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Price Tag Nearly Doubles to $2.5 Billion for Huge New Dam Project in Santa Clara County

/in , /by /The Mercury News (Bay Area)by Paul Rogers

In a major and potentially fatal setback for plans to build the largest dam in the Bay Area in more than 20 years, the price tag to construct a new reservoir in southern Santa Clara County near Pacheco Pass has nearly doubled, from $1.3 billion to $2.5 billion.

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Inside Clean Energy: The Energy Storage Boom Has Arrived

/in , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Dan Gearino

After years of build up, a giant battery storage project is online in Moss Landing, California, and a huge one is on the way in Florida.

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Helix Water District: Join Us For Water Chats On Facebook Live On January 28

/in , /by /Patch (Lemon Grove)

Water tanks are a common sight across the hillsides and neighborhoods in our region. Helix manages, maintains and operates 25 tanks across the 50 square miles of our district to provide our 277,000 customers with water to their faucets on demand. Water tanks vary in size, shape, location and function, and they are the focus of our next virtual event.

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Matilija poppies, or Romneya coulteri, have the largest flower of any poppy. It's native to dry, sunny areas from California to Baja and are good choiices for successful sustanable landscaping. Photo: Kimberly Rotter / Pixabay

Follow Four Key Principles for Successful Sustainable Landscaping

/in , /by

Efficient water use is an important responsibility that comes along with the benefits of living in San Diego County’s beautiful Mediterranean climate.

No matter whether your landscaping is just a few square feet alongside a small front porch, or covers many acres on a luxury estate, San Diego County residents have learned to embrace sustainability as a central principle for creating or renovating their landscapes. Irrigation is among the highest uses of water for most homeowners.

Treating every garden, no matter its size, as its own mini-watershed allows it to capture and retain water to nurture a diverse habitat of plants and helpful insects.

Watersmart living not only saves money, but it creates vibrant yards, reduces energy use, protects our natural resources, and reduces landscape maintenance. It may even improve property values. It also creates a shared sense of purpose about how we use our limited water supplies.

What elements do you need to consider when taking a watershed approach to your landscape?

Learn Four Key Principles of Sustainable Landscaping

The four principles of sustainable landscaping are on display at the San Diego County Water Authority's Sustainable Landscaping Demonstration Garden outside its headquarters in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego. Photo: Water Authority

The four principles of sustainable landscaping are on display at the San Diego County Water Authority’s Sustainable Landscaping Demonstration Garden at its Kearny Mesa office in San Diego. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

The formula for successful sustainable landscaping includes four key principles:

  • Healthy, Living Soils: Healthy, living soils rich in organic content feed a complex soil food web. The soil holds water like a sponge, and has nutrients for optimal plant health.
  • Climate Appropriate Plants: Many choices of beautiful groundcovers, shrubs, and trees are compatible with San Diego’s mild Mediterranean climate. These plants use less water and display diverse colors, textures, and shaped with endless design options.
  • Rainwater as a Resource: Sustainable landscapes make the most of natural rainfall. Slowing the flow of water off rooftops and hard surfaces allow it to be captured and sink into the soil or be stored for later use.
  • High-Efficiency Irrigation: Your irrigation can maximize water-use efficiency through smart controllers to adjust water automatically to changing weather conditions, and high-performance distribution components to regulate pressure and tailor water delivery to the exact needs of your landscape plants.

The four principles of successful sustainable landscaping are on display at the San Diego County Water Authority’s Sustainable Landscaping Demonstration Garden at its Kearny Mesa office in San Diego.

The 3,000-square-foot garden can be viewed by the public. It includes informational signage introducing visitors to key sustainable landscaping principles. Specific plant types that grow successfully in the region’s climate are also identified. Many are Southern California natives.

This article is part of a year-long series inspired by the 71-page Sustainable Landscapes Program guidebook. The Water Authority and its partners also offer other great resources for landscaping upgrades, including free WaterSmart classes at WaterSmartSD.org.

A beautiful Santee garden oasis is the winner of the 2023 Padre Dam Municipal Water District Landscape Contest. Photo: Padre Dam Municipal Water District

Santee Garden Oasis Wins 2023 Padre Dam Municipal Water District Landscape Contest

Santee homeowners Edie and Tate Thomas created a beautiful landscape…

California Falling Short on 2030 Recycled Wastewater Goals

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Emily C. Dooley

California isn’t meeting its recycled water goals, and billions of gallons of treated wastewater are being discharged into the ocean or other water bodies each year, according to state regulators, who say drought conditions could cause future supply challenges.

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Opinion: Water Markets Critical to Managing Scarcity

/in , , /by /OC Registerby Will Rinehart

As COVID started to spread, farmers and large cities in Southern California were hit with another blindside last March. Fires, drought, and the planting season drove up the price of California’s water market, over 220 percent in just three months. Crops failed and pastures were lost.

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Eastern Municipal Water District To Receive $25M In Federal Funds

/in , , /by /Patch.comby City News Service

The Eastern Municipal Water District will receive $25 million in federal funds over the next several years to expand its desalination program, increasing fresh water stocks and reducing dependence on water imports, the agency announced Tuesday. The Perris-based EMWD was selected to receive the additional funding under the recently approved federal Water Resources Development Act, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be responsible for distributing the funds.

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Why the American West is Fighting for Water Protection

/in , , /by /Voxby Laura Bult

Since the Clean Water Act passed in 1972, the assumption has been that all waterways are protected from pollution — meaning that rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands are, by law, shielded from industrial and agricultural waste through a strict permitting process via the federal government.

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Coffee Is Growing, Thriving In San Diego’s North County

/in , , /by /KPBSby Jacob Aere

Coffee is typically grown in tropical regions and was previously considered an unviable crop in the continental United States. But along the state Route 76 corridor in San Diego’s North County, farmers are growing California coffee. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz owns one of those farms in East Oceanside, in the South Morro Hills community. Five years ago he became one of the first farmers in the region to plant coffee trees.

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Communities Concerned As Private Companies Buy Colorado River Water Rights

/in , , /by /KJZZby Steve Goldstein

The old axiom goes, “Whiskey’s for drinkin’ and water’s for fightin'” — it reflects the never-ending horse-trading that involves distribution of water in the arid Southwest and the tug of war between the region’s agricultural communities and the ever-growing urban centers, including Las Vegas, Phoenix and areas of Southern California. Traditionally, water rights have been brokered by state and local governments, as well as regional water districts.

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