David Manahan has a lot of responsibilities as director of the Sierra Expeditionary Learning School here. This year, a major one has been digging out from under the mountains of snow burying sidewalks and classroom entrances of the K-8 charter school.
A Southern California brewery has successfully tested a beer using treated sewage water. Stone Brewing, a large craft brewing operation headquartered in Escondido, presented its Full Circle Pale Ale to curious customers at an event Thursday in San Diego. The new ale is made using recycled, treated sewage water and is part of San Diego’s plan, ‘Pure Water San Diego,’ to get a third of its water from recycled sources by 2021.
An unusually snowy winter in the northern Rockies has for now helped put the kibosh on a statewide plan to conserve Colorado River water to stop Lake Mead from falling too low. Future conservation efforts are highly uncertain. For many months, water agencies including Tucson Water have discussed a plan to save 1.2 million acre-feet of river water over three years to delay the threat of shortages to the Central Arizona Project, which brings drinking water to Tucson and Phoenix and irrigation water to Central Arizona farmers.
The drought is over, at least in the Santa Fe Irrigation District (SFID). At its meeting on Thursday, March 16, the district’s board voted unanimously to lift all restrictions on water use by its customers, essentially declaring that for the agency, which serves some 20,000 customers in Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch, the drought that has plagued California for the past five years is a thing of the past.
Lake Oroville is dropping about 4 feet a day and the Feather River is running high, as the Department of Water Resources empties space in the lake to absorb storm runoff and snowmelt. DWR is releasing 40,000 cubic-feet per second through the damaged main Oroville Dam spillway, and another 6,750 cfs through the Hyatt Powerhouse underneath the dam. As inflow to the lake is ranging from 16,000-25,000 cfs, the lake level has declined since the spillway gates were opened Friday for the first time since Feb. 27.
An unusually snowy winter in the northern Rockies has for now helped put the kibosh on a statewide plan to conserve Colorado River water to stop Lake Mead from falling too low. Future conservation efforts are highly uncertain. For many months, water agencies including Tucson Water have discussed a plan to save 1.2 million acre-feet of river water over three years to delay the threat of shortages to the Central Arizona Project, which brings drinking water to Tucson and Phoenix and irrigation water to Central Arizona farmers.
Gov. Jerry Brown is asking for federal assistance to repair damage at Oroville Dam and other infrastructure impacted by February storms that caused flooding, mudslides and power outages. Sunday’s request follows three other petitions for federal help that President Donald Trump’s administration has granted to assist with earlier storm damages and the emergency at Oroville Dam. Brown’s office says the governor also declared a state of emergency for Contra Costa and Solano counties, bringing the total to 50 counties affected by February storms.
California officials have temporarily resumed using the damaged main spillway at Lake Oroville, marking an important milestone in efforts to get the vast state reservoir back to normal after a near collapse last month.The main spillway of the reservoir 70 miles north of Sacramento ruptured during heavy rains last month.
A 25-year-long, $1.5 billion effort to upgrade San Diego County’s water system was recognized Thursday with one of the worlds’ top civil engineering awards. The San Diego County Water Authority project beat out the iconic One World Trade Center in New York to receive the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Emergency and Carryover Storage Project was designed to ensure up to six months of water is available and can be moved around the San Diego region after a major earthquake or other emergency disrupts outside water supplies.
For decades, San Francisco has been blissfully removed from California’s water wars. The city’s pristine reservoirs in and around Yosemite National Park have been not only plentiful but also largely outside the reach of regulators. But plans by the state to mandate an increase in the amount of water flowing down rivers between the Sierra and San Francisco Bay — a bid to prevent the collapse of some of California’s most precious wetlands — has drawn the city into the fray.
