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California Water: Mandatory Restrictions Coming to Santa Clara County as Feds Cut Water Supply

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

In the latest and possibly most severe evidence yet of California’s worsening drought, the federal government on Wednesday announced it will cut water deliveries to urban areas it serves by more than half — and to zero for many farmers across the Central Valley.

The move will result in mandatory water restrictions across Santa Clara County, said Rick Callender, CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which provides water to 2 million people.

“We are truly in an emergency situation,” Callender said. “We’re going to be seeking everything we can do to address this emergency. The public should expect tighter restrictions.”

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State Orders Sweeping Water Restrictions for Towns, Vineyards Along Russian River

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

Several communities and hundreds of vineyards in California’s Wine Country are being cut off from their water supply because there’s not enough water to go around. State regulators on Wednesday ordered nearly 1,000 water rights holders in the Russian River watershed to stop drawing supplies from the basin’s many rivers and creeks, the latest turn in California’s deepening drought. The order means many small water agencies and scores of growers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties will have to fall back on stored water or other sources, if they have it, or go without water entirely. State officials say the restrictions will not apply when human health and safety are at risk, though the exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis and are yet to be issued.

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Attract pollinators to your watersmart landscaping with native plants such as milkweed. Photo: Erin Lindley

Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden

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Flowering plants rely on insects, birds, and other creators for pollination. In turn, plants attracting pollinators feed and house beneficial insects like bees and butterflies, and nectar-loving birds like hummingbirds.

Some bugs eat too much, destroying their plant hosts and spreading disease. Other beneficial insects fight off the destructive species, eating them or disrupting their reproductive process.  Birds, bats, and lizards help too, consuming pests both large and small.

Nature provides checks and balances in a garden. You can attract insects and creatures which will help maintain the health of a garden without pesticides.

Choosing a wide diversity of plants in your landscape can help attract helpful insects and predators on a regular basis. They improve the resilience of the garden and reduce the need to use chemicals for pest control.

To attract more garden helpers, create habitat for them. Consider adding a nesting box for bees. Leave a small rock pile for lizards to inhabit. Put a large tree branch in the garden and let it decompose naturally.

Planting a Butterfly Garden

Planting Narrowleaf Milkweed prohibits habitat and for the endangered Monarch butterfly. Photo: Wikimedia Attracting Pollinators

Planting Narrowleaf Milkweed prohibits habitat and for the endangered Monarch butterfly. Photo: Wikimedia

Numerous plants attract pollinators and support the life cycle of butterflies, including the threatened monarch butterfly.  Plant several in the garden to help the larvae and caterpillars as well as the full-grown, nectar-seeking adults. Some good choices:

  • Narrow Leaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)
  • Island Alum Root (Heuchera maxima)
  • San Miguel Island Buckwheat (Eriogonum grande var. rubescens)
  • Cedros Island Verbena (Verbena lilacina)
  • Island Bush Snapdragon (Gambelia speciosa)

What’s The Buzz?

Leave open soil around plants for ground-nesting bees and insects. Photo: Pixabay/Creative Commons Attracting Pollinators

Leave open soil around plants for ground-nesting bees and insects. Photo: Pixabay/Creative Commons

Not all ground needs to be covered in mulch. Try designating a five to ten square foot patch of open soil around plants for ground-nesting bees and insects, especially if your garden contains San Diego native plants. Succulents don’t like mulch right up against their stems, for example. Create a landscape where plants and pollinators work together 

This article is part of a year-long series 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.

An employee looks into a section of pipeline. One of the projects receiving an award.

Water Authority Wins Four Awards for Outstanding Projects

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The American Public Works Association and American Society of Civil Engineers recently presented the San Diego County Water Authority with four awards for construction projects that exemplified outstanding skill, dedication and collaboration from staff in many departments. All of the projects were underway or completed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and project teams navigated shutdowns, adapted to health and safety restrictions, and overcame many other uncertainties – in addition to typical challenges encountered during construction projects.

1) APWA Project of the Year: Northern First Aqueduct Structures and Lining Rehabilitation

With extensive coordination between the Water Authority’s Asset Management, Operations, Maintenance, Right of Way, Water Resources, Engineering and Public Affairs teams, the First Aqueduct rehabilitation project was completed in early 2021. Significant work had not been performed on the First Aqueduct since the completion of Pipeline 1 in 1947 and Pipeline 2 in 1954. The Operations and Maintenance Teams worked closely with multiple member agencies to ensure no impacts to water deliveries over the extended shutdowns required to reline both Pipelines. These extended shutdowns allowed the Asset Management team to inspect 27 miles of pipeline along the aqueduct using innovative technologies – the first time this had been done in nearly 75 years.

“Since the project included more than 35 work sites spread out over 15 miles, many in rural areas of the county, we collaborated closely between different departments and member agencies to ensure that water service was not disrupted,” said Emma Ward-McNally, Water Authority engineer.

2) APWA Honor Award: Vallecitos 11/Vista Irrigation 12 Flow Control Facility

This new facility replaced the existing Vallecitos 2/Vista Irrigation 1 facility that was built in 1954. The Water Authority’s Operations and Maintenance team worked closely with the Engineering team to develop a construction sequence to build the new facility while maintaining water service to member agencies.

“A meticulous level of detail in the design process allowed for the project to be completed with minimal changes during construction,” said Jim Zhou, Water Authority senior engineer.

3) APWA Honor Award: San Diego 28 Flow Control Facility

The new flow control facility replaced the San Diego 12 flow control facility. The Water Authority’s Right of Way team worked closely with the City of San Diego to acquire property rights for the facility. During construction, electrical and rotating technicians from Operations and Maintenance provided support to ensure that the facility was constructed correctly and that electrical relay protection was coordinated when connecting to San Diego Gas & Electric.

“The new facility repurposed an existing building at the site, but it was forward-looking – the project included the installation of a second pipe train for a future inline hydroelectric turbine,” said Aaron Trimm, Water Authority senior engineer.

4) ASCE Award of Excellence: Pipeline 5 Emergency Repair

After nearby Pipeline 4 was repaired in late 2019, the Asset Management team inspected Pipeline 5 in early 2020, and found it needed repairs as well. Multiple Water Authority departments and teams collaborated to launch the emergency repairs on Pipeline 5, despite the uncertainty of the growing pandemic. The Engineering Contracts group executed five contracts and task authorizations for design, construction and inspection within a few weeks to make the project happen, and the work was completed in April 2020.

“The project was a true team effort that required collaboration from multiple departments to ensure that the emergency repair could be completed even as the region was shutting down due to the pandemic,” said Colin Kemper, Water Authority senior engineer.

Local Water Districts Get Piece of $44.3M Settlement Refund

/in , , /by /The Coast News Groupby Steve Puterski Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

A settlement between the San Diego County Water Authority and Metropolitan Water District is delivering a windfall of refunds to local water districts.

The SDCWA filed suits between 2010 and 2018 challenging how Los Angeles-based MWD set rates and imposed charges. SDCWA won several “critical issues” from 2011-14 and was awarded $44.3 million by a state court in January to refund rates and repay overcharges, according to a press release.

SDCWA is also entitled to attorney’s fees and costs for those cases, although the exact amount is to be determined.

The money has been reallocated to its member agencies, with most securing more than $1 million in refunded money.

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As Drought Worsens, Tensions Erupt Over Control of SoCal’s Largest Water Supplier

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

Southern California’s biggest water supplier has chosen a new general manager — but the selection isn’t yet final, and the fiercely contested vote is exposing deep disagreements within the powerful agency as a severe drought grips the region.

The Metropolitan Water District’s board of directors voted this month to select Adel Hagekhalil to lead the agency, The Times has learned, replacing longtime head honcho Jeff Kightlinger, who is retiring. Hagekhalil runs L.A.’s Bureau of Street Services and was previously second-in-command at the city’s sanitation department.

Metropolitan finds itself at a crossroads after 15 years under Kightlinger’s leadership. The agency delivers huge amounts of water from the Colorado River and Northern California, and has prided itself on hammering out complex deals to protect the region’s water rights and investments. But those far-flung resources are becoming less dependable as the planet heats up.

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Opinion: How Infrastructure Plan Can Accelerate Resilience

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Amanda Brown-Stevens

Passing President Biden’s infrastructure bill would be the most significant step we’ve taken as a nation to start to address climate change head on.

Greenbelt Alliance believes this infrastructure bill is a great start. Yet, so far there is no path to guide how we can equitably shift away from rebuilding in the most climate-vulnerable areas and instead build for a more resilient future.

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Arizona’s Current Historic Drought May Be ‘Baseline for the Future’

/in , , /by /Cronkite Newsby Alyssa Marksz

Arizona and other Western states just lived through the driest year in more than a century, with no drought relief in sight in the near future, experts told a House panel Tuesday.

The period from last April to this March was the driest in the last 126 years for Arizona and other Western states, witnesses said. It caps a two-decade stretch that was the driest in more than 100 years that records have been kept – and one of the driest in the past 1,200 years based on paleohydrology evidence, one official said.

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IID Director JB Hamby Appointed to Colorado River Board of California

/in , , /by /The Desert Review

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, by way of written communication, has notified Imperial Irrigation District Board Vice President JB Hamby of his appointment to the State’s Colorado River Board, according to a recent IID press release.

“I am thankful to my colleagues on the IID Board for nominating me to serve as IID’s representative on the Colorado River Board of California,” said Director Hamby in the release. “In this role, I will have the opportunity to represent both IID as the largest user on the river and California as the largest State on the river.”

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Surfrider’s Annual Clean Water Report Highlights Infrastructure Needs and Toxin-Removing Landscapes

/in , , /by /The Beach Reporter by Laylan Connelly

Too often, ocean water is laced with sewage and pollutants, affecting how safe beaches are for swimming and surfing –  that’s the message of this year’s Clean Water Report released Tuesday, May 25, by the Surfrider Foundation.

“We believe the water should be clean, always. We should be able to do that in all but the most unusual circumstances,” San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation CEO Chad Nelsen said. But instead, the report highlights inefficiencies in sewer infrastructure and a need to stop urban runoff before it reaches the coast, both main contributors to dirty water that plagues the country’s coastlines.

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