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California’s Drift Away from Levees Continues

After more than a century of building levees higher to hold back its rivers, California took another step Friday toward a flood-control policy that aims to give raging rivers more room to spread out instead. The plan, adopted by the flood-control board for the Central Valley, covers a 500-mile swath from Mount Shasta to Bakersfield that includes the state’s two largest rivers and the United States’ richest agricultural region. It emphasizes flood plains, wetlands and river bypasses as well as levees.

Succulents are Now Yard’s Main Focus

The backyard of Megan and Don Lowe’s Carlsbad home was a large expanse of lawn that the kids loved. But the grass only looked great for a few months of the year, then dormant and brown the rest of the time. There were several motivations to give the yard a makeover, according to Megan. The kids were getting older and not using the lawn as much, and the Lowes discovered they could take advantage of rebates for turf removal.

A Pipe Dream to Bring Colorado River Water to San Diego Re-Emerges

The San Diego County Water Authority, tired of paying a middle man to deliver water from hundreds of miles away, is starting to cast out for ideas once written off as laughable. One board member has even suggested San Diego may consider building a pipeline of its own to the Colorado River. The pipeline would give the Water Authority a chance to accomplish a long-held goal: breaking a monopoly held by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the region’s largest water supplier and the owner of the only physical connection San Diego has to the Colorado River.

OPINION: Water Conservation Is Alive and Well in San Diego

Water conservation is already a way of life in San Diego County, and San Diego County Water Authority has a lot to do with that. But an op-ed in Water Deeply by Matt O’Malley of San Diego Coastkeeper didn’t give that impression. The truth is that Coastkeeper and the Water Authority share many goals, such as making our region more resilient to drought, but we sometimes disagree about the best way to accomplish them. Coastkeeper tends to support mandates by state regulators, whereas we advocate for decision-making at the local level to ensure alignment with local supply conditions and minimize unintended consequences.

California’s Drift Away from Levees Continues

After more than a century of building levees higher to hold back its rivers, California took another step Friday toward a flood-control policy that aims to give raging rivers more room to spread out instead. The plan, adopted by the flood-control board for the Central Valley, covers a 500-mile swath from Mount Shasta to Bakersfield that includes the state’s two largest rivers and the United States’ richest agricultural region. It emphasizes flood plains, wetlands and river bypasses as well as levees. The plan is especially important for Stockton, which sits at the bottom of the San Joaquin River watershed.