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Water Quality Improves in San Diego County Watersheds: Report

Water quality in San Diego County’s dozen watersheds improved overall in 2016 for the first time in three years, San Diego Coastkeeper reported Tuesday. In its 2016 San Diego County Water Quality Report, the environmental organization rated two of the watersheds to be of good quality — the San Luis Rey River in the North County and Rose Creek in San Diego. Most of the others were rated as fair. “Of course, a single year of overall better water quality readings does not mean San Diego’s water will keep improving,” said Meredith Meyers, Coastkeeper’s lab manager.

OPINION: Twin Tunnels Project Jeopardizes Stability of Your Water Rates

One of the most monumental and potentially devastating decisions in California’s water history is currently being considered and the health and sustainability of the backbone of California’s water system and affordability of your water rates are at stake. Over the next month or two, a number of public water agencies will decide on whether to fund construction of two massive, 35-mile long tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to ultimately deliver water to Southern California. The state will be asking your water agency to make a financial commitment to invest in this project.

First Step In Implementing California Groundwater Law Successful

California was one of the last states in the West to pass a law to manage groundwater. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act into law in 2014. The first major hurdle under the law was determining who would manage groundwater basins. The law required the formation of local governing agencies, known as “Groundwater Sustainability Agencies” or GSA’s. Landowners, public agencies, counties or other groundwater users in the basin could form GSA’s. They had until June 30 to complete the process.

State’s June Water Savings Down to 17.4 Percent

Statewide water savings slipped in June to 17.4 percent of that in the same month in 2013, the state Water Resources Control Board announced Tuesday. That’s the lowest monthly conservation rate since February 2016, which saw savings of 11.9 percent compared to the benchmark pre-drought year. Local districts did much better than the state average, ranging from 25-40 percent water use reductions compared to June 2013. The Del Oro Water Co. saw the biggest savings at 40.2 percent. That was the fourth best conservation rate in the state. Daily per capita water use was 84 gallons.

 

Company’s Plan to Sell Mojave Desert Groundwater Opposed by L.A. Water Officials

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is opposing a company’s proposal to pump groundwater in the Mojave Desert and sell it to Southern California cities. The L.A. water utility’s board weighed in against the project on Tuesday, recommending to Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council that they support a bill in the state Legislature requiring California to review the environmental impacts of the proposal.

California May See More Rainfall Over the Next Century

After undergoing five years of drought, many Californians may fear a future with less rainfall thanks to climate change. However, research carried out at the University of California, Riverside, suggests precipitation across the state may actually increase over the next hundred years. The paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, looked at several different California climate models and aggregated the results. However, not every model is good at predicting factors like precipitation. So, rather than simply aggregating the findings, Robert Allen, a climatologist at the University of California, Riverside, and the lead author on the paper, was picky.