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San Diego County Water Authority Praises Gov. Newsom’s Bay Delta Tunnels Decision

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

The San Diego County Water Authority on Monday praised Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to cut one of the two planned Bay-Delta tunnels and invited him to tour San Diego’s facilities. Board Chair Jim Madaffer thanked the governor for “wisdom and leadership” in officially scrapping the Brown administration’s plans for an $18 billion two-tunnel system for moving water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta to Southern California in favor of a less-expensive single tunnel.

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FPUD To Take Advantage Of Conservation Grants

/in , /by /Village Newsby Joe Naiman

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California provides grants for water conservation projects which are administered to MWD member agencies, and those member agencies including the San Diego County Water Authority provide the grants to the retail agencies. The Fallbrook Public Utility District will be receiving two MWD grants through the County Water Authority. “We’ve secured the funding and now we’re in the process of fully developing and implementing the programs,” FPUD engineering technician Mick Cothran said.

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NRDC Accuses Regional Regulators Of Lax Enforcement

/in , /by /Santa Monica Daily Pressby Madeleine Pauker

A new report is accusing the regional board that regulates the quality of Los Angeles’s water of not taking enough action against cities and industrial facilities that pollute coastal waters and inland watersheds. When it rains in a city like Los Angeles that is largely paved over, the water passes over streets and sidewalks, collecting bacteria, trash, metals, herbicide and other pollutants, eventually draining into rivers and the ocean.

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OPINION: California Needs WaterFix More Than Ever

/in , /by /The Orange County Registerby Brett R Barbre

Water is more critical than ever in California. That’s why we need the Twin Tunnels project, called the California Water Fix and Eco Restore, WaterFix for short. It would bring 9,000 cubic feet per second of water from Northern California to Southern California while solving ecological problems. Building only one tunnel would bring south just one-third the water. Yet Gov. Gavin Newsom in an April 29 executive order summarily called for only “a new single tunnel project.” It’s obvious that the O.J. jury spent more time considering the evidence than the governor when considering Twin Tunnels.

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OPINION: Editorial: Governor Sets Welcome New Course On Delta Water Issues

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)

Gov. Gavin Newsom set a welcome new course on California water issues Thursday when he officially killed the $19 billion Delta twin tunnels project. What a relief. One of the state’s biggest long-term challenge is securing a reliable source of water for residents, businesses and farmers without destroying the environment. The problem is further exacerbated by the anticipated impacts of climate change. We never understood former Gov. Jerry Brown’s stubborn support of the twin-tunnels effort, which involved digging the equivalent of a 10-lane freeway, 150 feet underground. Nor could we fathom why the Santa Clara Valley Water District board voted to support the project, knowing that the governor had essentially turned the boondoggle over to Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District to run.

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Bureau Of Reclamation Projects Lake Mead To Stay Above Shortage Trigger

/in , /by /Mohave Valleys Daily Newsby Saul A. Flores

The Bureau of Reclamation has updated its 24-month study projections for the reservoirs throughout the Colorado River Basin which includes Lake Powell and Hoover Dam-Lake Mead. According to the BOR, the snowpack in the Upper Basin is nearly 140% above average as of April 15 and it forecasts that seasonal inflow to Lake Powell will be at 128% of average. “We are pleased to see the above average snowpack conditions in the Upper Basin and the improvement in the inflow forecast for Lake Powell,” said Brent Rhees, BOR’s Upper Colorado regional director.

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Toxic Water In California Prisons: Sickening Inmates And Costing Taxpayers Millions

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

An inmate’s death in Stockton from Legionnaires’ disease marks the third time in four years the rare form of pneumonia has struck California’s state prisons – and has laid bare a history of contamination and other problems plaguing water supplies in the corrections system. Incidents of tainted water have spawned inmate lawsuits, expensive repairs, hefty bills for bottled water and fines, putting a multimillion-dollar burden on the taxpayer-funded corrections system, according to documents and court records reviewed by McClatchy. Now the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which oversees a network of 76 prisons, youth lockups and inmate firefighter camps, is dealing with a death.

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Well designed and operated irrigation systems can reliably deliver the water your landscaping needs without waste or excess. Photo: AxxLC/Pixabay

What’s Your Landscape Irrigation IQ?

/in , /by

Learn the basics of most irrigation systems, the key components of intelligent irrigation systems, and how to employ low pressure to maximize your system’s efficiency.

Conventional irrigation systems are notoriously inefficient

Conventional irrigation systems can suffer due to poor design, inadequate maintenance, and improper management. Well designed and operated systems can reliably deliver the necessary water to sustain your landscaping without waste or excess.

A shutoff valve (ball valve) can be manually operated to cut off the water supply in the event of a leak, a malfunction, or a major repair.

When activated by an irrigation controller, the anti-siphon valve delivers water through a PVC pipe lateral irrigation line and ultimately reaches the sprinkler head, which applies the water to your landscaping.

Intelligent irrigation systems operate with efficiency

Efficient irrigation components are designed to operate at lower pressure levels, as specified by each product manufacturer. Devices are more likely to fail under excess pressure, and damage can occur.

A pressure regulator will eliminate excess pressure.

A submeter can be installed where the irrigation system tees off the mainline to the house. It is a recommended option for large properties to keep track of the actual volume of water being applied to the landscape.

Single family homes typically have a single mixed-use meter which doesn’t distinguish between indoor and outdoor water use. An alternativeis to install a flow sensor working in tandem with a smart controller.

Low-volume irrigation devices like rotary nozzles and micro or drip irrigation are designed to deliver water to the landscape at a slower rate. This better approximates the infiltration rate of the soil and reduces runoff.

Smart controllers will automatically adjust irrigation schedules in response to changing weather conditions. They come in two varieties. ET controllers monitor weather conditions. Soil moisture-based controllers directly sample the moisture in the ground. These devices also have features like “cycle and soak” functions that can help eliminate runoff. When selecting a controller, look for brands with the EPA WaterSense® label.


This article was inspired by the 71-page Sustainable Landscapes Program guidebook available at SustainableLandscapesSD.org. The Water Authority and its partners also offer other great resources for landscaping upgrades, including free WaterSmart classes at WaterSmartSD.org.

 

Snow Survey Finds California Water Nearly Doubled

/in , /by /AP News

California cities and farms can expect ample water supplies this summer after winter storms blanketed the Sierra Nevada, nearly doubling the snowpack average for this time of year, state water officials said Thursday. The fifth and final survey of the season at Phillips Station recorded 47 inches (119 centimeters) of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 27.5 inches (70 centimeters), the Department of Water Resources said. That’s 188% of average for the location near Lake Tahoe. Just four years ago, then-Gov. Jerry Brown found a field at Phillips Station barren of any measureable snow amid an historic drought.

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A Healthy Late-Spring Snowpack

/in , /by /Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, Calif.)

The Department of Water Resources said California’s snowpack is healthy as the state prepares for peak runoff months. Following the final survey of the year at Phillips Station on Thursday, DWR found the snowpack was 188 percent of its average for that location. Statewide, the results showed the snowpack contained 31 inches of snow water equivalent (144 percent of its average for this time of year), which is the depth of water that would result if the entire snowpack melted instantaneously. The information will help water managers across the state plan for spring and summer snowmelt runoff into rivers and reservoirs.

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