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Environment Report: What The Super Bloom Says About Backcountry Development

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

People are scrambling to find the so-called “super bloom” flowers in the far reaches of Southern California. People have taken off for the Anza-Borrego Desert or, less exotically, parked along the shoulder of Interstate 15 to photograph themselves serenely sitting in a flower patch by a six-lane highway. Getting out there is a healthy reminder that so much of San Diego County – 4,200 square miles of it – is undeveloped. It’s a bit amazing to stand in the dusty, often barren Anza-Borrego only to look up at the mountains and realize that 90 miles west is the country’s eighth-largest city and the world’s largest ocean.

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Threat For Flooding, Heavy Snow Renewed Throughout California Through Midweek

/in , , /by /Accuweatherby Faith Eherts

Another round of soaking winter weather is on the horizon for the West Coast, with a series of storms expected to impact the region through midweek. Dry weather has been rare for much of California over the past week, with Sunday acting as a brief respite before more rain arrived overnight. “Unsettled weather will continue across the West Coast this week as more rain and mountain snow targets Northern California, Oregon and Washington,” according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Max Vido.

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A Local Water Board Paid An Employee Not To Work There. Now He’s On The Board.

/in , /by /The Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

Five years ago, the Sweetwater Authority paid one of its engineers $175,000 to drop a lawsuit against the water district if he agreed to never work there again. Now, the engineer, Hector Martinez, is one of seven board members in charge of running the district. He also has ties to a former board member who, years earlier, was paid in exchange for leaving the district’s board. In 2014, the district paid to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit Martinez filed against Sweetwater, which provides drinking water to National City and parts of Chula Vista. Martinez claimed the district didn’t give him a promotion in 2008 because he is Hispanic.

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Heavy Sierra Snow, Valley Thunderstorms And Hail Possible Wednesday As Storm Peaks

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael McGough

The heaviest rain, heaviest snow and highest probability of thunderstorms accompanying the current storm will pass through Northern California at varying times Wednesday. Early morning showers were scattered, dropping heavier precipitation in the northern half of the Sacramento Valley while Sacramento stayed mostly dry as of 6 a.m., as National Weather Service radar images show. Rain in Sacramento will likely begin later Wednesday morning.

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How California Is Defying Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Bettina Boxall

California is building walls at its borders — they’re just not the kind President Trump has in mind. As the Trump administration continues its assault on environmental regulation, state officials are throwing up legal barriers to some high-stakes attacks. They are preparing to strengthen safeguards for waterways that are about to lose federal protections in a major rollback of the Clean Water Act. They are refusing to issue permits the federal government needs to build a controversial dam project that would drown portions of a Northern California river renowned for its wild trout fishery.

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Water Authority Projects Pinched By Labor Shortage, Rising Cost Of Construction Materials

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Toni McAllister Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A shortage of construction workers coupled with higher prices for materials used in construction are driving up costs for San Diego County Water Authority’s infrastructure and maintenance projects, the agency is warning. During a Water Authority Board of Directors’ Engineering and Operations Committee meeting held earlier this month, Gary Bousquet, the agency’s deputy director of engineering, told attendees: “The Water Authority will monitor market trends and adjust individual project budgets as required. Our planning process includes prioritizing projects and evaluating the timing or need and scope of projects. We will adjust our project cost estimates to meet changing market conditions.”

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High Hopes For Colorado River Compact Plan

/in , , /by /Montrose Daily Press (Montrose, Colo.)by Katharhynn Heidelberg

After roughly seven years of work, Colorado River Compact states have reached an agreement for drought contingency plans that would maintain levels at lakes Powell and Mead. The contingency plans allow Colorado and the other Upper Basin states (New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) to control their own destiny, Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association Manager Steve Anderson said. “It, one, gives us the right to use the storage in the Colorado River Storage Project Act reservoirs to help with the level of Lake Powell. That’s a big win,” he said.

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Dangers Rising Along With Rivers As The Heaviest Snowpack In Recent Years Melts

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby Rosalio Ahumada and Erin Tracy

Water levels and flows on area rivers are looking similar to conditions in 2017 when there were more than double the water rescues compared to average years. “Everyone should treat the river like a wild animal,” said Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Captain Jeff Frye. “Enjoy it from afar.” A strong current on the Stanislaus River took the lives of two people in 2017’ last Sunday, it swept 5-year-old Matilda Ortiz downstream and out of the grasp of a bystander who briefly had a hold of her. Her body was recovered Wednesday after river flows were slowed and the water level dropped about two feet to aid in the search.

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Heavy Rainfall Could Expedite Erosion Of San Diego’s Coastal, Inland Cliffs

/in , /by /10 News (San Diego)by Mark Saunders

Several recent storms to hit the San Diego County region could spell disaster for erosion prone areas of the coast and inland valleys. Rainfall running over coastal bluffs with a history of erosion could increase the likelihood of future erosions along our shores. Adam Young, a scientist with Scripps Institution of Oceanography San Diego, says an active season already could led to more crumbling of local cliff sides following heavy showers. “Pretty much whenever you have a new rainfall event, you’ll pretty much see a new landslide … The more rain we get, the more landslides,” Young says. “Every time you have a failure, stress distribution can change.”

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Details Of Newsom’s Drinking Water Tax Plan Revealed

/in , , /by /SFGate (San Francisco)by Filipa Ioannou

California Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed new details of his plans to charge water customers in the state a new tax to fund safe drinking water for disadvantaged communities. He announced Wednesday his plans to charge water customers an extra amount ranging from 95 cents to $10 a month — money that, combined with fees on animal farmers, dairies and fertilizer sellers, he projects would raise $140 million a year that could be put toward testing wells, aiding public water systems and treating contaminated water. The amount paid would depend on the size of one’s water meter.

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