The Rundown
- BLM cancels Biden-era conservation rule.
- EPA proposes eliminating a requirement to treat a specific type of toxic wastewater leaching into groundwater from coal ash pits.
- Bureau of Reclamation makes $120 million in grant funding available for desalination projects.
- A federal advisory committee recommends the Bureau of Reclamation make two types of experimental water releases from Lake Powell this summer.
- Water bills in Congress address Mexico’s Rio Grande water deliveries, a Montana rural water system, and tax credits for water recycling.
- USDA crop forecasts show winter wheat production down this year by 25 percent due to widespread drought and a spring freeze.
- Federal Reserve survey indicates a smaller number of U.S. households hurt financially by severe weather last year.
And lastly, NOAA’s early-season forecast is a moderate harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie.
“It pays to consider the low probability, the darker, the more pessimistic scenarios we might face.” – Wayne Pullan, Bureau of Reclamation Upper Colorado regional director, speaking at a meeting of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group, about Colorado River scenarios.
By the Numbers
25 Percent: Drop in winter wheat production this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The decline is largely due to an April freeze and drought, which has spread through prime wheat-growing areas. Total wheat production in the 2026-27 period is expected to decline by 21 percent year-on-year.
14 Percent: Share of U.S. adults that reported being financially affected by severe weather in 2025, according to a Federal Reserve household economics survey. That is down from 21 percent in 2024, possibly due to no hurricanes hitting the Lower 48 states last year.
News Briefs
Conservation on Public Lands
The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees about one in 10 acres in the country, is cancelling a Biden-era rule that put conservation on equal footing with grazing, hardrock mining, recreation, timber, oil drilling, and other land uses.
The agency says withdrawing the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule will “remove any thumb on the scale in favor of conservation at the expense of productive use and development of the public lands and their many important resources.”
The move drew quick and lavish praise from western Republicans and equal condemnation from conservation groups.
Coal Ash Wastewater Rollback
Claiming it is too expensive for the power sector, the EPA is proposing to scrap a Biden-era rule that required utilities to treat wastewater that leaches into groundwater from pits storing the toxic byproducts from burning coal to produce electricity.
The rule applies to “unmanaged” leachate, which is the liquid from waste pits that is not collected by drainage and treatment systems. EPA says treatment systems to control this form of leachate are “potentially complex and costly.” Any limitations would be imposed site by site.
Green groups and public interest groups are pushing back, arguing that allowing heavy metals into streams and lakes is a threat to ecosystems and human health.
The rule change would apply to 104 power plants, at most, that currently have unmanaged leachate.
Public comments are being accepted through June 17. Submit them via www.regulations.gov using docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0819.
Water Bills in Congress
- A bipartisan bill in the Senate aims to boost water recycling. The Advancing Water Reuse Act would grant a 30 percent tax credit for capital investments in municipal and industrial water reuse, including data centers. A companion bill has been introduced in the House.
- Another bipartisan bill in the Senate would expand an EPA grant program for water utility resilience to include extreme temperatures as an authorized purpose.
- The Montana delegation introduced a bill to authorize $602 million to plan, design, and build a regional water system to serve communities in eastern Montana and western North Dakota. Similar bills to authorize and appropriate money for the Dry-Redwater regional water system have failed in Congress for nearly two decades.
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced a bill to pressure Mexico into complying with its treaty obligations to deliver Rio Grande water to the United States. The bill would allow for tariffs against Mexican agricultural products if the country does not meet its water delivery requirements.
- A House Appropriations subcommittee advanced its fiscal year 2027 budget bill for energy and water agencies. The bill increases Bureau of Reclamation funding by 15 percent, to roughly $1.84 billion.
Studies and Reports
Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom
NOAA’s early-season forecast is a moderate harmful algal bloom for Lake Erie.
With three months until the bloom’s peak, the range of outcomes is wide. The bloom’s size generally depends on spring rainfall. Those rains wash phosphorus from farm fields into the lake’s shallow western basin where the bloom is concentrated.
The size of the bloom, however, does not correspond to its toxicity or health risk.
On the Radar
Lake Powell Environmental Releases for 2026
A federal advisory committee is recommending that the Bureau of Reclamation undertake two experimental water releases from Lake Powell this year to aid downstream ecology in the Colorado River and Grand Canyon.
Even though Lake Powell is on the verge of a record low, the experiments will not alter the amount of water released from the reservoir, just the timing and how much hydropower it generates.
One experiment is a high-volume release of water to move sediment and rebuild beaches in the Grand Canyon. The other is a release of colder water from deeper in the reservoir to prevent the spawning of non-native smallmouth bass downstream.
The releases would likely begin in mid-June. The high-flow release would last only 12 hours – the shortest duration in the 30 years of high-flow experiments. The cool mix releases depend on river temperatures below the dam.
The decision to approve the recommendations, made by the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group, rests with the interior secretary.
In context: Glen Canyon Dam Faces Its Existential Moment
Desalination Funding
The Bureau of Reclamation opened applications for $120 million in grant funding for desalination.
The funds can be used to plan, design, or build a brackish groundwater, brackish surface water, or seawater desalination project.
Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas is lobbying for some of the money to go to Corpus Christi, which faces a water shortage.
The first application window closes on August 26.
House Hearings
On May 20, a House Natural Resources subcommittee will hold a hearing on Reclamation’s “next century.”
That same day, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will discuss the January sewage spill in the Potomac River that was one of the country’s largest such incidents.
On May 21, a House Science subcommittee will hold a hearing on cyber threats to U.S. water systems.
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.
