Lake Powell will cease to exist if one group’s plan to restore Glen Canyon as the “heart of the Colorado River” comes to fruition.
An above-average snowfall and excessive precipitation in the spring have bolstered the water levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead, but Glen Canyon Institute Executive Director Eric Balken told Newsweek that he doubts that Lake Mead will ever return to full capacity
Lorelei Cloud joined the Colorado Water Conservation Board in March as the first tribal council member to serve in the position.
Cloud, the vice chair of the Southern Ute Tribal Council, was appointed to the position by Gov. Jared Polis. She joins the board at a critical time for water not just in Colorado, but across the American West.
As the representative for the San Miguel-Dolores-San Juan drainage basin, she represents land that covers not just the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute reservations, but also 10 counties in southwestern Colorado.
She spoke to Colorado Matters about including Indigenous voices in water discussions and the challenges ahead for the Colorado River.
Welcome to the Board: Vicki Quiram, Carlsbad Municipal Water District
Who: Vicki Quiram was seated on the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors on June 19, 2023, representing the Carlsbad Municipal Water District. Quiram serves on the Water Planning and Environmental and Imported Water committees for the Water Authority.
As the Orange County Board of Supervisors looked to submit its responses to this year’s slate of Orange County Grand Jury reports, the supervisors held an in-depth discussion on one report in particular: “Historic Rain Yet Drought Remains.”
Board members on Tuesday, Aug. 8, discussed the county’s recommendation to partially disagree with certain parts of the report, which largely found that South Orange County’s reliance on imported water will be impacted by climate change and must adapt.
One thing that’s not in dispute is that the City of Monterey needs water. What is in question is where that water comes from. On Aug. 1, the Monterey City Council discussed the possibility of teaming up with the Marina Coast Water District for an agreement that would potentially deliver whatever water the city needs to make proposed housing developments a reality (like on Garden Road, for example, wherein office buildings near the airport would be converted to apartments).
Hawaii went from lush to bone dry and thus more fire-prone in a matter of just a few weeks — a key factor in a dangerous mix of conditions appear to have combined to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in Hawaii particularly damaging.
Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of these flash droughts as well as other extreme weather events like what’s playing out on the island of Maui, where dozens of people have been killed and a historic tourist town was devastated.
Large trees were the driving force that led Encinitas homeowners to remove grass and create a vibrant, low-water use landscape. The waterwise transformation won the San Dieguito Water District 2023 Landscape Makeover Contest.
Rick and Melanie Cullen had a yard with grass with large shade trees. But the roots of their three large Liquidambar trees were damaging the driveway and the grass, which motivated the couple to remake their landscape.
Overgrown landscape trees helped inspire a change to a waterwise landscape design. Photo: San Dieguito Water District
“San Dieguito Water District is proud to recognize customers like the Cullens, who create beautiful and resilient landscapes while making efficient use of their water,” said Isam Hireish, general manager of San Dieguito Water District.
The makeover design incorporates a dry riverbed. Photo: San Dieguito Water District
The Cullens wanted to plant a drought-tolerant, water-wise yard that would be easy to maintain, beautiful, and hold up to their frequent travel schedule.
“My inspiration was to create a water wise, drought-tolerant front yard that also provides us a beautiful yard as if we were in the mountains,” said Melanie Cullen. It started with taking existing small landscape rocks and repurposing them into a natural dry streambed feature.
Plants in beautiful colors that attract pollinators highlight the plant palette. Photo: San Dieguito Water District
Plants were selected that would thrive in the coastal San Diego County environment. The invasive Liquidambar trees were replaced by Blue Ice Cypress, Forest Pansy Red Bud, and dwarf Deodar Cedar trees. Colorful drought-tolerant flowering shrubs and perennials including Coastal Woolybush, salvias, echinaceas, Texas primrose, heronsbill, columbine, Grevillea ‘Mt. Tamboritha’ and ‘Sour Grapes’ Penstemon provide habitat for pollinators.
Grasses including Pennisetum ‘Fireworks’ and Acorus ‘Variegated Sweetflag’ add to the plant palette. Creeping Thyme and trailing Rosemary are used as colorful, fragrant ground cover.
A highlight: one dozen Azaleas create a woodland flower look. Cullen says they bloom when other plants aren’t flowering.
“One might think they are water hogs, but they get the same water as everything else and bloom quite a bit throughout the year,” said Cullen. “It was a matter of choosing the right type of Azalea (Red Bird and Alaska White).”
A circular drip irrigation system requires watering plants only once every one-to-weeks for 20 minutes. Photo: San Dieguito Water District
The Cullens used a drip irrigation system that encircles each plant individually to direct water to the specific plant. They already had a smart irrigation controller which is still in use. A remote moisture sensor was added allowing the homeowners to monitor the ground moisture at the plants and then adjust watering for the yard.
Three to four inches of bark mulch helps retain irrigation, which has worked “extremely well.”
Melanie Cullen says the irrigation was turned off completely from January through May due to generous rainfall. “Presently, we only need to water once every one to two weeks for 20 minutes,” she said.
“I join our Board of Directors in recognizing the leadership of the Cullens and commend them for taking proactive steps to improve our community’s resilience to a changing climate,” said Isam Hireish, General Manager of San Dieguito Water District. “I encourage all customers to utilize water more efficiently and take advantage of the various water-saving incentives we offer.”
In the months since the landscape makeover, the Cullens report all their original goals were met. “We love sitting in our front now and watching the many hummingbirds that also love our yard,” said Melanie Cullen.
For rebates, classes, and water-saving tips: sdcwa.org/your-water/conservation/.
(Editor’s note: The San Dieguito Water District is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the metropolitan San Diego region.)
It looks like a normal glass of water. It’s clear, cold and tasteless. But just a few hours ago, it was raw sewage.
That water is the end product of a process and technology known as water recycling, or direct potable reuse.
In the Western U.S., there’s more demand for water than there is supply, particularly in the Colorado River basin. While the region’s policy makers are mired in standoff about how to fix that imbalance at a broad level, cities with finite water supplies are finding creative new ways to stretch out the water they already have. In some places, that means cleaning up sewage and putting it right back in the pipes that flow to homes and businesses.
The city of Poway is returning to “level 1” voluntary water shortage measures based on a report that the city has sufficient water supplies to meet its demands through June 2024, officials said.
Poway council members unanimously approved the return to less stringent water shortage measures at the Aug. 1 meeting.
