You are now in San Diego County category.

BLOG: Documentary highlights San Diego region’s water history

The San Diego County Water Authority has released a succinct yet engaging new documentary series that highlights the major events in the San Diego region’s ongoing quest for safe and reliable water supplies. Available at www.sdcwa.org/quench-thirst-documentary-series-highlights-regions-water-history and based on the book “To Quench a Thirst: A Brief History of Water in the San Diego Region,” the three-part video series provides a 13-minute overview that traces the search for water from the region’s indigenous people through generations of area leaders who developed the region’s diversified water supply portfolio and robust infrastructure that today sustains 3.2 million people and a $218 billion economy.

State’s “Delta Plan’ may have a restart

The vaunted “Delta Plan,” which took the Delta Stewardship Council about four years to write, has been largely trashed in court in a decision by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny.

Four lawsuits filed by local water agencies, Delta farmers, environmental groups, property owners in the Discovery Bay area and others succeeded in their arguments that the plan falls short of what is required by state law.

 

BLOG: Why Desalination Isn’t the Solution to Water Woes

It is easy to assume seawater desalination is the answer to California’s long-term water woes. All you have to do is look west, and the vast Pacific Ocean simply glimmers with opportunity.

But as with so many things involving water, desalination is not that simple. Converting seawater into drinking water is very expensive, it consumes a lot of electricity and it comes with a host of potentially unsavory environmental impacts.

 

Another challenge to Delta land buy

With a Southern California water district’s purchase of 20,000 acres in the Delta expected to become official as soon as next week, San Joaquin County and central Delta farmers have erected one more legal hurdle in an effort to stop the deal. They filed suit in Contra Costa County Superior Court, alleging that the terms of the sale are in violation of an earlier legal agreement that contains rules about how the land can be used.

Will California ever have its water needs met?

California’s drought is perhaps more of a political ping pong ball than it is anything else, but makes no mistake: drought in California is real; it happens; it’s cyclical; and, politicians have done nothing to mitigate its impacts to the state’s 40 million residents.

While El Niño arguably did not materialize as predicted it did fill northern California reservoirs. Shasta Lake is full, as are Lake Oroville and Folsom Lake. Those facts arguably moved state officials to allocate more than half the requested water allotments to State Water Project users, which include farmers and urban residents.

California Drought Monitor and National Drought Summary for May 31, 2016

June 2, 2016 – The past week’s weather brought about a mixed bag of changes to the U.S. Drought Monitor map, with expansion of dryness and/or drought noted in the Northeast, Southeast, upper Great Lakes, northern Plains and Pacific Northwest. The most notable expansions this week are the advancement of D0 across the northern Cascades in Washington up to the Canadian border and the expansion of D0-D1 and a new area of D2 in the Southeast centered over northern Georgia, northern Alabama and southern Tennessee.

Water Briefing Clarifies ‘Wet’ Winter

A water briefing in the Central Valley gave attendees an outline of how the water situation looks in California and clarified that the winter wasn’t as wet as some reports. The California Department of Water Resources and Water Education Foundation, in cooperation with the Center for Irrigation Technology, held a water briefing seminar at California State University of Fresno. The morning session had a statewide focus and speakers showed detailed information on where California stands with water and the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

Trump’s water bomb hits snag with ag

Donald Trump has made surprising and even shocking statements a veritable staple of his campaign for president.

But possibly no statement surprised California farmers more than when he told thousands in Fresno’s Selland Arena last week that there is no drought.

Specifically, the businessman and former reality show host accused state lawmakers of directing water from the San Joaquin Delta away from farms and communities to improve habitats for delta smelt – though he didn’t mention the delta by name and he referred to the smelt as a “three-inch fish.”

 

Water Supply . . .The News Is Good (?)

After over a year of cutbacks and water use restrictions, we are now telling you, “everything is improving, and we have a full water supply.” I am sure that if we water folks had any credibility left with you, it’s probably now vanished.

Yes, water supply wise, things are better. Much of California did receive near normal rainfall and snow pack, though the El Niño was pretty much a no show for southern California and San Diego County. Fortunately, the areas receiving increased precipitation were the critical watersheds in northern California, which supply the State Water Project (SWP).

Water Supply . . .The News Is Good (?)

After over a year of cutbacks and water use restrictions, we are now telling you, “everything is improving, and we have a full water supply.” I am sure that if we water folks had any credibility left with you, it’s probably now vanished.

Yes, water supply wise, things are better. Much of California did receive near normal rainfall and snow pack, though the El Niño was pretty much a no show for southern California and San Diego County. Fortunately, the areas receiving increased precipitation were the critical watersheds in northern California, which supply the State Water Project (SWP). Lake Oroville, the main supply reservoir for the project is near full and the Department of Water Resources has announced that it will be able to meet 60% of the requests of its water contractors, one of which is the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD).