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OPINION: Too Much Water to Waste?

Does California have too much water? Seriously. Because our actions are sending peculiar messages. Even the State Water Board has backed off on conservation targets for some water agencies.

It’s true, rains have replenished much of Northern California’s reservoirs and Governor Brown’s mandated 25% water restrictions made a serious dent in our water binge. A whopping 1.1 million acre-feet of water was saved, or rather, not wasted, thanks to these restrictions.

Corporate Water Users Who Saved the Most — Or Least

The City of San Diego supplied its top 10 corporate water customers with 1.6 billion gallons in the budget year that ended on June 30, 2015.

Counties Fight SoCal Water Giant’s Delta Grab

Political agencies and nonprofits in the Central Valley say the Metropolitan District of Southern California’s $175 million purchase of four islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta may cause significant environmental changes and sued to block the sale.

San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties, Central Delta Water Agency, Contra Costa County Water Agency and Food & Water Watch and the Planning and Conservation League sued the district on April 15 in San Joaquin County Superior Court, seeking a court order blocking Metropolitan District of Southern California’s purchase of 20,369 acres of property — including five delta islands and tracts — until an environmental review is satisfied.

Synthetic Grass Distributor Says L.A. Demand Doubled in Past Year

Southern California didn’t enjoy the El Nino bump in rain and snow that fell in the northern part of the state. The nearly 5-year-old drought isn’t likely to end in 2016, and it has already doubled the demand for artificial turf in greater Los Angeles, according to Anaheim-based Synthetic Grass Warehouse, the nation’s largest distributor of the product.

In citing its annual growth in the L.A. market, privately held Synthetic Grass Warehouse, or SGW, points to continuing water restrictions as a key driver of demand.

OPINION: Actually, Fellow Headline Writers, Storms Did Dent the Drought

“Storms won’t make a dent in the drought.” I hate that headline. It is so untrue — not that we haven’t used it ourselves a few times over the five years of California drought.

But the fact is that the Friday and Saturday rains made a big dent in the drought, and not just for those of us who like our little yards. The drought is not a monolith; we all have our own locavore version of it to grapple with.

OPINION: We Can Better Deal With Drought With More Data

 

When Californians want to buy a car, data on fuel efficiency, safety, performance and virtually every factoid imaginable are just a quick online search away. However, California’s water managers have to do extensive research just to piece together the basic facts.

By making California’s existing water data open, transparent and publicly accessible, we could significantly improve our drought resilience. The problem isn’t a lack of information so much as a lack of accessible, user-friendly data.

 

Still No Showers at San Diego State Beaches

Even though the California Department of Water Resources reports a near normal snow pack after four years of little snow, the governor’s office is not ready to turn on the rinse-off showers at local state beaches yet.

The beach showers at Silver Strand, Torrey Pines, Cardiff, and South Carlsbad, were shut down last July. Later in the year, so were some campground showers and beach restroom sinks.

Metropolitan Water District Sued

The Metropolitan Water District has been sued over the multi million-dollar purchase of five islands in the Sacramento River Delta.

Two Northern California counties, two water districts and two environmental groups filed suit on Thursday.