New bill in California State legislature aims to establish strict farm-level limits on nitrogen fertilizer application. This is a big deal in California. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNa...
There are now two reported attacks on desalination facilities in Trump's Iran War: one on an Iranian plant; one in Bahrain. This marks a dangerous escalation in a region highly dependent on #desalination for #water supply.
www.wsj.com/world/middle...
"Some have even suggested that private equity investment in McMullen Valley is a form of “saving” the community. Rural Arizonans do not share that view. The purchase of local land for speculative gain does not feel like protection; it feels like displacement." #westwater #groundwater
📢 Just accepted in #JAERE! 📢
"Droughts and economic activity: Do dams and groundwater mediate the impact?" by Sheila M. Olmstead ( @sheilaolmstead.bsky.social ) and Hilary Sigman.
Read it here: buff.ly/UBSFaB6
📈📉 #Econsky
Water may hinder agrihoods in Santa Clara & Encinitas if rains stop.
“Perhaps people with the biggest need for food or nutrition security are also sort of disproportionately facing greater water expenses,” Lucy Diekmann @ucanr.edu told @mrmattsimon.bsky.social @grist.org
Are female economists treated differently than males in academic seminars?
These authors wanted to know whether gender shapes how scholars are treated when presenting research.
So they built a massive dataset of 2,000+ economics seminars, job talks, and conference presentations from 2019–2023...
A big deal: “Arizona Atty. Gen. Kris Mayes announced the binding legal agreement with Minnesota-based dairy company Riverview LLP on Thursday, calling it the first of its kind in the nation.”
Screen shot of this quote from the head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority about the impasse among the 7 states and 2 countries and their myriad water rights holders on the Colorado River: "If you distill down what my six partners just said, I believe there’s three common things: Here’s all the great things my state has done. Here’s how hard/impossible it is to do any more. And here are all the reasons why other people should have to do more. As long as we keep polishing those arguments and repeating them to each other, we are going nowhere."
#westwater Click the link to be taken to the website of New Mexico's water historian John Fleck. Today's quote on the impasse facing 7 states & 2 countries on water sharing options for the over-allocated and shrinking Colorado River is from Las Vegas's water manager www.inkstain.net/2025/12/quot...
By me: Tribes are running out of patience with #coloradoriver negotiations www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
New report from the Colorado River Research Group: Dancing with Deadpool. It begins: "Conditions on the Colorado River are, to put it bluntly, dire." www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/C...
"Nevada is completely over-allocated on its groundwater resources. It’s the driest state in the union. Our tribe’s number one goal is protecting our resources." | The AI boom is heralding a new gold rush in the American west www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Save the date! Announcing the 2nd Annual...
** BIG SKY WORKSHOP **
on the Economics of Agriculture and the Environment
Hosted by @montanastate and @PERCtweets in Bozeman, MT, June 18-19, 2026
Call for abstracts in January. Travel funding available for grad students
More info: bigskyworkshop.net
Infographic titled 'Preserving the Shoshone Water Right to protect the Colorado River for generations to come.' Features an image of a rugged river landscape with large rocks and flowing water. Includes the logo of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
The Colorado Water Conservation Board has officially voted to advance the acquisition of the historic Shoshone water rights for permanent instream flow protection. This milestone helps safeguard flows through a key 2.4-mile stretch of the Colorado River. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4rhsmGX
Smart, nuanced piece by @nealemahoney.bsky.social and @bharatramamurti.bsky.social that centers the essential trade-offs of price controls in this affordability moment (rather than assumes them away in either direction), as well as the politics of tackling them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/o...
Goods stuff here. We really need to be talking about this topic more. I obviously talk a lot about climate change issues. But this subsidence problem (for Houston & many other places) is also a very, very big deal -- *especially* when compounded by climate change issues.
“Litigation could take years, if not decades, to resolve. The effects of aridification are unfolding at a faster rate.” @danielrothberg.bsky.social invisiblewaters.substack.com/p/what-happe...
Arizona has paused development of hundreds of thousands of homes on the far Phoenix fringes due to insufficient groundwater supplies, @highcountrynews.org finds: www.hcn.org/issues/57-10...
Fascinating explanation from Steve Vladeck about why Justice Jackson issued a temporary administrative stay last night that allowed the Trump administration to delay SNAP benefits in November. It's not cruelty. Her stay pressures a lower court to resolve the case quickly.
(h/t @jswatz.bsky.social)
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
🧵
A major shift in where L.A. gets water: The city will double the size of a project to transform wastewater into purified drinking water, producing enough for 500,000 people. The recycled water will allow L.A. to stop taking water from creeks that feed Mono Lake. www.latimes.com/environment/...
Argentina gets $40 billion just like that, while the Navajo, Hopi, San Juan River Paiute, and others are hoping Congress will not only approve, but also allocate a measly $5 billion for the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement.
Front page of the Los Angeles Times
In today’s @latimes.com:
Owens Valley tribes fight to reclaim ‘land of flowing water’ www.latimes.com/environment/... @carlinstiehl.bsky.social
Arizona’s groundwater law has stopped thousands more proposed homes in the Phoenix area than publicly acknowledged.
For the first time in more than 100 years, Chinook salmon have been spotted at the confluence of the Sprague and Williamson rivers in Chiloquin, the government seat of the Klamath Tribes in Southern Oregon.
You'd think the Colorado River Basin dispute amounts to conflict between the upper and lower basin states based on most coverage, but Tribes and Mexico also have a big role here. We talked with Cora Tso and Sam Sandoval about these issues on Water Talk
www.watertalkpodcast.com/episodes/epi...
This is amazing: @ladwp.com, the Los Angeles utility, has launched a program that will install solar+battery systems on qualifying low-to-moderate-income households, *for free*.
Yes: free.
If you know someone eligible, tell them to apply!
🚨 We’re hiring! 🚨
Community Water Center is seeking a Policy Director to join our team and help lead the fight for safe, affordable drinking water in CA. Collaborate with community leaders, advocates, and policymakers to effect lasting change.
🔗Job Description: www.communitywatercenter.org/careers
Demonstrated interest in scholarship relevant to commercial agriculture, applicable to commercial agriculture in Montana, especially in the following research areas: production economics, farm/ranch management, agricultural marketing, precision agriculture, energy economics, and financial risk management.
We are hiring at Montana State! Link in thread
If you aren't sure whether you fit the posted topic areas, please don't pre-screen yourself out, let our committee decide!
I'm not on the search committee but happy to answer any general questions
The California Geological Survey is hiring a Branch Chief to oversee 4 key programs in the organization:
🔹Forest and Watershed Geology
🔹Mineral Resources
🔹Geologic and Landslide Mapping and
🔹Burned Watershed Geohazards
Deadline to apply is 8/28.
calcareers.ca.gov/CalHrPublic/...
The future of tribal water tights in California. Very interesting, especially for groundwater. californiawaterblog.com/2025/07/27/b...
