While much attention has focused on the electricity demands of AI-driven data centers, a quieter crisis is emerging around water consumption. Modern hyperscale data centers can consume between one and five million gallons of...more
On February 25, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom launched the California Water Plan 2028, initiating a comprehensive, multi-year effort to modernize the State's water planning framework. Dubbed the “most ambitious water plan in...more
State legislation proposed this week, known as Senate Bill 982, the Affordable Insurance Recovery Act, would authorize California’s attorney general to sue fossil fuel companies to recover losses from climate-induced...more
H2Ozarks announced in the January Basin Bulletin that it is accepting applications for its Mill Creek Cost-Share program (“Program”). The Program is stated to provide landowners with financial and technical support for...more
Scarcity of water is emerging as a defining constraint of the 21st century. As one of the most notoriously water-intensive activities, the mining and metals industry sits at the heart of this challenge. In the United...more
The Arkansas Water Resources Center and its publication Water Currents published a recap of the 2025 Arkansas Agriculture, Forests, and Water Conference (“Conference”). The Conference was held on July 22 – 24....more
Arizona Senate Bill 1611 (SB1611), signed into law during the 2025 legislative session, introduces sweeping changes to Arizona’s groundwater and land use framework that could significantly benefit real estate developers...more
The Arkansas Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Commission (“NRC”) has released the 2024 Groundwater Protection and Management Report (“Report”)...more
California stands at a pivotal juncture in 2025, confronting an array of environmental and housing challenges. As usual, the California State Legislature is considering numerous strategies to address these issues. This year’s...more
Beginning January 1, 2025, the “Making Conservation a California Way of Life” regulatory framework requires urban retail water suppliers — not individual households or businesses — to adopt a series of “urban water use...more
On March 25, 2025, the University of Southern California’s (USC’s) Public Exchange and independent advisor Solar Aquagrid announced the California Solar Canal Initiative, a seven-university project to assess the...more
Stakeholders should stay informed as state and federal officials advance plans and policies for water conservation, water quality, and climate resilience in California....more
In 2024, after years of deliberation, California water officials adopted landmark rules that will guide future water use and conservation in the state. The “Making Conservation a California Way of Life” framework went into...more
North Carolina has joined more than 35 states across the country to adopt a new form of financing for commercial real estate owners and developers. Known as Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing, the...more
Traditional sources of freshwater are dwindling as a result of increased demand, reduced natural replenishment, volatile weather patterns, and extended-duration droughts. Desalination, the industrial-scale removal of salt...more
The city of Fresno announced this week that Shell USA, Dow Chemical, and other oil and chemical companies have agreed to pay the city $230 million to settle the city’s 2007 lawsuit against them for allegedly contaminating...more
On July 8, 2024, the California Supreme Court issued its opinion in Golden State Water Company v. Public Utilities Commission. The petitioners, California Water Association, California-American Water Company, California Water...more
A judge has temporarily blocked a plan by a California state water board to take over monitoring groundwater use in a portion of the crop-rich San Joaquin Valley, according to a copy of the decision obtained on July 16. Kings...more
On May 29, 2024, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) posted updated program guidelines along with draft supplemental guidelines for the Garden State Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program. ...more
Like much of the western and southwestern U.S., California has experienced drought conditions on and off for decades. Fortunately, the regulatory landscape is starting to catch up with water treatment technology, paving the...more
The Alberta government has identified, and is taking proactive steps to address, the looming threat of a severe drought this year. As negotiations unfold to secure water-sharing agreements, a cascade of legal and economic...more
In response to critics who said that proposed new statewide water conservation rules — aimed at cutting urban water use even in years when California is not in a drought — were too complicated and costly, the State Water...more
A coalition of conservation groups filed a petition on Tuesday asking the California Fish and Game Commission to protect burrowing owl populations in five parts of the state including parts of the Bay Area and the Central...more
State and federal officials move forward plans and policies for water conservation, conveyance, and climate resilience. The winter of 2022-23 brought historic levels of precipitation to California after years of deep...more
Top water officials for the seven Colorado River Basin states met in December 2023 at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference to resume negotiating a new compromise for how they will share — and cut back on —...more