed toward advanced treatment technology and facilities, which account for 42.3% of the 10-year outlook. Conveyance pipe networks (i.e., purple pipes) and engineering and design account for 40.4% and 12.4% of spending, respectively. Underlying this positive outlook are more than 600 projects in the planning and execution phases of development, advancements in state-level policies, and changing urban, agricultural, and industrial water needs. … ” Read more from Water Finance & Management.
Record-smashing shutdown hits energy, enviro work
“It’s official: This is now the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The government closure dragged into its 36th day Wednesday, shattering the record set during the last Trump administration for the longest shutdown ever. And there’s little indication this one will end anytime soon. Federal workers across the government are furloughed, missing paychecks and unsure whether they’ll get back pay after White House suggestions that it’s not a sure thing. The impacts of the shutdown have been uneven across the government — including at energy and environmental agencies — as the administration has found cash to keep some programs funded and officials have prioritized some favored projects over others. Some energy and environmental work has stopped entirely, while other projects are expected to grind to a halt as funding dries up. … ” Read more from E&E News.
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
NOTICE: Draft 2025 UWMP Guidebook Release Public Meeting and Public Comment Period
STATE WATER BOARD: Completed Wastewater Needs Assessment (WWNA) Phase 1 Report Completed
