The first significant storm of the winter season may bring drenching rain and heavy mountain snow to the southwestern United States, including Southern California, next week. The weather pattern began to change across the region during the first few days of 2018 as a small amount of moisture began to flow in from the Pacific Ocean and into California.
Citing a “long-term systemic failure” at the California Department of Water Resources, independent forensic investigators released their final report Friday on the nearly-catastrophic emergency last February at Oroville Dam. In a 584-page report on the disaster at America’s tallest dam, the investigative team blamed a “complex interaction of relatively common physical, human, organizational and industry factors” for the failure of the dam’s main flood-control spillway Feb. 7. The giant crater that erupted in the concrete chute set off a slow-motion emergency that culminated five days later with the evacuation of 188,000 downstream residents.
Complacency, bureaucracy and an inadequate safety culture led to the failure last year of the Oroville Dam spillway, according to an independent investigation report released Friday. The findings point to human error by a number of organizations but say that the dam’s owner, the California Department of Water Resources, was “significantly overconfident and complacent about the integrity of its State Water Project civil infrastructure, including dams.”
You might wish you had as much power to affect the environment and the economy as the delta smelt. Enemies have blamed the tiny freshwater fish for putting farmers out of business across California’s breadbasket, forcing the fallowing of vast acres of arable land, creating double-digit unemployment in agricultural counties, even clouding the judgment of scientists and judges.
Citing a “long-term systemic failure” at the California Department of Water Resources, independent forensic investigators released their final report Friday on the nearly-catastrophic emergency last February at Oroville Dam. In a 584-page dissection of the disaster at America’s tallest dam, the investigative team said Oroville Dam was designed and built with flaws from the beginning, which were exacerbated by inadequate repairs in the years that followed.
Southern California’s Salton Sea, the largest lake in California, has seen its share of ups and downs since it was accidentally created in 1905 by Colorado River floodwaters. Now, already badly polluted by chemicals from agricultural irrigation runoff, which provides the lake’s inflow, the surrounding shoreline is in danger of becoming a toxic blight.
Below the streets of La Mesa, a big project is taking place. San Diego’s Water Authority is in the process of relining four miles of pipes that have been around for nearly 60 years. News 8’s Shawn Styles goes underground to give you a closer look at the work.
A winter storm is forecast to strike next week in Southern California that could bring up to 4 inches of rain and result in mudslides or flooding in some wildfire-scarred areas. Crews were scrambling this week to clean out debris in catch basins and prepare for heavy rains forecast to fall in burn areas Tuesday into Wednesday. The absence of vegetation and roots in burned-out hillsides and canyons makes them more susceptible to mudslides and even landslides, officials said.
Businesses and restaurants in Little Italy are asking the city of San Diego for money after a water main break last year. On July 30, 2017, a 16-inch concrete main broke at Kettner Boulevard and Juniper Street in Little Italy. “This was a pretty horrendous water break,” said Marco Li Mandri with the Little Italy Association of San Diego. Water flooded streets for hours. Normally busy restaurants and businesses were forced to close. “Kettner was shut down the entire day and you obviously can’t do any food service without water.”
Water customers across the city of San Diego have contacted NBC 7 Responds with complaints they are being charged by the city for more water than they actually used. These customers are not talking about their water rates, rather homeowners say their water use suddenly skyrocketed in one or more billing periods, leading to hundreds of dollars in higher charges.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
