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Napa County Passes Contentious Water And Tree Protection Provision

/in , /by /Forbesby Liza B. Zimmerman

After close to a year of non-stop debate about how to protect agriculture and support commerce, the Napa County Board of Supervisors (BOS) passed the final ordinance on Water Quality and Tree Protection last Tuesday April 9th. It was adopted by a vote of 5-0, with provisions for it to take effect in 30 days. Brad Wagenknecht, a supervisor at the Napa Valley BOS, shares in a recent interview that, “the Board has worked on this for such a long time.” He adds that, as a result, “I think you will be able to recognize the Napa Valley in 50 years.”

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What State Has The Greatest Percentage Of Beginning Farmers?

/in , /by /Farm Progress (St. Charles, Ill.)

The 2017 Census of Agriculture was released April 11. Here’s a few findings from the report. Alaska ranks first in the percent of producers who are beginning farmers, followed by Georgia and Maine. Beginning farmers have 10 or fewer years of farming experience. In 2017, 27% of all U.S. producers classified as beginning farmers. Their average age was 46.3, and their farms were smaller than average in both acres and sales. The average age of all U.S. producers in 2017 was 57.5 years, up 1.2 years from 2012, when the last Census was conducted. This continues a long-term trend. Producers had been on their current farm an average of 21.3 years. On average, producers are older in southern states and younger in Midwestern states.

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Bonita Museum To Display Winners Of Sweetwater Authority’s Photo Contest

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Hernandez

The images capture water in everyday life. One shows the reflection of a mural in a puddle. Another captures rain drops on a sunroof. The photographs are among a dozen images taken by high school students in South Bay who won a contest put on by the Sweetwater Authority, which provides water for about 190,000 customers in National City, Bonita and western and central Chula Vista. The water district’s photo contest yielded more than 85 entrees, each of which included a short essay about the images and the tie-in to the the theme (“Water in Daily Life”). The contest included two categories: color and black and white.

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The Big Dig: Trampas Canyon Reservoir To Serve As South County’s Largest Water Project

/in , , /by /The Capistrano Dispatch (Orange County)by Fred Swegles

On 177 acres situated between San Clemente’s Talega community and Ortega Highway, mountainous earthworks are taking shape. Santa Margarita Water District, which provides water and sewer services to Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Coto de Caza, Las Flores, Ladera Ranch, Rancho Mission Viejo and Talega, is building a 1.6-billion-gallon reservoir. When completed in 2020, Trampas Canyon Reservoir, less than a half-mile north of Talega, will be able to store recycled wastewater collected from as many as five South Orange County treatment plants.

 

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Watering your plants by hand is a great way to control exactly how much water they receive and observe them closely to be sure they are flourishing in the early stages.

Top Irrigation Tips for Smart Landscape Management

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Use these helpful tips to get the most from every drop of irrigation applied to your landscaping through the smart use of irrigation systems and supplemental hand watering.

Keep water on your landscaping

Watch your irrigation while the system is running. Check to make sure sprinkler heads aren’t spraying water onto sidewalks, patios or structures.

If water is being applied too fast for your soil to absorb it, runoff will occur. Puddling and pooling water may be an indication your water is being applied too fast or too often. Adjust your system to prevent this from happening.

Repairs to broken pipes and sprinkler heads should be made immediately, or your system should be turned off until those repairs can be made.

Cycle and soak programming eliminates runoff

Watch how quickly runoff occurs when you’re running your irrigation. This is the maximum run time for your irrigation controller in a particular hydrozone.

Divide the total minutes required in the hydrozone into blocks of time no longer than the observed runoff time. Allow a 30-minute rest period in between irrigation cycles.

Example: If you need 12 minutes of water in a certain hydrozone, but there is runoff after three minutes, you need to break down the 12 minutes into four separate three-minute long cycles, with 30 minutes between each cycle.

Best methods of hand watering

Hand watering is especially good when your garden is getting established. You can spend more time watching your plants to be sure they are flourishing in the early stages.

When your landscape plants are new, you may need to water more frequently because roots are shallower. Roots on a newly planted one gallon plant are only four to ten inches deep. This is why it’s a smart idea to plant during the rainy season.

Before hand watering, look at your plants. Do they appear droopy? Is the soil very dry? If so, give the plants a good drink. Don’t water more than two days in a row. Let soil dry out completely before watering again. Overwatering and underwater symptoms can be similar.

Once your plants are established after the first year, your sustainable garden will not need watering more than once or twice a month – if at all. Stop watering after the first seasonal rains begin and let nature take over.


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.

A new landmark agreement led by the San Diego County Water Authority will provide regional water solutions which include storing water in Lake Mead. Photo: National Park Service

OPINION: San Diego Is Ready For Some Big Water Solutions

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Jim Madaffer

Back in the early 1990s — near the start of my career at San Diego City Hall — the San Diego County Water Authority launched a historic effort to sustain the region’s economy and quality of life by diversifying our water supplies so that we didn’t depend on one source for 95 percent of our water. That effort took many forms, many billions of dollars and more than two decades — but it paid off in spades. Even though we are at the literal end of the pipeline, today we have among the most diversified and secure water supply systems anywhere.

Full story here: https://bit.ly/2VDRBE7

 

 

 

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David Bernhardt Confirmed As Interior Secretary Despite Ethics Concerns

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Anna M. Phillips and Bettina Boxall

David Bernhardt, President Trump’s pick to the lead the Interior Department, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday amid persistent ethical concerns and doubts about his independence from the energy and water industry groups he long represented as a lobbyist. Senators voted 56-41 in favor of Bernhardt’s confirmation. Several Democrats crossed party lines to support the nominee, including Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted for confirmation.

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$250 PG&E Bill: Utility’s Customers Will Pay 50 Percent More If Wildfires Erupt Again, Report Warns

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

PG&E bills would rocket 50 percent higher if wildfire disasters caused by the embattled utility descend on northern or central California again, according to a report that’s being circulated in Sacramento ahead of a crucial announcement Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. An array of catastrophes loom if state officials fail to find a fix for California’s utility-caused wildfire woes, according to the report from Steven Weissman, a lecturer with UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. “Rates would skyrocket, on average by 50 percent in the first year, to keep up with new fires,” Weissman wrote in his report to the governor’s office. “It’s simple math.”

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Faulconer Budget Drawing Praise, But Council Democrats Want Closer Look

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby John Gibbins

The proposed budget that Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer unveiled Thursday is getting praise for avoiding major cuts to key programs, but City Council Democrats say they are eager to analyze the spending plan more closely. Faulconer is touting his $1.57 billion budget, which would cover the fiscal year that starts July 1, as a proposal that reflects priorities shared by residents across San Diego.

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Drought Is Not Just About Water. It Affects Air Pollution, Too

/in , /by /Science Magazine (Washington D.C.)by Jason Plautz

The severe drought that struck California from 2011 to 2015 had an obvious impact on rivers, forests, and wildlife. Now, a new study shows it also had some surprising effects on the state’s notorious air pollution, adding new wrinkles to the state’s efforts to clear the skies. Researchers have long known that plants can both help create and cleanse one dangerous air pollutant: ground-level ozone, which causes breathing problems and exacerbates lung damage. Plants can scrub ozone from the air by absorbing the pollutant through their stomata, or pores. But certain plants also emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that react with other atmospheric chemicals to create ozone.

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