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Lack of Preparation for Massive Earthquake Could Bring Catastrophe, Report Says

Southern California’s smaller cities and large businesses must take the threat of a crippling earthquake far more seriously than they have been, a committee of business, public policy and utility leaders said Thursday, saying action is needed to “prevent the inevitable disaster from becoming a catastrophe.”

Despite strides made by the city of Los Angeles to focus on earthquake safety, Southern California still faces significant threats that haven’t been resolved.

 

Water Rates to Rise by Nearly 6% in San Diego County

The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors Thursday voted to raise rates 5.9 percent for treated drinking water and 6.4 percent for untreated irrigation water in 2017.

The Water Authority cited increasing expenses for imported water and the need to pass on higher costs for water from the desalination plant in Carlsbad. The SDCWA, which delivers water to 24 local agencies and districts that distribute to customers, also cited the impact of state-mandated conservation on its budget.

 

Southern California Water Recycling Project To Make History

The Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) has unanimously approved and signed an agreement with J.F. Shea Construction to build a $110 million state-of-the-art water treatment plant that will enable WRD to develop the first locally sustainable groundwater basins in California. “This is an exciting day,” said WRD Board of Directors President Willard H. Murray, Jr. “The Los Angeles region has a long and sometimes colorful history of importing water to quench our thirst. With this project WRD will be turning a corner in our water history.

Water Supplier Temporarily Blocked from Delta Island Purchase

Two counties in California and an environmental group have partnered together to file an appeal against Southern California’s biggest water supplier, blocking its purchase of the Delta farm islands.

Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties, along with Restore the Delta group, have sued Metropolitan Water District in an attempt to stop its plan to buy the islands, which comprise 20,000 acres of wetlands. The group said the plan is an attempt at a water grab to move Delta water to Southern California.

BLOG: Lessons on Sustaining the Environment During Drought

California and Victoria, Australia, are both drought-prone states that face major challenges in managing freshwater-dependent ecosystems and native species during dry times. Both states have experienced intense controversy over balancing water for environmental needs and agricultural and urban uses. But while California’s environment has suffered greatly during its latest drought—with many species pushed to the brink of extinction—Victoria avoided serious biological losses during an even longer drought. Equally important, Victoria enacted a suite of policy changes that improved water management for all sectors, not just the environment, and reduced conflict.

San Diego County Water Authority Votes To Raise Rates

The San Diego County Water Authority board of directors on Thursday voted to raise rates 6.4 percent for untreated water and 5.9 percent for treated water in 2017.

The water authority cited increasing expenses for imported water and the need to pass on higher costs for water from the desalination plant in Carlsbad. The water authority, which delivers water to 24 local agencies and districts that distribute to customers, also cited the impact of state-mandated conservation on its budget.

 

Sacramento Judge Rules Delta Plan Is “Invalid”

Judge Michael Kenny of the Sacramento Superior Court today ruled that the Delta Plan is “invalid” after a successful legal challenge by multiple Delta parties who argued that the controversial plan is not protective of the water quality or the fish species that depend on fresh water flows for their survival.

The Court, in its tentative ruling vacating the plan, said the Delta Stewardship Council must redo the Delta Plan to include a number of quantitative measures of performance, including reduced reliance on the Delta for future water needs by exporters.

OPINION: California needs to conserve water like the drought is here to stay

The water level in Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir, had plunged to less than a third of normal by the end of last year. Then came the El Niño rainfall, which by April had tripled the volume of water in the lake. The story is similar in Trinity Lake, part of the same network of federal projects in the far northern portion of the state that regulate the flow of water to the Sacramento River on its journey south toward the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and San Francisco Bay.

San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors Vote to Raise Water Rates

The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors today voted to raise rates 6.4 percent for untreated water and 5.9 percent for treated water in 2017.

The Water Authority cited increasing expenses for imported water and the need to pass on higher costs for water from the desalination plant in Carlsbad. The SDCWA, which delivers water to 24 local agencies and districts that distribute to customers, also cited the impact of state-mandated conservation on its budget.

 

California’s Drought Isn’t Over. Why Are So Many Water Agencies Ending Mandatory Conservation?

Coachella Valley residents have slashed their water use nearly 25 percent over the past year in response to California’s historic drought. Now they face a new conservation mandate: zero percent.

No, the drought isn’t over: The entire state is abnormally dry and 43 percent of it suffers from “extreme” or “exceptional” drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. But with California’s reservoirs and snowpack in better shape than last year after a moderately wet winter, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered the state water board to relax the strict conservation targets it imposed last June.