Around three or four years ago, Jim Day, CEO of Daybreak Power, came across a Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) study that listed dozens of locations around the country that could be viable for pumped hydro storage projects.
As essential service providers, utilities are responsible for helping to ensure the health and well-being of our communities. The weight of that responsibility has gotten heavier as climate change and the pandemic take its toll on our beautiful state and the people who live here.
In the wake of heat waves, global warming, forest fires, storms, droughts and a rising number of hurricanes, the U.N. weather agency warned Tuesday that the number of people who need international humanitarian help could rise 50% by 2030 compared to the 108 million who needed it worldwide in 2018.
The industry that operates America’s hydroelectric dams and several environmental groups announced an unusual agreement Tuesday to work together to get more clean energy from hydropower while reducing the environmental harm from dams, in a sign that the threat of climate change is spurring both sides to rethink their decades-long battle over a large but contentious source of renewable power.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a $108 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the Stockton Public Financing Authority to help modernize the city’s wastewater treatment facility and reduce nitrogen discharges to the San Joaquin River. With this loan, EPA is supporting a regionally significant project that will improve water quality and support public health and the economies of the California Delta.
A high-stakes Supreme Court confirmation and COVID-19 negotiations may be the focus on Capitol Hill, but a sprawling water infrastructure bill is still advancing quickly behind the scenes.
A subset of so-called forever chemicals, used to make thousands of industrial and consumer products, can’t be deemed “low-concern” despite chemical manufacturers’ arguments, a group of international scientists said in a paper released Tuesday.
If San Diego’s urban core were a human heart, then the 53rd Congressional District would be, geographically, its left ventricle. The political battle to represent its people is one between two liberals: former environmental justice advocate and San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez and Sara Jacobs, the granddaughter of a Qualcomm co-founder who also chairs a childhood poverty organization called San Diego for Every Child.
It’s that time of the year in California, when water managers, climatologists and meteorologists look at the factors that determine what the winter will bring during Water Year 2020-21 (October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2021).
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently said that La Niña conditions are present in the tropical Pacific, “with an approximately 85% chance of La Niña lasting through the winter.” Forecasters currently think this La Niña will be on the stronger side. For California, those conditions typically mean a drier winter, with increasingly dry conditions heading into 2021.
Fortunately for the San Diego region, any impacts from La Niña will be lessened because of the region’s development of a diversified water supply portfolio. Following a record number of acres burned from wildfires in 2020, La Niña would only increase fire danger.
La Niña continues in the tropical Pacific, with an approximately 85% chance of lasting through the winter, according to NOAA’s October 2020 La Niña update. Graphic: NOAA
But, whether the forecasts come to fruition, and what that means for California’s water supply, won’t be fully known until next spring. What we know now is that the water year that just ended (October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020) varied across the state.
While Northern California was mostly dry, parts of Southern California experienced above average precipitation, according to the California Department of Water Resources. The agency said that the water year ended below average and pointed to the impact of climate change on the California’s water supply.
“California is experiencing the impacts of climate change with devastating wildfires, record temperatures, variability in precipitation, and a smaller snowpack,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “We must continue to invest in our infrastructure to prepare the state to cope with more extreme weather for the state’s needs today and in the future.”
For Water Year 2020, a lack of precipitation resulted in a snowpack of just 50% of average on April 1, as measured by the California Cooperative Snow Survey Program, making it the 10th smallest snowpack in California since 1950, according to the DWR. California’s reservoirs received just a third of the water runoff from precipitation and snowmelt that they did during the same time period a year ago.
The wet season got off to a slow start, but a series of storms in late November and early December pushed 2019 precipitation to near or above average in central and southern California, according to Goldy Herbon, San Diego County Water Authority senior water resources specialist.
“The wet start didn’t last with dry conditions taking hold over most of the state in January, and then most of California experienced its driest February on record,” said Herbon.
While precipitation picked up in March 2020 for Southern California, statewide snowpack in mid-March was only 38% of average.
“The dry north/wet south precipitation pattern continued in March and April, with some locations in Southern California setting many daily precipitation records, San Diego included, as northern California precipitation levels remained below average,” said Herbon.
Despite the below average year in northern California, Herbon said statewide water supplies are in “excellent shape” thanks to above average precipitation the previous year and good reservoir storage. DWR reports that statewide reservoir storage through the end of September 2020 was projected to be 93% of average.
In the San Diego region, a wet spring boosted rainfall totals to near or above normal.
Regional precipitation during Water Year 2020. Graphic: National Weather Service San Diego
The San Diego County Water Authority will host an online public information session on Oct. 27 about economic considerations related to the proposed Regional Conveyance System. The virtual event will run from 10 a.m. to noon. To reserve a spot, email .
Meeting participants can:
In June of 2019, the Water Authority’s Board of Directors approved a study of the viability of a new regional conveyance system that would deliver water from the Colorado River to San Diego County and could provide multiple benefits across the Southwest.
The Phase A report, released in August 2020, found that building a new conveyance system to transport the region’s supplies from the Quantification Settlement Agreement is cost-competitive with other long-term strategies for meeting the region’s water needs.
At its August 2020 meeting, the Water Authority’s Board decided to continue the regional discussion about the study until November 19, at which time the Board is expected to decide whether to move ahead with Phase B of the study.
To learn more about the Regional Conveyance System Study or to read the executive summary and the full report, go to sdcwa.org/colorado-river-supplies-management.
A study of a new regional water conveyance system to deliver high-priority Colorado River supplies from the Imperial Valley shows three potential routes to move the water. Graphic: San Diego County Water Authority
Each of the potential conveyance routes would connect to the tail end of the All-American Canal where it meets the Westside Main Canal in the southwest corner of Imperial Valley.
