Much of the Colorado River’s water is diverted from reservoirs and transported in canals to the farmlands and cities of the desert Southwest. But some of the water also ends up going elsewhere — vanishing into thin air.
Water lost to evaporation has become a central point of contention in the disagreement between California and six other states over how to divide reductions in water use.
The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority captured, treated and reused 812,500 gallons of stormwater last year, according to a report released Wednesday.
That water, which would otherwise naturally have run off into San Diego Bay, was then used to heat and cool buildings at San Diego International Airport.
As California has struggled with drought, Governor Gavin Newsom’s fundamental solution: find more water by diversifying the state’s public water supply. Because of the proximity of the Pacific Ocean, one of the most frequently mentioned sources is seawater desalination. A few communities are trying it, despite environmental concerns.
But another potential source gets less public attention, even though water providers are showing increasing interest thanks to its early successes: reuse.
With the Colorado River in crisis, there is still no agreement over which states and regions should have their water allocations cut back and how soon those cuts should go into effect.
Seven states in the western United States take water from the Colorado River, and although six of them have agreed on a framework, the lone holdout is the largest user of Colorado River water in the county: California.
As Lake Mead and Lake Powell levels inch closer to dead pool, states in the lower Colorado River basin are proposing more solutions that could lend to the reservoirs’ recoveries.
Required water cuts have already been implemented and increased in severity this year for Arizona and Nevada.
As the state continues to deal with a historic drought, Southern California homeowners are getting the chance to transform their thirsty grass and gardens.
The Metropolitan Water District offers rebates to residents ripping up their lawns and putting in plants that don’t need a lot of water to survive.
The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency unanimously approved a bond issuance that would raise $75 million by 2032 and a debt-financing plan that would saddle the water retailer with a little more than a half-billion dollars in debt, according to the agency’s plans.
The efforts are expected to help the agency address capital projects’ costs estimated in the neighborhood of $747 million through the life of the bond issuance, according to SCV Water’s financial advisers.
The redesign of the planned Bonsall Oaks development will involve the relocation of facilities for which easements must be granted and, on Jan. 24, the Rainbow Municipal Water District approved the quitclaim of easements previously granted to Rainbow.
Rainbow’s board voted 5-0 to approve the quitclaim of the easements. The quitclaim excludes certain portions for which facilities will be constructed, and subsequent easement dedication is expected.
Chula Vista, Calif. –With the completion of a second water transfer, Sweetwater Authority has secured an additional year’s worth of local water supplies. Sweetwater Reservoir is at over 50% capacity, for the first time since 2019. These transfers equate to saving the Authority and its ratepayers approximately $11 million in costs associated with purchasing water.
(Editor’s note: The SweetwaterAuthority is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the San Diego County region.)
California’s mountain snowpack is the largest it’s been in decades, thanks to a barrage of atmospheric rivers in late December into January. The snow is a boon for the state’s water supply but could also pose a flood risk as the season progresses.
Measurements completed last week show that Sierra Nevada snow water content is rivaling or outpacing the 1982-83 season, the biggest snow year in the past 40 years. Up to two feet of additional snow fell on the region this weekend.
Sweetwater Authority Logo 2019