The Rundown
- NRCS plans to study flood-risk prevention downstream of the burn scar of New Mexico’s largest wildfire.
- Bureau of Reclamation report sets 2026 Colorado River reservoir releases and required water cuts in Arizona and Nevada – and issues a concerning worst-case scenario.
- Water bills in Congress include aid to utilities to remove PFAS, provide drinking water in emergencies, and set strict timelines for the EPA to approve carbon dioxide injection wells.
- GAO says federal agencies could do more to help vulnerable communities prepare water systems for natural hazards.
- Reclamation will host a meeting of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program this week to discuss fisheries and ecology work on the Colorado River.
And lastly, NASA’s acting leader says the agency will move away from climate and earth science.
“All the climate science and all of the other priorities that the last administration had at NASA we’re going to move aside, and all of the science that we do is going to be directed towards exploration, which is the mission of NASA. That’s why we have NASA – to explore, not to do all these earth sciences.” – Sean Duffy, acting NASA administrator, speaking on Fox Business. In its earth sciences program, NASA satellites monitor carbon emissions, river flows, groundwater storage changes, soil moisture, and more. These data answer questions about weather and climate patterns, the water cycle, and ecological change. NPR has reported that the Trump administration wants to end two carbon-monitoring satellite missions.
In context: New Satellite Will See Water’s Big Picture
By the Numbers
$409 Million: Funding allocated to North Carolina for drinking water systems to prepare for natural hazards. The funds were approved by Congress in response to Hurricane Helene, which flooded the western part of the state last year.
News Briefs
Post-Wildfire Flood Prevention
The Natural Resources Conservation Service will assess ways to reduce post-wildfire flood and water supply risk downstream of New Mexico’s largest wildfire.
The Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Fire in 2022 burned some 341,000 acres of public and private land. The potential restoration project area is roughly four times larger, covering about 500 square miles across nine watersheds.
The goals are to “address flooding, sedimentation, erosion, water quality impairments, and agricultural water management on private lands due to loss of land cover and the overall burn severity.”
The programmatic environmental impact statement will evaluate structural interventions (slope stabilization, engineered channels), non-structural interventions (land buyouts, floodplain regulation, raising buildings), and treatments on private land to increase economic output.
NRCS is taking public comments on the scope of the analysis through September 29. Submit them via www.regulations.gov using docket number NRCS-2024-0020.
In context: As Flames Scorch Western Forests, Flagstaff Area Offers Roadmap for Post-Wildfire Flood Prevention
Billions in Federal Assistance after New Mexico’s Largest Wildfire. But Little Money to Repair Streams
Water Bills in Congress
Though summer break is in effect, some members continue to introduce legislation.
- The bipartisan PURE Act would establish a grant program to help water utilities remove PFAS and other emerging contaminants. The program, which would be a 75 percent federal cost-share, would be authorized at $200 million annually through 2028.
- Another bipartisan bill would expand an emergency water grant program for rural areas to include communities with a population up to 35,000. It would also remove discharge permit requirements for emergency portable water systems in disaster areas for up to six months.
- Three Texas Republicans sponsored a bill in the House to set strict timelines for the EPA to approve state authority to oversee underground injection wells for carbon dioxide.
Studies and Reports
Colorado River Operations in 2026
Lake Mead is projected to decline once again next year as the Bureau of Reclamation will release an amount of water into the reservoir that is less than the water consumed.
The release volumes were determined by a report released on August 15 known as the 24-month study, which projects Colorado River reservoir levels that far into the future each month. The August report sets the releases from Powell and Mead, the basin’s largest reservoirs, for the following year. It also determines the depth of water cuts in the three lower basin states of Arizona, California, and Nevada.
At the end of this year Mead is projected to be at elevation 1,055 ft. By the end of 2026, in its most probable scenario, the big reservoir is projected to drop another 6 ft., to 1,049 ft.
Arizona will be most affected by the Tier 1 water cuts that will be in effect next year. The state will lose about 18 percent of its allotted Colorado River supply.
Conditions in the basin can be worse than the most probable scenario. That was the case this year. So it’s helpful to look at another Reclamation product: the probable minimum scenario.
Here the news is even more concerning. By the end of next summer Powell drops below 3,500 ft., the level where hydropower generation would stop. In this scenario, Mead drops to a new record low in the spring of 2027.
Today, both Mead and Powell are 31 percent full.
Disaster Resilience for Vulnerable Communities
Three federal agencies involved in water infrastructure funding could do more to help vulnerable communities prepare for and recover from disasters that affect their water systems.
That’s a main finding from a Government Accountability Office assessment of water assistance programs run by the EPA, FEMA, and USDA. The GAO notes that the agencies are trying to identify structural barriers to their programs. It also makes several recommendations. FEMA could communicate better to communities how they can meet their cost-share requirements, which were cited as a barrier for low-income areas. The other agencies could use EPA’s mapping tool to identify areas benefiting from federal assistance.
On the Radar
Glen Canyon Dam Meeting
A committee that advises the Interior Department on the ecosystem effects of operating Glen Canyon Dam will hold a public meeting on August 20 and 21.
The agenda includes updates on the Drago Bravo Fire burning along the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, Colorado River hydrology, possible 2026 scientific experiments, funding status, and fisheries work in the watershed.
The meeting will be livestreamed. Log-in details are here.
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.
