California’s push to limit groundwater pumping could leave small farmers in the dust, @ianjames.bsky.social reports: www.latimes.com/environment/...

California’s push to limit groundwater pumping could leave small farmers in the dust

According to a new report, California groundwater regulations threaten to put many small farms out of business.

latimes.com

"If this isn’t a program to rebuild storage for the good of all, but is instead a program to try to move water from one state to another, we’re out." This is a good piece on the looming Colorado River cuts. How conserved water is saved and accounted for matters a lot. www.eenews.net/articles/the...

The West’s moment of reckoning is here on the Colorado River

With states still brawling over how to share dwindling flows, the Trump administration is about to take control.

eenews.net

There's a federal plan for the Colorado River. @ianjames.bsky.social has leaked details. It's two years, and there are no mandatory cuts for the Upper Basin. www.latimes.com/environment/...

California dodges a bullet on Colorado River cuts

California, Arizona and Nevada offered to cut water use to ease the Colorado River crisis. The Trump administration is set to adopt much of their proposal.

latimes.com

The state program that helps bring solutions for Californians with contaminated drinking water is facing a major drop in funding. In this week’s @latimes.com Boiling Point newsletter, I wrote about the “fiscal cliff” and what it could mean. www.latimes.com/environment/...

‘Fiscal cliff’ for drinking water fixes: Californians with bad tap water could have a longer wait

Californians with contaminated water may have to wait longer for fixes as the state's drinking water program faces a plunge.

latimes.com

It's crunch time on the Colorado River. Hope you'll join me on Tuesday 7/28 for a conversation with Utah-based journalist @zakpodmore.bsky.social about his super relevant book, "LIFE AFTER DEAD POOL," about the birth and death of Lake Powell. Sign up here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Trump administration approves Cadiz's plan to pipe water out of the Mojave Desert after the company announced a deal to sell water to an agency that serves central Arizona farmers dealing with Colorado River cuts. More from @ianjames.bsky.social www.latimes.com/environment/...

Trump administration OKs California company's plan to pipe water out of the Mojave Desert

The California company Cadiz has been trying for years to pipe water out of the Mojave Desert. The Trump administration approved a plan for a pipeline.

latimes.com

We're hiring! Please share this with your networks. CalMatters and @grist.org seek a reporter to cover the impacts of climate change in California’s Central Valley, a vibrant and diverse community that serves as the nation’s bread basket while sitting at the center of important climate issues.

Climate Reporter, CalMatters

CalMatters and Grist seek a reporter to cover the impacts of climate change in California’s Central Valley, a vibrant and diverse community that serves as the nation’s bread basket while sitting at the center of important climate issues.   In this role, you’ll be based at CalMatters, a statewide nonprofit newsroom that wins national awards for […]

cal.news

"A deal to bring Colorado River water to Native American communities in northern Arizona, where a third of homes lack running water, is being blocked by neighboring states, caught up in a broader battle over how to divide the dwindling river." www.propublica.org/article/colo...

Native American Tribes Came Together to Secure Their Rights to Colorado River Water. Four States Are Stalling the Deal.

Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are resisting the deal because it would allow the Navajo and Hopi to lease water to cities downstream, likely the growing towns around Phoenix.

propublica.org

"Springs collectively supply the baseflow that sustains river systems through dry seasons and droughts — the water that keeps a river running when the rains are gone." | The Forgotten Frontlines of Freshwater Conservation springstewardship.substack.com/p/the-forgot...

The Forgotten Frontlines of Freshwater Conservation

Why Springs Are the Quiet Center of the Freshwater World

springstewardship.substack.com

In the Rocky Mountains, spring-fed streams and ponds have vanished, leaving patches of cracked mud. This year has been so extremely warm and arid that the mountains have remained largely snowless. The source of the Colorado River is drying up. @rgauth999.bsky.social www.latimes.com/environment/...

'This is terrifying': The Colorado River, a lifeline for seven states, is drying up at its source

The source of the Colorado River in the Rocky Mountains is drying up, threatening a critical water lifeline for about 35 million people and 5 million acres of farmland across the Southwest.

latimes.com

"We live and die by snowpack," says orchardist Bruce Talbott. "We didn't get any this year." @lukerunyon.bsky.social on the crisis facing the Colorado River through the lens of endangered fish recovery and shortages for farming communities. www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/...

A river crisis is unfolding in the American West

The Colorado has been struggling for decades. This summer could bring it to the brink, threatening endangered wildlife and communities.

nationalgeographic.com

Colorado River experts say agriculture must make permanent cuts to water use. "A reset in the Colorado River basin really is needed. We have a lot of agriculture that’s really a legacy of how the United States was settled" aspenjournalism.org/colorado-riv...

Colorado River experts say agriculture must make permanent cuts to water use - Aspen Journalism

drying up farmland is not the solutionSome Colorado River experts are floating a concept to address the basin’s water woes that is both radical and mundane: permanently reducing the amount of water us...

aspenjournalism.org

This on repeat. We have to be able to talk about many different solutions at once.

Josh Lappen@jlappen1.bsky.social · last mo.

which is to say, I fully acknowledge that efficiency alone actually won't fix this - but neither will cloud seeding! I believe we're smart enough to have parallel conversations about the future of Glen Canyon, the future of Southwestern alfalfa farming, and comprehensive urban water recycling!

The Colorado River is vanishing — and the fixes are getting weird. Desalination. Pipelines. Cloud seeding. Groundwater exports. grist.org/solutions/th...

The Colorado River is vanishing — and the fixes are getting weird

Desalination. Pipelines. Cloud seeding. Those are just a few ideas for how the Trump administration should save the desiccated waterway.

grist.org

“For river ecosystems to survive dry times, they need their floods — and big, messy floodplains.” reasonstobecheerful.world/letting-a-ri...

Letting a River Act Like a River

Once heavily channelized, the Gila River is reclaiming its big, messy floodplain — with lessons for the rest of the Southwest.

reasonstobecheerful.world

The U.S. Supreme Court approved an agreement to resolve interstate litigation over groundwater pumping along the Rio Grande. The settlement includes reduced groundwater pumping and water rights retirements. www.texastribune.org/2026/05/28/t...

U.S. Supreme Court settles water dispute over Rio Grande

The settlement calls for reducing groundwater pumping along the dwindling river and retiring water rights from irrigated farmland in southern New Mexico.

texastribune.org

“Five straight years of record heat, sporadic rainfall and divided leadership has Corpus Christi in danger of becoming the first U.S. city to run short of water.” @texastribune.org www.texastribune.org/2026/05/29/t...

Corpus Christi focuses on delaying its looming water crisis

The city is looking into emergency conservation measures as most options for additional water have been tapped or are years from completion.

texastribune.org

Happy Pub Day to John Fleck and Robert Berrens, authors of Ribbons of Green: The Rio Grande and the Making of Modern Albuquerque, which explores how Albuquerque built its environment to create a valley floor that its residents have come to adore and how, in a climate-altered world, we might keep it.

In Oklahoma, oil field wastewater has caused an underground pollution crisis for residents and access to clean, safe drinking water. Important investigative reporting from @nickbowlin.bsky.social with @propublica.org & @readfrontier.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/toxi...

Toxic Ground: Inside Oklahoma’s Massive Oil Field Wastewater Crisis

Watch how a legacy of oil drilling and regulatory failure destroyed one Oklahoma family’s dream home and contaminated another family’s drinking water.

propublica.org

It’s possible for decision makers to hide behind competing narratives because water issues are so complicated. But after 15 years of reporting on water in the Southwest, much of the discussion appears to me as delusional." —  @zakpodmore.bsky.social www.cityweekly.net/news/lake-po...

Lake Powell's Glen Canyon Dam is failing and Utahns need to ...

Breaking the Overton Window

cityweekly.net

Roughly 600,000 Californians still lack access to safe and reliable drinking water supplies. The problem will cost billions to fix. So why is the Newsom administration considering a climate overhaul that could gut a key source of funding?

California’s climate overhaul threatens clean drinking water funding

Newsom celebrates California’s clean drinking water progress as his administration’s climate overhaul threatens to upend a key source of funding.

calmatters.org

"Between 1998 and 2020, the average cost of water, sewer and trash collection services increased more than twice as much as the overall U.S. consumer price index, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics." www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Water costs are rising faster than inflation — and sending bills soaring

The cost of water and related services is rising twice as fast as inflation while utilities scramble to cope with escalating droughts and more intense storms.

washingtonpost.com

“All of a sudden it looks different, tastes different, there’s odor, there’s color." Important look (in the San Luis Valley) at how groundwater depletion can increase contaminants, threatening drinking water for residents with private wells and few protections. insideclimatenews.org/news/0805202...

As a Colorado Aquifer Runs Low, Dangerous Heavy Metals Threaten Rural Communities’ Drinking Water - Inside Climate News

In the San Luis Valley, the ongoing megadrought and a record-low snowpack are draining groundwater and increasing its concentrations of toxic metals. There are few protections for residents drinking f...

insideclimatenews.org

The newly released Sierra Nevada Atlas is a collection of maps, geospatial datasets, and associated text that presents geologic map layers, geophysical layers, economic geology layers, neotectonic features, and geochronology for the Sierra Nevada. www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/sierra-n...

Corpus Christi Plans to Declare a ‘Water Emergency.’ What Does That Mean? More from @dylanbaddour.bsky.social insideclimatenews.org/news/2304202...

Corpus Christi Plans to Declare a ‘Water Emergency.’ What Does That Mean? - Inside Climate News

City leaders intend to make unprecedented cuts to water use in September but aren’t sure exactly how, as schools and hospitals drill for water.

insideclimatenews.org

Arizona groundwater ruling could be 'death knell' for 100-year water supply rule, expert says. Important case to watch as it goes through the appeals process. Good Q&A here from @kjzz.org www.kjzz.org/the-show/202...

Arizona groundwater ruling could be 'death knell' for 100-year water supply rule, expert says

A state judge ruled this week that the Arizona Department of Water Resources illegally changed how it evaluates whether there’s enough groundwater to build new homes in parts of the Valley.

kjzz.org

Went down to the Colorado River in Grand Junction to see what this very low flow looks like. Plenty of exposed cobble bars. Looking low and slow and what you might expect to see in late summer with heavy diversion upstream. Not the start of spring runoff.

I'm having a hard time believing my eyes with water data this year. The Colorado River mainstem through Grand Junction was flowing at 54 cfs last night. Not a typo. 54 cfs. Last year on this date it was flowing at 1,420cfs. Even in 2002, the driest year on record, it was at 690cfs on April 22.

“These are necessary short-term adjustments, not a long-term fix. Real stability will require conservation across the entire Colorado River Basin.” www.latimes.com/environment/...

Trump administration takes emergency step to sustain key Colorado River reservoir

Emergency federal actions are underway to save Lake Powell as the Colorado River crisis intensifies.

latimes.com

The Colorado River—which did not always flow through the Grand Canyon region—may have begun to carve its path through it after an ancient lake overflowed roughly 5.6 million years ago. Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/3QbdtrE