Even in times of drought, California’s natural and human-made arteries run with the nation’s cleanest, most accessible water. So fundamental is the stuff to the state’s identity and to its residents’ daily lives that California law recognizes a human right to “safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes.”
Fire stations throughout the City have said goodbye to water-guzzling grass and hello to drought-tolerant landscapes in a water conservation overhaul made possible by Pasadena Water & Power. The Community Demonstration Garden project is part of Pasadena’s continuing commitment to maximize water savings throughout the City and to support water-saving opportunities at city facilities. “It is the City’s effort to demonstrate to the community what is possible when you remove your water-thirsty turf and you replace it with drought-tolerant landscapes,” said Ursula Schmidt, Pasadena Water & Power Water Conservation Manager.
Despite the construction of magificent new dams, the San Diego region suffered from lack of water supplies due to a ten-year drought. Desperate for rain, the City of San Diego hired rainmaker Charles M. Hatfield in December 1915 for $10,000 with the promise he could fill the Morena Reservoir.
From January 15 – 20, 1916, it rained throughout San Diego County. The San Diego River rose six feet, creating a mile-wide flood in Mission Valley. Roads and bridges throughout the county were wiped out. But the Morena Reservoir wasn’t full. Citizens wanted the City Council to stop paying Hatfield to make rain, but it refused.
From January 25 – 30, it rained another 14 inches in the mountains. Flooding damaged the Sweetwater Dam, and destroyed the Lower Otay Dam. Bridges, railroads and highways were gone. Fourteen people died in the flooding.
Whether it was simply a coincidence, or whether Hatfield really did make it rain, no one will ever know for sure. San Diego County has never recorded a wetter two-week period in the 102 years since January 1916.
Between 60 and 90 percent of the world’s fresh water is frozen in the ice sheets of Antarctica, a continent roughly the size of the United States and Mexico combined. If all that ice melted, it would be enough to raise the world’s sea levels by roughly 200 feet. While that won’t happen overnight, Antarctica is indeed melting, and a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature shows that the melting is speeding up.
A coalition of environmental groups has sued the California Delta Stewardship Council (CDSC) over what they say are violations of law affecting Delta environment restoration. The suit was filed May 25 in Sacramento Superior Court, where headquarters for the council are located. The plaintiffs include the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the River, Center for Food Safety, Sierra Club California, Planning and Conservation League and Restore the Delta.
A federal spending bill containing a provision that could spell disaster for opponents of the California WaterFix project passed an important hurdle when it was approved by the House Committee on Appropriations last week. The Fiscal Year 2019 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, introduced by Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42), includes a rider identified as Section 437. If approved, the rider on page 141 of a 142-page document will exempt the California WaterFix project from state and federal judicial review.
A June 28 San Diego County Water Authority hearing will determine the SDCWA’s rates and charges for 2019, but the SDCWA is likely to have a lower rate increase than in past years. A May 24, CWA board vote set the June 28 hearing date for the proposed rates and charges which included a 2.9 percent increase for untreated water supply and an increase of 0.9 percent for treated water. The cost for member agencies to purchase untreated water including both supply price and other charges would increase from $1,303 to $1,341 per acre-foot while the price of treated water would rise from $1,603 to $1,617 per acre-foot.
Compost and mulch may seem like interchangeable terms for the same thing. But they are two different things with different uses in your landscaping.
Compost is a soil amendment. It is made of organic matter such as food scraps, landscape debris, or livestock manure that have already been partially consumed and mostly decomposed by microorganism. You cannot tell the original source of compost. Good quality compost brings the helpful “OWL” formula of oxygen, water, and life together in one package.
Mulch is a soil topping. Mulch can be either organic or inorganic material that covers soil. The original recycled debris source of mulch is often identifiable. Mulch can be made from organic sources (grass clippings, leaf and yard litter, shredded wood trimmings) or inorganic sources such as gravel or decomposed granite (sometimes called “DG” for short).
The microbes in healthy, biologically diverse mulch will “knit” the organic material together, forming a thick blanket. This mulch cover protects the soil and plant roots from temperature swings, retains moisture by slowing down evaporation from the surface of the soil, and keeps weeds from sprouting by reducing sunlight penetration to the soil surface.
You can buy commercially produced compost, or you can make it at home. The compost-making process, or composting, involves creating the optimal conditions for the microbes to do their transformative work.
When compost looks like soil, you can work it directly into the soil. When compost is more coarse or has visible bits of the original materials, the most likely it is used on top of the soil instead of as an incorporated soil amendment worked in.
Compost works in several ways. The compost itself contains particles that improve soil structure. Next, as compost decomposes in soil, it encourages the formation of soil macroaggregates. These macroaggregates are composed of existing soil particles and decomposed organic matter, which combine to create a more stable and better-functioning soil structure.
Mulch always stays on the surface of your soil. It is never worked in. Recycled organic material is the most effective type of mulch, because it builds soil structure over time and provides a durable, protective barrier. The smaller the debris pieces are and the more mixed the organic pieces are such as leaves with wood chips, the faster it decomposes. When building your soil, small mixed mulch is best.
Composted materials, especially coarse composts such as decomposed granite, can also be used as mulch. Artificial and inorganic mulches (DG, gravel, rubber chips) are mainly decorative. They do not contribute to soil life or plant health. They are best used in limited applications, such as creating natural pathways.
Last week’s column about California’s new water rationing apparently upset some of the Golden State’s swamp. This columnist pointed out that a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown set new “standards” of water usage. Here’s what their water-rationing bill (now law) says, in language everyone can understand: “The bill, until January 1, 2025, would establish 55 gallons per capita daily as the standard for indoor residential water use. … The bill would impose civil liability for a violation of an order or regulation issued pursuant to these provisions, as specified.”
The frantic phone calls to the Community Water Center began in the summer of 2014. In the 7,000-strong unincorporated community of East Porterville, nestled against California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, homeowners’ wells were failing amid a historic drought. Folks were hauling water from their workplaces or from agricultural wells. Parents were sending their kids to shower at the local high school. Residents with still-functional wells were snaking hoses over fences to nourish their neighbors.
