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How El Niño Sidestepped Southern California

/in /by /LA Weekly by By Dennis Romero

Scientists are increasingly focused on shifting warm Pacific waters as a possible cause for Southern California’s lack of predicted winter rain.

The season’s El Niño weather phenomenon, characterized by historically warm waters along the equatorial Pacific, was similar to those that triggered record rainfall in Southern California in 1983 and 1998. Thus, many scientists and weather forecasters reasonably predicted an unusually wet winter for greater Los Angeles. Some even warned that a “Godzilla El Niño” would inundate us with heavy weather. They were wrong.

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This Gated Community Insists California’s Drought is Over, Wants Green Lawns Again

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby By Joseph Serna

The warning was stern and unequivocal: The days of unkempt, browning lawns in the gated community of Blackhawk were officially over. “We believe that allowing the drought to negatively impact the landscaping at any Blackhawk home does a disservice to property values throughout the community,” the homeowners association announced. “We believe there is no longer any reason that all landscaping in the community cannot flourish as it once did.”

Starting on June 1, any of Blackhawk’s 2,000 homeowners who fail to maintain green lawns or install drought-tolerant landscaping will now risk fines or litigation.

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DROUGHT: Water flowing into Diamond Valley Lake, launches to resume

/in /by /The Press Enterprise (Riverside)by By Suzanne Hurt

Water is once again flowing into Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet for the first time in three years, which will allow boat launches to resume on Southern California’s largest reservoir in mid-May, just in time for Memorial Day weekend fishing.

Metropolitan Water District has been sending significant amounts of water into the drinking water reservoir since late March, district officials announced Tuesday, April 26. The lake has been about one-third full after the district has been drawing water out during California’s continued drought.

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San Diego Beats State Water Savings Targets

/in /by /San Diego Metropolitan Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

 

San Diego is continuing to beat the state’s aggregate savings target for the region, reducing potable water use by 21 percent from June 2015 through March 2016, according to the San Diego County Water Authority.

Starting in March, the region’s aggregate cumulative target is 13 percent — down from 20 percent during the initial phase of the state mandates due to credits for drought-resilient water supplies from the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. The plant produces up to 56,000 acre-feet per year, enough to serve roughly 400,000 residents.

 

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