You are now in Media Coverage San Diego County category.

Contest For Lake Jennings Photography Buffs Back For 8th Year

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Karen Pearlman

The Helix Water District is holding its eighth annual Lake Jennings spring photo contest, seeking pictures of the scenic reservoir taken between now and the end of May. The 2019 contest theme is “Life at the Lake.” Photographs can be color or black and white, of flora, fauna or people at the lake, as well as boating, camping, landscape or picturesque views at the Lakeside reservoir. All images must be digital and there is a limit of three entries per person. Photos may not contain watermarks.

Full Story

Outlook Improves For Colorado River Reservoirs, But A Drought Deal Is Still In The Works

/in , /by /Arizona Central (Phoenix, Ariz.)by Ian James

Winter storms have covered the Rocky Mountains with snow from Wyoming to northern New Mexico, leaving a bounty of runoff that should boost the levels of the Colorado River’s depleted reservoirs this spring and summer. The snow that fell during the past month has pushed the accumulated snowpack across the Upper Colorado River Basin to nearly 140 percent of average. Federal officials now estimate there could be enough snow to narrowly avert a declaration of a shortage at Lake Mead next year, which would hold off water cutbacks in the Southwest for another year.

Full Story

Wastewater Treatment Startup Wins $200,000 At San Diego Angel Conference

/in , /by /San Diego Business Journalby Elise Reuter

AquaCycl, a San Diego-based wastewater treatment startup, took home the grand prize at the San Diego Angel Conference on March 15. A panel of angel investors that had vetted the finalists for months selected AquaCycl as the winner, for a $200,000 cash prize. The company was also voted in as the audience favorite. AquaCycl was co-founded in 2016 by CEO Orianna Bretschger, Vice President of R&D Sofia Babanova and Vice President of Hardware and Manufacturing Ryoji Naito. The company developed a technology that uses electricity-generating bacteria to speed up wastewater treatment rates, resulting in a more efficient, lower-cost option.

Full Story

2019 California Central Valley Project Water Allocations Updated

/in , /by /Sierra Sun Times

The Bureau of Reclamation last week issued updated allocations for Central Valley Project contractors for the 2019 contract year. This update reflects the benefits of the series of storms that brought significant precipitation to California during February and early March. “The precipitation we’ve experienced since mid-February has provided a significant boost to the projected water supply for the Central Valley Project this year,” said Mid-Pacific Regional Director Ernest Conant. “With the improved CVP storage conditions and the latest runoff forecasts, we are pleased to increase the amount of water allocated to many of our water service contractors.”

Full Story

California Drought Officially Over After More Than Seven Years

/in , /by /KSBY (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

California is officially free of drought after more than seven years, drought monitors said Thursday. The Golden State has experienced some form of drought for 376 consecutive weeks, the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska, tweeted. It’s the first time the state has been free of drought since Dec. 20, 2011. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tweeted that weather in 2017 helped matters, but moderate drought persisted. Rainfall this winter further alleviated the drought, although 7 percent of the state remains “abnormally dry.”

Full Story

Water District GM: Listen To Consultants On Cal Am Buyout Feasibility

/in , /by /Monterey Heraldby Jim Johnson

Feasibility of a potential public buyout of California American Water’s local water system should be based on a consulting team’s advice on an acquisition plan that could succeed in a public necessity court trial while seeking cost savings for local ratepayers and keeping all costs contained in water rates. That’s according to a recommendation from Monterey Peninsula Water Management District general manager Dave Stoldt to be considered by the water board on Monday. The board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. at water district headquarters, 5 Harris Court at Ryan Ranch in Monterey.

Full Story

What Are The Environmental Impacts Of Two Major Ventura Water Projects? Reports Shed Light

/in , /by /Ventura County Starby Arlene Martinez

Ventura has released reports detailing the environmental impacts of two sizable projects expected to increase the city’s water supply and reliability while ensuring it complies with the terms of a 2011 legal settlement. One involves tapping into the city’s long-held investment into state water. A 7-mile pipeline would tap into the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which gets water via the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles.

Full Story

Santa Barbara County Supervisors Poised To Declare End Of Drought-Caused Emergency

/in , /by /Santa Ynez Valley News (Solvang, Calif.)by Mike Hodgson

Full and rising reservoirs from this winter’s storms have the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors poised to terminate the drought-caused emergency declaration, although South Coast purveyors are worried a water shortage will persist for an extended time, according to a county staff report. Office of Emergency Management Director Rob Lewin noted that despite the recent abundance of precipitation, it could take years of above-normal or at least normal rainfall before the county’s severely depleted groundwater basins are recharged.

Full Story

Wet Winter Likely To Keep Colorado River Out Of Shortage Next Year

/in , /by / Las Vegas Review-Journalby Henry Brean

For the moment, Mother Nature is smiling on the Colorado River. Enough snow has piled up in the mountains that feed the river to stave off a dreaded shortage declaration for one more year, according to federal projections released Friday afternoon. Just a month ago, forecasters expected Lake Mead to start 2020 about 17 feet lower than it is now, below the trigger point for a first-ever federal shortage declaration on the drought-stricken river.

Full Story

Water War In California: Two Agencies Fight Over Colorado River Drought Plan With A Crucial Deadline Looming

/in , /by /CNBCby Jeff Daniels

California remains a holdout on a drought emergency plan for the Colorado River that is due next Tuesday by all seven river states. Holding up the plan has been a fight between two powerful water agencies in Southern California. The drought contingency plan is designed to produce voluntary cuts that would keep the river and Lake Mead from reaching critically low levels. If the plan doesn’t get finalized, the federal government could step in and force mandatory cutbacks instead of voluntary ones for a river that serves 40 million people and some 5 million acres of farmland.

Full Story