Daniel Rothberg
@danielrothberg.bsky.social
Environmental writer and researcher focused on how people and communities relate to water. • Master's student @ UC Davis invisiblewaters.substack.com 🏔🏜
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
my latest: CRIT grants personhood status to #coloradoriver - 3rd in North America by Indigenous peoples. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
Colorado River wins personhood status from Arizona tribal council
Personhood status creates a powerful new mechanism for protecting the eponymous river that makes life possible in their arid homelands.
www.azcentral.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:43 PM
my latest: CRIT grants personhood status to #coloradoriver - 3rd in North America by Indigenous peoples. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
Colorado River talks hit crunch time as deadline from Trump administration looms calmatters.org/environment/...
Colorado River talks hit crunch time. What's at stake for California water?
Western states in the Colorado River basin are racing a federal deadline to hash out how to share the overtapped river. As the clock ticks down, two questions looms large: Just how real is this deadli...
calmatters.org
November 10, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Colorado River talks hit crunch time as deadline from Trump administration looms calmatters.org/environment/...
Do groundwater rights retirement programs work? There is certainly demand for them in Nevada. For KNPR and the Daily Yonder, I talked to irrigators about their experiences with a pilot program in areas where aquifers are being depleted faster than they are replenished. knpr.org/desert-compa...
Well Into the Future
A Nevada program addressed overallocation of groundwater by paying farmers to use less. Is it working?
knpr.org
November 7, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Do groundwater rights retirement programs work? There is certainly demand for them in Nevada. For KNPR and the Daily Yonder, I talked to irrigators about their experiences with a pilot program in areas where aquifers are being depleted faster than they are replenished. knpr.org/desert-compa...
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
Exactly a year ago, Ellen Wohl, @parriblue.bsky.social and I spent two days in Providence thinking about #rivers and how we conceptualize them & live with them. Here’s the result of history and fluvial geomorphology teaming up. #envhist
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Rivers are messy: Beyond the water bias in research and management
This article reviews current trends in interdisciplinary river research to argue that a “water bias” or tendency consider rivers as synonymous with water can hinder our understanding of rivers and con...
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Exactly a year ago, Ellen Wohl, @parriblue.bsky.social and I spent two days in Providence thinking about #rivers and how we conceptualize them & live with them. Here’s the result of history and fluvial geomorphology teaming up. #envhist
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
“Regardless of what sort of offsetting or replenishment you do, it doesn’t necessarily nullify the water footprints of your own operations." Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres’ full water use secret, leaked document shows www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres’ full water use secret, leaked document shows
Executives at world’s biggest datacentre owner grappled with disclosing information about water used to help power facilities
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 12:34 AM
“Regardless of what sort of offsetting or replenishment you do, it doesn’t necessarily nullify the water footprints of your own operations." Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres’ full water use secret, leaked document shows www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Wrote a bit about the mining and (ground)water nexus in the Western U.S., with the rush for critical minerals and gold surpassing $4,000/ounce. invisiblewaters.substack.com/p/where-ther...
Where there's mining there's water
Gold hit a record-high this week. Behind the commodity price is a water story, too.
invisiblewaters.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Wrote a bit about the mining and (ground)water nexus in the Western U.S., with the rush for critical minerals and gold surpassing $4,000/ounce. invisiblewaters.substack.com/p/where-ther...
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
Melanie Winter, who dedicated much of her life to reimagining the Los Angeles River as a natural asset, has died.
I feel fortunate to have known Melanie and learned about her vision for a living river. She inspired many others, who will carry her vision with them. www.latimes.com/environment/...
I feel fortunate to have known Melanie and learned about her vision for a living river. She inspired many others, who will carry her vision with them. www.latimes.com/environment/...
Melanie Winter, who fought for embracing nature along the Los Angeles River, dies
Melanie Winter led efforts to embrace nature along the L.A. River, touting the potential for a restored river to heal the city's relationship to water. She was 67.
www.latimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Melanie Winter, who dedicated much of her life to reimagining the Los Angeles River as a natural asset, has died.
I feel fortunate to have known Melanie and learned about her vision for a living river. She inspired many others, who will carry her vision with them. www.latimes.com/environment/...
I feel fortunate to have known Melanie and learned about her vision for a living river. She inspired many others, who will carry her vision with them. www.latimes.com/environment/...
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
California condor range expanding into the Bay Area and Santa Cruz Mountains, further south into Santa Barbara County too. 🪶 www.mercurynews.com/2025/10/20/f...
October 22, 2025 at 11:07 PM
California condor range expanding into the Bay Area and Santa Cruz Mountains, further south into Santa Barbara County too. 🪶 www.mercurynews.com/2025/10/20/f...
Check out (and subscribe!) to @sammyroth.bsky.social's new Substack focused on climate solutions in entertainment and pop culture.
"...what I’ve realized — what drove me to start this newsletter — is that the climate crisis is in large part a cultural problem."
"...what I’ve realized — what drove me to start this newsletter — is that the climate crisis is in large part a cultural problem."
Why I'm writing about climate and culture
I never expected to leave the Los Angeles Times and start a Substack. Then a story about Disneyland caught me by surprise.
www.climatecoloredgoggles.com
October 22, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Check out (and subscribe!) to @sammyroth.bsky.social's new Substack focused on climate solutions in entertainment and pop culture.
"...what I’ve realized — what drove me to start this newsletter — is that the climate crisis is in large part a cultural problem."
"...what I’ve realized — what drove me to start this newsletter — is that the climate crisis is in large part a cultural problem."
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
Its official! Today, the US Corps Of Engineers is announcing that it signed into effect a Water Control Manual update for Lake Mendocino on the Russian River that implements FIRO* there! 1/7
www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
* Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations
www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
* Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations
This Northern California reservoir has pioneered a way to store more water
After years of advocacy and experimentation, officials will celebrate the reservoir’s status as the nation’s first to get the go-ahead to adopt a flexible, forecast-based operations policy.
www.sfchronicle.com
October 22, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Its official! Today, the US Corps Of Engineers is announcing that it signed into effect a Water Control Manual update for Lake Mendocino on the Russian River that implements FIRO* there! 1/7
www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
* Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations
www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
* Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
“The Monday filing outlines where 2,050 positions would be eliminated; the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land Management, and the main Interior office would be especially hard hit. Regional offices with the National Park Service are also targeted for significant cuts.”
Inside Trump's plan to eviscerate USGS and beyond - Center for Western Priorities
Forced by a federal judge to partially reveal plans for firing federal employees, the Trump administration on Monday said it plans to “imminently” terminate more than 2,000 employees at the Interior d...
westernpriorities.org
October 21, 2025 at 7:32 PM
“The Monday filing outlines where 2,050 positions would be eliminated; the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land Management, and the main Interior office would be especially hard hit. Regional offices with the National Park Service are also targeted for significant cuts.”
Salmon reach headwaters for first time in a century after California dam removal www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
Salmon reach headwaters for first time in a century after California dam removal
Klamath River salmon have crossed a major threshold after dams were removed along the California-Oregon border, with the fish reaching the river’s headwaters for the first time in more than a...
www.sfchronicle.com
October 21, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Salmon reach headwaters for first time in a century after California dam removal www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
“We’ve seen so many impacts from groundwater pumping. There’s a lot of areas that are dewatered, that are dried up.” Indigenous leaders raise concerns about groundwater pumping in Owens Valley and call for negotiations with L.A. @ianjames.bsky.social has more. www.latimes.com/environment/...
The little-known groundwater Los Angeles pumps in the Owens Valley, and the tribes who want it back
In the Owens Valley, Los Angeles siphons water from Sierra streams and also pumps groundwater from wells. Native tribes are calling for the city to take less water.
www.latimes.com
October 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
“We’ve seen so many impacts from groundwater pumping. There’s a lot of areas that are dewatered, that are dried up.” Indigenous leaders raise concerns about groundwater pumping in Owens Valley and call for negotiations with L.A. @ianjames.bsky.social has more. www.latimes.com/environment/...
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
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...
www.watertalkpodcast.com/episodes/epi...
Episode 74: Tribal and Transboundary Issues in the Colorado River Basin — Water Talk
A conversation with Cora Tso (Senior Research Fellow, Tribal Water Policy, Kyl Center for Water Policy, Arizona State University) and Prof. Sam Sandoval (University of California Agriculture and Natur...
www.watertalkpodcast.com
October 17, 2025 at 5:13 PM
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...
www.watertalkpodcast.com/episodes/epi...
Important report out from the Initiative on Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribal Communities (UACW): The FY 2026 federal budget includes a 70% reduction in funding for Tribal Access to Clean, Reliable and Accessible Drinking Water. tribalcleanwater.org/wp-content/u...
October 17, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Important report out from the Initiative on Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribal Communities (UACW): The FY 2026 federal budget includes a 70% reduction in funding for Tribal Access to Clean, Reliable and Accessible Drinking Water. tribalcleanwater.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
NOAA has just issued a La Niña Watch for late 2025/early 2026. So far this century, we've had 12 La Niña winters versus just 8 El Niño winters. What does this portend for Southwest US drought? There's some unsettling new science out on that.
yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/08/why-...
yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/08/why-...
Why winter rains keep skipping the Southwest » Yale Climate Connections
Human-caused climate change from burning fossil fuels may be involved in a persistent tilt toward dry patterns.
yaleclimateconnections.org
August 14, 2025 at 3:17 PM
NOAA has just issued a La Niña Watch for late 2025/early 2026. So far this century, we've had 12 La Niña winters versus just 8 El Niño winters. What does this portend for Southwest US drought? There's some unsettling new science out on that.
yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/08/why-...
yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/08/why-...
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
Photographs from Mono Lake and the Mono Basin, a landscape of deep silence and immense space. (And overdue for implementation of the full protections guaranteed by decades-old legal decisions.)
#monolake #monobasin #lake #nature #landscape #california #basinandrange #photography
#monolake #monobasin #lake #nature #landscape #california #basinandrange #photography
August 9, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Photographs from Mono Lake and the Mono Basin, a landscape of deep silence and immense space. (And overdue for implementation of the full protections guaranteed by decades-old legal decisions.)
#monolake #monobasin #lake #nature #landscape #california #basinandrange #photography
#monolake #monobasin #lake #nature #landscape #california #basinandrange #photography
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
In today’s @latimes.com:
‘It needs more water’: Calls grow for boosting Mono Lake www.latimes.com/environment/... @myungchun.bsky.social
‘It needs more water’: Calls grow for boosting Mono Lake www.latimes.com/environment/... @myungchun.bsky.social
August 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM
In today’s @latimes.com:
‘It needs more water’: Calls grow for boosting Mono Lake www.latimes.com/environment/... @myungchun.bsky.social
‘It needs more water’: Calls grow for boosting Mono Lake www.latimes.com/environment/... @myungchun.bsky.social
We do not talk enough about groundwater, the quiet water crisis playing out across the globe.
“Groundwater is the most precious natural resource in the dry parts of the world," said ASU's Jay Famiglietti. “And it is probably the least protected.” www.westernwaternotes.com/p/q-and-a-gr...
“Groundwater is the most precious natural resource in the dry parts of the world," said ASU's Jay Famiglietti. “And it is probably the least protected.” www.westernwaternotes.com/p/q-and-a-gr...
Q&A: Groundwater loss on a global scale
ASU's Jay Famiglietti on the alarming drying of Earth's land surface.
www.westernwaternotes.com
July 29, 2025 at 8:09 PM
We do not talk enough about groundwater, the quiet water crisis playing out across the globe.
“Groundwater is the most precious natural resource in the dry parts of the world," said ASU's Jay Famiglietti. “And it is probably the least protected.” www.westernwaternotes.com/p/q-and-a-gr...
“Groundwater is the most precious natural resource in the dry parts of the world," said ASU's Jay Famiglietti. “And it is probably the least protected.” www.westernwaternotes.com/p/q-and-a-gr...
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
As housing costs soar, running water has become a luxury in Portland, Phoenix and other wealthy US cities. Latest for @bloomberg.com with Klara Auerbach, gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Why Access to Running Water Is a Luxury in Wealthy US Cities
“Plumbing poverty” is surging in Houston, Phoenix, Portland, Oregon and other urban areas.
www.bloomberg.com
July 18, 2025 at 3:32 PM
As housing costs soar, running water has become a luxury in Portland, Phoenix and other wealthy US cities. Latest for @bloomberg.com with Klara Auerbach, gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
What makes heat so hard to cover? Thoughtful reporting from my friends and colleagues, Meg Bernhard and Bridget Bennett, on the invisibility and difficulties of telling stories about extreme heat, a crisis that so often "turns us inward." www.cjr.org/feature-2/wh...
July 15, 2025 at 9:03 PM
What makes heat so hard to cover? Thoughtful reporting from my friends and colleagues, Meg Bernhard and Bridget Bennett, on the invisibility and difficulties of telling stories about extreme heat, a crisis that so often "turns us inward." www.cjr.org/feature-2/wh...
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
As a public service, people will find the original pdf files of all the U.S. National Climate Assessments, 2001-2023, publicly available at: www.patrickgonzalez.net#us_national_...
July 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM
As a public service, people will find the original pdf files of all the U.S. National Climate Assessments, 2001-2023, publicly available at: www.patrickgonzalez.net#us_national_...
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
“Many people still expect the Colorado River to bounce back,” Shanahan said. “But our findings suggest it may not. Water managers need to start planning for the possibility that this drought isn’t just a rough patch — it could be the new reality.”
Relief From Drought in Southwest U.S. Likely Isn’t Coming, According to New Research
Lyman Lake in Arizona stores water from the Little Colorado River. Pictured here in 2021, the lake was 30 feet…
www.jsg.utexas.edu
July 15, 2025 at 8:29 PM
“Many people still expect the Colorado River to bounce back,” Shanahan said. “But our findings suggest it may not. Water managers need to start planning for the possibility that this drought isn’t just a rough patch — it could be the new reality.”
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
This downward spiral of the number of working journalists in communities across the country has been happening for years.
At my former shop for example, the newsroom was systematically reduced from nine reporters and three editors to just a single reporter over the course of four years.
1/
At my former shop for example, the newsroom was systematically reduced from nine reporters and three editors to just a single reporter over the course of four years.
1/
New report maps a “severe” shortage of local journalists in the U.S.
The report from Rebuild Local News and Muck Rack finds that more than 1,000 counties — one out of three in the nation — do not have the equivalent of even one full-time local journalist.
www.niemanlab.org
July 10, 2025 at 9:52 PM
This downward spiral of the number of working journalists in communities across the country has been happening for years.
At my former shop for example, the newsroom was systematically reduced from nine reporters and three editors to just a single reporter over the course of four years.
1/
At my former shop for example, the newsroom was systematically reduced from nine reporters and three editors to just a single reporter over the course of four years.
1/
Reposted by Daniel Rothberg
"In the United States, which prefers to measure its losses in dollars [rather than lives], the damage from major storms was more than $180 billion last year, nearly 10 times the average annual toll during the 1980s, after accounting for inflation" #climate www.propublica.org/article/texa...
The Texas Flash Flood Is a Preview of the Chaos to Come
Climate change is making disasters more common, more deadly and far more costly, even as the federal government is running away from the policies that might begin to protect the nation.
www.propublica.org
July 9, 2025 at 5:12 PM
"In the United States, which prefers to measure its losses in dollars [rather than lives], the damage from major storms was more than $180 billion last year, nearly 10 times the average annual toll during the 1980s, after accounting for inflation" #climate www.propublica.org/article/texa...