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Local Reservoir and California Snowpack Levels Starting To Increase

/in /by /East County Magazine by By Brigitte Garcia

El Niño has brought flooding since it has arrived in California this winter, but now those heavy rains may finally be doing something to help us. The snowpack is higher than it has been in years, and reservoir levels in San Diego County are looking better than they have in the last four years of drought.

 

San Vicente in Lakeside, our largest local reservoir, is over 61% capacity, while Lake Murray is at more than 89% and Lower Otay is over 84%. But some other reservoirs remain low, such as El Capitan at just under 28%,

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County Water Use Went Up in February

/in /by /Fox 5 San Diego Quoted: Dana Friehauf

Water consumption in San Diego County jumped 5 percent last month compared to February 2013 because of record-setting warm temperatures, the San Diego County Water Authority reported Friday.

Even so, county residents have still cut back water use a total of 21 percent since the state implemented water saving rules last June, according to the Water Authority. The state-mandated goal for San Diego County is a 20 percent reduction from 2013 usage levels.“Weather plays a huge role in outdoor water consumption, and we saw that clearly last month, which was the hottest February on record,” said Dana Friehauf, SDCWA water resources manager.

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It’s Last Call for El Niño

/in /by /LA Weeklyby By Dennis Romero

Temperatures in some parts of the Southland reached higher than 80 degrees this week, and spring is officially here Sunday.

Federal forecasters have nary a drop of rain in their seven-day forecast for Los Angeles, and the two-week outlook by the federal Climate Prediction Center pegs Southern California for a 60 percent chance of above-normal temperatures through the end of the month and a 50 percent probability of lower-than-normal rainfall during that time.That could put us in April without more precipitation. This after February gave us the hottest month for high temperatures ever recorded.

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Decision Time for California Governor’s Big Water Project

/in /by /Associated Press (As Published by U.S. News and World Report)by By Ellen Knickmeyer and Scott Smith

Atop a dirt levee his great-grandfather built in the 1800s to hold back California’s mightiest river, Northern California farmer Russell van Loben Sels looks out over the site of a new water project, one that would be the state’s most ambitious in a half-century.

Promoted by Gov. Jerry Brown, the $15.7 billion project would run giant twin pipes, each four stories high, underground for 35 miles and eventually pull thousands of gallons of water a second from the stretch along the Sacramento River where van Loben Sels farms to cities and farms to the south.

 

 

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San Diego Water Consumption Up 5% in February Due to Warm Weather

/in /by /Times of San Diegoby By Debbie L. Sklar Quoted: Dana Friehauf

Water consumption in San Diego County jumped 5 percent last month compared to February 2013 because of record-setting warm temperatures, the San Diego County Water Authority reported Friday.

Despite the hike, customers in the region have still cut back their use a total of 21 percent since the state implemented water saving rules last June, according to the Water Authority. “Weather plays a huge role in outdoor water consumption, and we saw that clearly last month, which was the hottest February on record,” said Dana Friehauf, SDCWA water resources manager.

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BLOG: San Diego Region Beats Aggregate State Water-Use Targets Through Feb.

/in /by /WaterWorld (Tulsa, Okla.) Quoted: Mark Weston

“Thanks to many months of effort by residents and businesses, our region as a whole has saved enough water to meet the regional emergency conservation goal set by the State Water Resources Control Board,” said Mark Weston, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “That’s a tremendous achievement, when you consider our region already had decreased per-capita water use by 39 percent compared to 1990, and the record-setting heat we recently experienced. However, conservation must remain a priority as we look toward summer and peak irrigation months; people still need to comply with water-use restrictions set by their local water agencies.”

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State Water Project to Cover 45 Percent of Requests

/in /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby By Heather Hacking

State water managers announced this week that 29 State Water Contractors will receive 45 percent of their requested water amounts this year.

Forty-five percent sounds like a glass half full, but the news was cause for celebration for water districts that saw only 20 percent of their water request last year, and 5 percent in 2014. The State Water Project distributes water from Lake Oroville via the Feather River. The 29 agencies provide water to 26 million people in urban areas, as well as 750,000 acres of farmland, a press release from the Department of Water Resources states.

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California congressmen try to talk Uncle Sam out of taxing turf rebates

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Pasadena)by Brian Watt

After months of debate about whether rebates for water-saving measures are taxable, two members of Congress from California have introduced a bill that would clarify that they are not.

As part of a statewide push to manage the drought, Californians have received rebates from water districts for tearing out their lawns or installing water-saving devices. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California says it processed 37,000 turf rebates of $600 or more in 2015, and its member water agencies processed 26,000 other rebates.

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Drought Conditions Improve in Northern, Central California

/in /by /NBC (Los Angeles)by Jonathan Lloyd

Drought conditions improved this week for some parts of California as a steady stream of storms have nearly filled northern water reservoirs and improved the critical Sierra snowpack, according to this week’s Drought Monitor report.

Improvements were reported in several drought condition categories, ranging from moderate to exceptional, as California nears the end of its rain season, which began in October. About 73 percent of the state is under severe drought, a 10-percentage point improvement over the previous week’s report.

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Zone 7 Postpones Vote on Local Support for California WaterFix

/in /by /Pleasanton Weeklyby By Meredith Bauer

Moved by pleas from constituents in a crowded meeting room, the Zone 7 Water Agency board Wednesday decided to postpone a vote on a resolution indicating local support for the California WaterFix until a final environmental report is complete.

The board voted 6-1 to wait until further environmental and financial impacts had been announced before voting, which is expected to be closer to September. Board member Bill Stevens voted against the measure, saying he prefered board members make their opinions public now.
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