Zephyr Partners last week floated the idea of a wave water park as part of a development proposed for the former Oceanside drive-in property, more than 90 acres along the San Luis Rey River just east of the city’s airport. The perfect machine-made wave would attract surfers from hundreds of miles away and would capitalize on the city’s beach-town reputation, said Michael Grehl, a senior vice president for Zephyr.
The general long-term forecast for California as climate change intensifies: more frequent droughts, intermittently interrupted by years when big storms bring rain more quickly than the water infrastructure can handle. This bipolar weather will have profound implications for the state’s $50 billion agriculture industry and the elaborate network of reservoirs, canals, and aqueducts that store and distribute water. A system built for irrigation and flood protection must adapt to accommodate more conservation. “The effects of climate change are necessitating wholesale changes in how water is managed in California,” the state Department of Water Resources wrote in a June 2018 white paper.
All options are still on the table in developing a wastewater treatment system in Los Olivos, but the community needs to pick one quickly — before the state takes over the decision, according to the Los Olivos Community Services District. In a special meeting May 30, the LOCSD board presented a range of wastewater treatment options after spending the last year meeting with the California Regional Water Quality Control Board and Santa Barbara County Environmental Health Services.
State Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) announced Monday she has secured a $15 million one-time investment of General Funds for the southern Central Valley. The funds will address failing water systems that deliver safe clean drinking water to California’s most vulnerable communities. “Access to clean drinking water is one of the main reasons why I chose to run for office,” said Senator Melissa Hurtado. “One million-plus people don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water and this issue disproportionately affects my community, often keeping me up at night.”
California is facing an unprecedented and reckless assault by the federal government on our water quality, air quality, worker safety, fish and wildlife and public lands. Existing federal protections in those areas keep California a special place and keep Californians healthy. But those protections are threatened. Our state government is fighting back, but the past two years have revealed where state law must be strengthened. For decades, state regulators have relied on federal protections for endangered species to meet California’s independent state legal requirement to protect imperiled species like Northern California’s spring run Chinook salmon.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
