Despite new warnings Thursday that a water crisis is looming in California, state officials continue to maintain that enforceable conservation goals are not necessary. »

Salmon fishing was banned along the West Coast for the first time in 160 years Thursday, a decision that is expected to have a devastating economic impact on fishermen, dozens of businesses, tourism and boating. »

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez declared a commercial fishery failure Thursday, clearing the way for Congress to send financial aid to fishermen and related businesses hurt by the ban on salmon fishing off California and Oregon. »

The fact is, conservation, recycling and quite possibly rationing are the only real tools we have, certainly the only tools we have today. We must treat water like the incredibly valuable life substance it is. That is especially true in Cali-fornia, with its huge population, huge farming industry and utter dependence on erratic weather cycles. »

California's future is likely to see a worsening of that tension between forces who want to increase the water supply to serve a growing population and economy and those who oppose new water storage because of environmental concerns or as a way to limit growth. »

The City of Roseville' activated a Stage One Drought alert within the city limits in response to a letter received from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation which reduced its water supply for the 2008 calendar year by 25 percent. »

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that it will consider the Delta's longfin smelt population for protection under the Endangered Species Act. »

An EPA official said Tuesday there's a "distinct possibility" the agency won't take action to rid drinking water of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has contaminated public water supplies around the country. »

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday it will conduct a status review of the longfin smelt to determine whether it warrants protection as a threatened or endangered species. »

Chevron, BP and other major oil companies have agreed to pay $423 million to settle more than 500 lawsuits brought by water suppliers and users in California and 19 other states over groundwater contaminated with the gasoline additive MTBE. »

The state Senate voted Thursday to end California's participation in a joint authority created eight years ago to rescue the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from collapse and resolve persistent water disputes. »

California's capital city may be best known for politics, but it has another claim to fame: It's America's most flood-threatened city not named New Orleans. »

Our water managers rely on 75 years of historical data to predict water patterns and manage our reservoirs and flood-control systems. In the context of climate change, this historic data is obsolete. »

The West Sacramento water supply has become the latest weapon in the battle against tooth decay. »

Nestle SA said Monday it is significantly scaling back plans in Northern California to build what would have been the country's largest water bottling plant. »

"The Gold Rush left behind toxic materials, which to this day, threaten the water of the people of California," says Elizabeth Martin. Martin is executive director of the Sierra Fund, a Nevada City-based environmental group studying what it calls the "toxic legacy" of the California Gold Rush. »

About 75,000 of 180,000 young fall-run Chinook salmon being hauled in tanker trucks from Coleman National Fish Hatchery in Anderson to San Pablo Bay near Vallejo Monday died.  »

In the new "Delta Knowledge Funding Program" announced this week, the Calif. Dept. of Water Resources is offering $2 million in grants to nonprofits, universities, private consultants and local government agencies. Individual grants of as much as $250,000 will be awarded to churn new research on water quality, levee stability, habitat restoration and other issues in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. »

Drier than normal conditions for the second year in a row have pushed a handful of property owners in Nevada County to seek help for well problems early this season.  »

When gold recently touched $1000 an ounce, the mainstream media ran stories about Sierra gold panning concessions that were experiencing a business boom. The glitter is still glamorous, but behind the shine lies the Gold Rush legacy of darker chemical remnants: mercury, lead, arsenic, and asbestos. »

California’s Department of Fish and Game, Department of Water Resources, Department of Parks and Recreation and Department of Boating and Waterways urges boaters to take action to protect the state’s many water bodies from Quagga and Zebra mussel infestation. »

Construction starts Wednesday on the largest setback levee ever built in California, a levee designed both for the environment and to end generations of fear in Yuba County. »

"This is the last best run of wild salmon in California," said Allen Harthorn, 56, the executive director of Friends of Butte Creek, who has been fighting for more than a decade to save the historic - and once sacred - spring run of chinook in this untamed tributary of the Sacramento River. »

Congress last week approved $170 million federal aid to fishermen and businesses hurt by the salmon failure. The money was part of the nearly $300 billion farm bill that became law Thursday over a veto by President Bush. »

The Assembly plans to take up legislation that would force developers to pay to offset increased water use at new projects, much like school impact fees.  »

With California on the edge of drought and water restrictions already beginning in some areas, the state might soon be looking toward an ancient practice that is attracting renewed interest around the world: rainwater harvesting. »