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El Cajon Homeowner Wins Otay Water District’s 2021 WaterSmart Landscape Contest

/in , , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

El Cajon homeowner Christine Laframboise’s water-saving landscape design trading turf for a less thirsty approach was named the Otay Water District’s 2021 WaterSmart Landscape Contest winner.

The annual contest is held by water agencies throughout San Diego County to award one resident from their respective service area for their water-saving landscape. Otay selected Laframboise for her well-thought-out design, plant selection, maintenance, and methods for efficient irrigation.

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Opinion: San Diegans Don’t Face the Water Woes Seen in Much of the State. But Conserve Anyways

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for all Californians to reduce their water use by 15 percent amid a severe drought across most of the state won’t be met with the same urgency in San Diego County as elsewhere because of a decades-old effort to diversify water supplies here and because of a new court order.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously declined a legal challenge by Imperial Valley farmers that had the potential to threaten the San Diego County Water Authority’s access to Colorado River supplies. This is why San Diego County is being asked to conserve but is not one of 50 counties in the state subject to Newsom’s stricter drought decrees.

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‘Unrecognizable.’ Lake Mead, a Lifeline for Water in Los Angeles and the West, Tips Toward Crisis

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jaweed Kaleem, Thomas Curwen

Eric Richins looked out from his pontoon boat to the shallows on the lake’s western edge. He squinted and paused as if he had come upon a foreign shore. For the first time in a career navigating the waters of the American West, he didn’t know where he was.

“I could have sworn I was here just six weeks ago catching smallmouth and bigmouth bass,” said the 35-year-old fisherman who runs tours on this 247-square-mile basin where the Colorado River meets the Hoover Dam to form the nation’s largest reservoir.

He pointed ahead to what looked like dozens of tiny steps made from successive layers of dried mud now covered in tall grass and weeds — the effect of rapidly creeping vegetation over a shoreline that has been dropping by nearly a foot a week.

“Now it looks like a lawn. I knew the drought was bad. I didn’t realize it was this bad,” he said. “This place is unrecognizable.”

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San Diego County Officials Confident They’re Prepared for Drought

/in , , /by /ABC News 10by Jermaine Ong

While California has not imposed drought-related restrictions for the San Diego region, county officials believe they are well prepared in the event the county is told to conserve water or reduce water use.

As of July 8, Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared drought emergencies in 50 of the state’s 58 counties due to the dry conditions impacting California and with the hot summer months approaching.

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California Water Treatment Plant Could Benefit Thirsty Las Vegas

/in , , /by /KNPR Las Vegasby Joe Schoenmann

Someone drinking a glass of water in Las Vegas might one day owe a thanks to wastewater in California.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority has offered to put $750 million into a $3.4 billion water treatment plant proposed for Southern California. In return, Nevada would be able to boost its yearly draw from Lake Mead by an additional 10 percent.

The new plant would produce cleaner water than current treatment facilities, allowing water agencies to wring more use from the Colorado River.

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Diamond Valley Lake Acts as Water Safety Net for SoCal

/in , , /by /Spectrum News 1by Jo Kwon

An area in Hemet offers a spot for people to get a little relief from triple-digit heat by cruising in their boats around a giant body of water.

However, Diamond Valley Lake also plays an important role when it comes to Southern California’s water supply. It is especially vital because Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked Californians to cut their water usage by 15% as the state drought continues to intensify.

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In California’s Interior, There’s No Escape from the Desperate Heat: ‘Why are We Even Here?’

/in , /by /The Guardianby Maanvi Singh

In Cantua, a small town deep within California’s farming heartland, the heat had always been a part of life. “We can do nothing against it,” said Julia Mendoza, who’s lived in this town for 27 years. But lately, she says, the searing temperatures are almost unlivable.

By midday on Thursday, the first day of a protracted, extreme heatwave in California’s Central Valley, the country roads were sizzling with heat. A young volunteer with a local environmental justice non-profit who had come to check in on the neighborhood collapsed on the sidewalk, her face bright red and damp. Construction crews working nearby quickly swept her into an air-conditioned car and handed her a cold bottle of water.

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Bill Aims to Spend Billions to Fix Nation’s Aging Dams

/in , /by /AP Newsby Michael Casey

Lawmakers in Congress on Friday introduced a bill that would pump tens of billions of dollars into fixing and upgrading the country’s dams.

The Twenty-First Century Dams Act, introduced by Democratic U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, proposes to spend nearly $26 billion to make the repairs that would enhance safety and increase the power generation capacity of the country’s 90,000 dams. It also calls for removing any dams that have outlived their usefulness.

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El Cajon Resident Wins Otay Water District Landscape Contest

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Karen Pearlman

The drought-tolerant landscaping at Christine Laframboise’s El Cajon home has been a work in progress since 2015, when she, her husband and their son painstakingly pulled out two layers of grass and sod — 1,070 square feet of lawn.

This past week, her front garden took top honors in the Otay Water District’s WaterSmart Landscape Contest.

The annual contest is held by many water agencies in San Diego County to encourage and recognize residents who exemplify outdoor water-use efficiency. Agencies judge lawns in their service areas, looking at “before” and “after” photos from entrants, then awarding top picks.

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Opinion: California Isn’t Running Out of Water; it’s Running Out of Cheap Water

/in , , /by /California WaterBlogby Wyatt Arnold

A California water myth which becomes especially pernicious in droughts is that California is “running out of water” (Hanak et al. 2009). Viewing California’s supply and demand pressures in terms of fixed water requirements perpetuates this myth and invariably places undue attention on building additional supply infrastructure. Instead, managing water as a scarce resource suggests a balanced portfolio of water trading, investments in conveyance, smart groundwater replenishment, and demand management. With such a balanced portfolio, 1) California’s water supply situation is not broadly dire, and 2) California’s vast and interconnected water infrastructure and groundwater resources can minimize most problems from the state’s highly variable climate.

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