Visitors to Hearst Castle can expect to see some changes as California combats its worst drought in years.
California State Parks is implementing stage 3 of its drought contingency plan in an effort to cut back on water use at the former San Simeon estate of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.
The City Council accepted nearly $4 million from the State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday night, June 5, to push Long Beach’s new stormwater treatment plant into full production.
The plant, called LB-MUST (Municipal Urban Stormwater Treatment), has been in the design phase for a few years. It is designed to take low-flow stormwater from the Los Angeles River drainage area, treat it and use it to create a new wetlands nearby. Eventually, the plant may also provide recycled water for irrigation.
According to new numbers just released, Northern California residents have cut their water use by 8.5% in May, but that’s still short of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s drought reduction goal of 15%.
One East Bay city is giving away free water to residents to help conserve. While it may seem counterintuitive, Brentwood has been giving away water since 2015, when the state was also mired in drought.
Correction: San Diego City Council did not vote to raise water rates Tuesday. It voted to send out a public notice and set a public hearing on a potential water rate increase. This story has been corrected.
The San Diego City Council has unanimously voted to set a public hearing to discuss the potential of a water rate hike.
In May, the San Diego County Water Authority proposed increasing its rates by about 5% for treated water and nearly 4% for untreated water, citing inflation, increased energy costs and rate hikes set by the Southern California Metropolitan Water District
If you are still watering your lawn or taking long showers, you might want to start practicing how to cut back on your water usage because come next year, water bills could go up.
“I don’t like it and I don’t feel good about it,” said Ron Aguila, a Kearny Mesa resident who was shopping for house supplies.
The past three decades have brought mounting evidence of climate change, a tenacious drought in Arizona and appliances offering unheard-of water efficiency.
“The residential water use per capita has been declining for the last 30 years or so. And indoor water use has especially been going down,” said Sarah Porter, director of Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Southern California Edison’s (SCE) first desalination plant on Catalina Island. The desalination process strips salt out of ocean water from two underground saltwater beach wells to make it drinkable. The desalination plant was considered a developing technology in 1992. It was the first ocean water to drinking water plant on the West Coast and one of the first prototypes in the country.
SCE built the first desalination plant in response to the development of the nearby Hamilton Cove condominiums and the drought in the late 1980s.
Damon Ayala peered at a wet patch of sidewalk on South Tremaine Avenue on a recent Wednesday and clicked his pen.
“No one should be watering today,” he said. “That’s evidence of a watering today. They’re going to get an information letter from me.”
Ayala is a member of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s water conservation response unit, and he spends his days patrolling the streets of L.A. looking for homes and businesses in violation of the new drought rules.
The City Council voted unanimously to move into Stage 2 of the city’s water shortage contingency plan as required by the state Water Resources Control Board in response to increasing drought conditions.
The July 5 vote came in direct response to an emergency regulation passed on May 24 by the Water Resources Control Board, which required water suppliers, such as cities or the Imperial Irrigation District, to implement Stage 2 of their respective plans, according to El Centro Public Works Director Abraham Compos.
Pasadena Water and Power is planning to step up water conservation efforts beginning this September as California slips deeper into drought.
Speaking to members of the Municipal Services Committee on Tuesday, July 13, PWP Interim General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said the agency will soon propose the implementation of a level 3 Water Supply Shortage Plan, which would limit watering days to one day per week.
