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US Officials to Review Deal on Sharing Colorado River Water

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Ken Ritter

Federal water managers are starting to review a crucial 2007 agreement for seven Western states to share drought-diminished water supplies from the Colorado River ahead of talks about revising and renewing it beginning in 2026, U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Friday.

Bernhardt called for a report next December, ahead of a deadline set in the older deal, which established a schedule of strict water cutbacks to states if levels keep falling at the key Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs.

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US Water Chief Praises Colorado River Deal, Sees Challenges

/in , , /by /AP by Ken Ritter

LAS VEGAS (AP) — States in the U.S. West that have agreed to begin taking less water next month from the drought-stricken Colorado River got praise and a push for more action Thursday from the nation’s top water official.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman told federal, state and local water managers that abiding by the promises they made will be crucial to ensuring that more painful cuts aren’t required.

The river supplies 40 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming as well as a $5 billion-a-year agricultural industry.

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America’s Dams Are Aging. Is It Time To Take Them Down?

/in , , /by /Deseret News by Sofia Jeremias

After three major dams collapsed in the 1970s, leaving a total of 175 people dead, safety precautions, inspections and regulations were put in place. But a two-year investigation by The Associated Press found that at least 1,680 dams in the country are currently a risk for the communities living below the deteriorating structures.

The news outlet reported that hundreds of dams were in “poor or unsatisfactory condition.”

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New Storm To Spread Snow, Ice, Rain Coast To Coast

/in , /by /The Weather Channel

A new storm from the West will spread snow, ice and rain through parts of the central and eastern states into early next week.

The energy from this next storm will move into the West Coast by Saturday. It will then spawn a low pressure system in the Southern Plains, which will track toward the eastern states early next week.

There will likely be snow and some ice where the moisture pulled in by the low overlaps with cold air supplied by high pressure to its north. Rain and thunderstorms are expected in the South.

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Trade Agreement Includes $300 Million For Border Pollution Cleanup, Including Tijuana River Valley

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by Charles T. Clark

The new United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement reached Tuesday commits the federal government to provide $300 million for the Border Water Infrastructure Program to address pollution on the U.S.-Mexico border, including the Tijuana River Valley region, where millions of gallons of raw sewage, heavy metals and other contaminants regularly flow from Tijuana to San Diego.

The funding likely represents the most significant federal commitment to the problem in decades, elected officials said.

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Threat Of Drought Wiped Off California Map After Soaking Storms

/in , /by /SF Gate by Amy Graff

What a difference a couple storms make.

The recent onslaught of soaking rains and snowy days has wiped the threat of drought off the California map.

The latest federal Drought Monitor Map, a way to measure drought that’s mainly used in agriculture, shows only 3.5 percent of the state as “abnormally dry” with a tiny sliver of yellow on the California-Oregon border. Only a week ago, 85 percent of the state was yellow.

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Opinion: Don’t Go Into The Tunnel

/in , /by /New Timesby Andrew Christie

Last month, at the urging of the SLO County State Water Subcontractors Advisory Committee, the three largest state water subcontractors in the county—Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, and the Oceano CSD—voted to “participate in preliminary efforts associated with the Delta Conveyance Project,” aka the Delta Tunnel.

Votes of support by local jurisdictions bring the project one step closer to reality. Reality is a costly giant tunnel that would divert Sacramento River water bound for the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and transport the water directly to Central Valley farms and urban users in the Bay Area and Southern California.

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Inspection Found 12 Flaws In Poway’s Water Delivery System

/in , /by /ABC 10 News San Diego by Jonathan Horn

A state inspection found 12 flaws in Poway’s drinking water delivery system less than three months before the city’s precautionary boil water advisory.

City officials remain adamant that the issues raised by the inspection had nothing to do with the nearly week-long advisory that ended Dec. 6.

The September 2019 inspection, from the State Water Resources Control Board, raised a series of issues – some administrative. It says some of Poway’s distribution system reservoirs haven’t been cleaned or inspected in more than five years; that the city’s coagulant feed pump meter isn’t working, and that the city needs to update its water quality alarm systems for chlorine and clarity.

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Metropolitan Water District To Provide Incentives To San Diego’s Water Recycling Project

/in , /by /Water Technology Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Metropolitan Water District’s board of directors has approved up to $285.6m of incentives to San Diego’s Pure Water recycling project, which is worth $1.4bn, over the next 25 years.

The water recycling project will feature advanced treatment processes to purify wastewater in order to supply drinking water to the city’s residents.

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California supplies water to 26 member agencies, which together serve 19 million people in six counties.

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Olivenhain Municipal Water District Logo landscape design workshops

OMWD Named “Business of the Year” for its Protection of Escondido Creek Watershed

/in , /by

Encinitas, CA—Representatives from the Escondido Creek Conservancy presented Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors with the “Business of the Year” award at OMWD’s December 11 meeting. OMWD received the award for its support of the Conservancy’s education program. The program has become increasingly successful each year, and today brings thousands of local students annually to Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve to learn about water quality and habitat protection.

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