The Rundown
- The White House wants to roll back water conservation standards for toilets, faucets, and other fixtures or home appliances.
- A separate executive order supports the battle against non-native carp in the Great Lakes.
- FEMA’s acting administrator was fired, adding to the disaster relief agency’s turmoil.
- USGS researchers identify areas most at risk for groundwater contamination from abandoned oil and gas wells.
- NOAA issues first Lake Erie harmful algal bloom forecast for the summer.
And lastly, Trump administration cuts end a climate resilience collaborative in the Pacific Northwest.
“We have to save Lake Michigan because these fish, they eat everything in their way, including the other fish. They eat everything.” – President Donald Trump speaking at the White House while signing an executive order to prioritize the construction of a barrier to keep non-native carp from moving between the Mississippi River basin and the Great Lakes.
By the Numbers
$2.5 Billion: Funding in the House Natural Resources Committee’s reconciliation budget bill for surface water storage and conveyance construction at the Bureau of Reclamation.
News Briefs
Taking Aim at Water Conservation Standards
Continuing his broadsides against water conservation, President Trump issued an executive order targeting an influential law that has helped cities grow by putting less strain on their water supplies.
Calling water conservation standards “unnecessary radical green agenda policies,” Trump wants to eliminate water-use limits on toilets, showers, clothes washers, and faucets.
The standards Trump is targeting are part of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, a moderate Republican.
Studies show that the federal mandate for more-efficient appliances has been the leading reason for declines in household water use.
“It’s almost all attributable to fixtures,” researcher William DeOreo told Circle of Blue in 2016. “It’s not like people’s habits changed. Better technology really drove the reduction. And there’s room for more improvement if we adopt the best technology out there today.”
Efficiency improvements are why many large U.S. cities use less water than they did decades ago, despite population increases.
In context: U.S. Household Water Use Continues to Decline
FEMA Disorder
Cameron Hamilton, acting head of FEMA, was fired last week, Politico reports. The move, after Hamilton spoke in support of FEMA, adds more turmoil to an agency that President Trump says he would like to eliminate.
Members of Congress, meanwhile, are drafting their own plans for restructuring the disaster relief agency, according to E&E News.
Carp Order
In another executive order, the White House committed to support the work to keep non-native carp out of the Great Lakes.
The order targets the $1.15 billion Brandon Road Interbasin Project, the most prominent of more than a dozen touchpoints between the Great Lakes and Mississippi basins. The fear is that the carp, who are big eaters, will move into the Great Lakes and decimate the ecology and fisheries.
Illinois needs to acquire land next to the Brandon Road Locks in order for major construction to begin. The order instructs the state to do so by July 1 and issue any permits within 30 days. Federal agencies will deliver permits “as quickly as possible.”
The project cost is being split 90 percent by the federal government and 10 percent from Illinois and Michigan.
In context: Bubbles and Electricity Designed to Deter Invasive Carp from Lake Michigan
Studies and Reports
Abandoned Wells
Three areas of the country have the highest risk of groundwater contamination from abandoned oil and gas wells, according to a U.S. Geological Research Survey study.
Groundwater in California, the Gulf Coast, and the Appalachian region is most susceptible to contamination from these inactive wells. The researchers came to this conclusion by assessing eight factors, including the number of abandoned wells, groundwater chemistry, well age, how water moves below ground, and water use.
A previous national-scale U.S. Geological Survey study estimated 117,672 abandoned wells in 27 states.
Lake Erie Algae
NOAA scientists are expecting a mild-to-moderate harmful algal bloom in the western basin of Lake Erie this summer.
The severity of the bloom refers to its size, not its toxicity. The size is directly related to the amount of nutrients that flow off of farm fields in the spring. That number is tied to spring and early summer precipitation.
This is the first in a weekly series of seasonal projections and monitoring that will take place.
On the Radar
Climate Resilience Termination
Trump administration cuts have ended a program to help Pacific Northwest tribes and rural communities prepare for climate change.
The Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington, which hosted the program, said that NOAA terminated the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative.
“Our work has ranged from supporting farmers in Idaho facing the dual stressors of drought and land use change, to informing Washington state legislation to save lives during extreme heat events, to working with coastal Tribes in Oregon and Washington as they respond to sea level rise and other climate threats,” the Climate Impacts Group said in a press release.
Congressional Hearings
Hearings this week on geothermal, the 2026 EPA budget, wildfire risk, and post-disaster insurance.
- On May 12, a House Natural Resources subcommittee will hold a hearing in Utah to discuss geothermal energy development on federally managed public lands.
- On May 13, a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee will hold a hearing on home insurance after disasters.
- On May 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee will discuss the president’s 2026 EPA budget request.
- On May 15, a House Natural Resources subcommittee will discuss fire risk in the wildland-urban interface.
EPA Science Board Nominees
The EPA is seeking nominations for experts to serve on its Science Advisory Board. Nominations are due June 2.
Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.