The Rundown
- GAO, Congress’s research arm, recommends that federal lawmakers expand mandatory homeowner flood insurance to fill gaps in coverage.
- Federal nuclear regulators propose first-ever groundwater protection rules for in-situ uranium mining.
- Senate passes a bill to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through 2030.
- Department of Homeland Security waives certain state and federal water laws to expedite border wall construction in New Mexico.
- Federal appeals court rules that the U.S. government is not immune to state water rights administration in a case favoring Nevada ranchers over a national park.
And lastly, the Army Corps completes the first-ever assessment of PFAS in wild rice in northern Michigan.
“We need to make sure we’ve got accurate information about power usage, water usage, setbacks, backup power, get rid of non-disclosure agreements. My legislation would require, not invite, but require that information to come forward and put a penalty in place, at a relatively small amount, if they don’t submit that.” – Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) speaking in the Senate about his data center accountability bill. The bill would require data center operators to report annually on water withdrawals or consumption, the water source, and the facility’s water efficiency, as well as electricity sources and greenhouse gas emissions.
By the Numbers
108: Endangered stream gauges, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Stream gauges track a river’s vital signs, measuring flow, height, temperature, and other parameters. Endangered gauges are at risk of being shut down due to insufficient funding.
News Briefs
Litigating Western Water Rights
Who can claim priority?
A federal appeals court sided with Nevada ranchers in a dispute over water use from creeks flowing through Great Basin National Park.
The Ninth Circuit, in a 2-1 ruling, held that the federal government, in this case, does not have immunity from state-determined water rights enforcement.
Baker Ranches and other plaintiffs argued that the park service – by planting vegetation creekside and diverting water for campgrounds and dust suppression – was reducing downstream flow to which the ranches have senior rights. Reversing a lower court, the Ninth Circuit judges ruled that the McCarran Amendment, which removes federal sovereign immunity in water rights adjudications, applies.
The McCarran Amendment was enacted by Congress in 1952, and applies retroactively. Water rights on the Baker-Lehman creeks were adjudicated by Nevada in 1934. Great Basin National Park was established in 1986.
Great Lakes Restoration
Before adjourning until after the midterm election, the Senate voted to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $475 million annually through 2030.
The country’s premier environmental restoration program, GLRI funds ecosystem and habitat rehabilitation in the Great Lakes basin. The funding authorization was $500 million annually when the bill was first introduced. Recent annual funding has been $368 million.
Wall Building
Markwayne Mullin, the Homeland Security leader, signed an order waiving state and federal laws in New Mexico for surface water and groundwater that would impede construction of a border wall, access roads, and associated facilities.
The waiver, which includes the aforementioned McCarran Amendment, applies to the entire New Mexico section of the border.
Studies and Reports
Flood Insurance Gaps
Congress should expand federal flood insurance requirements to homes that are at risk of flooding from severe rainfall but are not currently required to insure their properties against this hazard.
That’s the recommendation from the Government Accountability Office, which researches public policy questions for Congress. Federal lawmakers are interested in uninsured flood losses.
Homes within federal flood hazard areas are required to buy flood insurance if they have a federally backed mortgage. Some 4.5 million properties – commercial and residential – are covered this way. But millions more high-risk properties are left out.
The flood hazard maps generally assess coastal and river flooding. They do not include areas that flood from intense rainfall, a significant gap.
GAO sourced its flood data from First Street, a climate-risk analytics firm, which estimates that some 13 million properties are susceptible to rainfall-induced flooding but are not within the boundaries of federal flood hazard areas.
GAO recommends that Congress pass legislation that expands the insurance-purchase mandate and also makes flood-risk data more transparent for homebuyers.
“Congress has yet to enact comprehensive reforms to [federal flood insurance] that would address all of the program’s challenges,” the report says.
PFAS in Wild Rice
Army Corps researchers completed the first-ever assessment of PFAS in wild rice in northern Michigan.
The study looked at 40 PFAS in wild rice beds in Emmet and Cheboygan counties, including surface water, sediment, and the wild rice itself. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians.
The two lake sites had more PFAS in surface water and sediment than the two river sites. Within the plant, the chemicals tended to concentrate in the seeds.
PFAS concentrations, at least for those that are regulated in surface water by Michigan, were well below state standards.
On the Radar
Uranium Extraction Regulation for Groundwater Protection
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing, for the first time, rules for in-situ uranium mines to minimize groundwater contamination.
In-situ mining uses drilling, boreholes, and liquids to dissolve ore and pump it to the surface.
The rules, in general, require restoring groundwater quality to pre-mining “background” conditions. However, they allow for lesser standards if the mining company “cannot practically achieve these limits.”
There are also requirements for wellfield monitoring, plugging wells, and leak detection.
The 30-day public comment period ends October 13. Submit comments via www.regulations.gov using docket number NRC-2025-1204.
New Mexico, through its attorney general, has requested at least a 60-day extension of the comment period and a public informational meeting, due to the complexity of the proposed action. As the state puts it – “a new Criterion 14 with eight substantive subparts, nine new or revised definitions, a restructured Criterion 5, and the replacement of the Criterion 5C table with cross-references to Environmental Protection Agency standards. It also contains a distinct set of amendments relaxing decommissioning timeliness requirements for every materials licensee and every power and non-power reactor licensee.”
“The State does not make this request lightly, and it is not a request for delay for its own sake,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez wrote.
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.
