The year 2025 saw several big water issues hit the news, both nationally and in some of the biggest produce-growing states. Many of these stories will continue into 2026’s headlines.
For example, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers set a water milestone late in the year when they finally released their long-awaited updated definition of Waters of the U.S. with implementation expected in February or March of 2026.
The announcement was made Nov. 17, and the proposed rule was released Nov. 20. This update was spawned by the 2023 Supreme Court’s Sackett decision, and — according to the EPA — will bring the definition in line with that ruling.
The release followed numerous listening sessions seeking input from states, industry, agriculture and other stakeholders. A resounding theme was the need to maintain state’s rights on the one hand and streamline the WOTUS determination process so landowners can easily determine if something on their operation counts as a jurisdictional water.
The proposed rule is up for public comment through Jan. 5, 2026.
The five-year water cycle ended, but the story continues for Texas
Late October 2025 saw the end of the most recent five-year water delivery cycle from Mexico to Texas according to the 1944 treaty. As expected, Mexico did not deliver the 1.75 million acre-feet it is required to within that five-year span, only sending just over 50% of that.
However, it did deliver more than a year’s worth of water (350,000 acre-feet) between late April and Oct. 24. That is good in the short-term, but Texas water and produce experts warn that the pattern of late or non-existent Mexican water deliveries is not sustainable for the state. They worry more crops, including the Texas citrus industry, will go the way of its sugar industry.
A common refrain from Texans is that Mexico is not keeping up it’s end of the bargain, having instead built up its permanent agriculture in arid Chihuahua and capturing water that should flow to Texas for those water-hungry crops. Experts have pushed for some ability to enforce the 1944 treaty, potentially through the upcoming U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement renegotiations.
But the story is and will continue into 2026. Early in December, President Donald Trump demanded Mexico deliver 200,000 acre-feet of water on its debt by Dec. 31. Mexico’s president called that impossible but said Mexico and the U.S. are working on an agreement for the future to pay down the water debt.
California’s water woes and their impact grow
The economic value of water to California’s produce drew the limelight early on in 2025. In April, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the Golden State had become the fourth-largest economy in the world. But that rank is tenuous and could be threatened if the state does not take action to ensure its water future.
Up to 3 million acres of farmland, 67,000 ag jobs and $39.5 billion from the economy could be lost if the state doesn’t invest in water storage and other strategies, according to a University of California, Davis study. All of this played out on a backdrop of ongoing, many say man-made, drought and disappointing water allocations even when there is water available.
As the year came to a close, California’s largest irrigation district released its economic impact review report, which found that water restrictions had wide-reaching negative impacts on the state and its people. In short, when water is cut, the production of fresh fruits and vegetables declines, more acres are fallowed, jobs and economic benefits are lost and more.
As the new year kicks off, the 2026 irrigation allocations will start to trickle in, so growers in the Golden State will know how to plan for their coming crops.
