Saying this is “a pivotal moment that calls for resolute action,” all 18 mayors in San Diego County sent a letter last week to Gov. Gavin Newsom imploring him to declare a state of emergency over the decades-long sewage crisis at the border.
We are living in the Anthropocene, an era being defined by global mass extinctions caused by humanity. While on-going and impending extinctions of birds and other terrestrial vertebrates gain the most attention, the situation with freshwater fishes (and other freshwater organisms) is as bad or worse, partly because many freshwater extinctions are nearly invisible events, hidden by murky waters (Moyle and Leidy 2023).
A county agency is offering San Diegans free water-smart classes taught by landscape professionals, with sessions beginning this month.
The virtual classes start Saturday and continue through Nov. 15.
Amid a backdrop of extreme weather events and devastating wildfires, federal and international officials this week issued dire warnings about record-setting temperatures and the worsening effects of climate change.
Last month was the planet’s warmest August on record, and the Northern Hemisphere experienced its hottest meteorological summer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday.
“Global marine heat waves and a growing El Niño are driving additional warming this year, but as long as emissions continue driving a steady march of background warming, we expect further records to be broken in the years to come,” read a statement from NOAA chief scientist Sarah Kapnick.
California is looking to boost water supply and considering new regulations to recycling wastewater straight to your tap. Some refer to it as toilet to tap, however experts in the field say this phrase is anything but accurate.
“It never has been toilet to tap. That has never happened,” said Andrew Salveson, the Carollo Water Reuse Chief Technologist.
San Diego is holding four special elections on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. Understanding the “who, what, where when and how” of voting can be daunting. KPBS researched answers to frequently asked voter questions.
Voters will weigh in on four special elections in different parts of the County. Only those who live in the County’s Fourth Supervisorial District, the city of Chula Vista or in Fallbrook and Rainbow’s districts are eligible to vote in the special election.
In the county’s Fourth Supervisorial District voters will decide on who will fill the seat vacated by former Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and make the final choice among the top two vote-getters in the special general election — voting for either Monica Montgomery Steppe, a Democrat, attorney, and San Diego City Council president pro tem or Republican Amy Reichert, founder of ReOpen San Diego.
Voters in the city of Chula Vista will vote to fill the vacant City Attorney seat. This term expires in December 2026. Candidates include Bart Miesfeld, who served as a city attorney for Chula Vista in the past, Dan Smith Diaz, an attorney, and Marco Verdugo, also an attorney with Burke, Williams & Sorensen.
In Fallbrook and Rainbow voters will weigh in on whether the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District should detach from the San Diego County Water Authority and join the Eastern Municipal Water District.
By Alexander Nguyen / Multimedia Producer, North County
San Diego water bills would rise nearly 20% under a rate-increase proposal the City Council is scheduled to consider Tuesday.
The increase, which city officials began studying last fall, would be the first comprehensive rate hike approved by the council in nearly eight years. It would include a 10.2 increase this December and an 8.75% jump in January 2025.
Imperial County’s largest farming family has lost again in its years-long bid to gain control of valuable Colorado River water allocations associated with its land.
The Imperial Irrigation District on Tuesday won a motion to dismiss a case by Mike Abatti and several relatives, close friends and business associates that closely mirrored an ultimately unsuccessful series of cases they had brought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear their petition in 2021.
The Biden administration is restoring significant state and tribal authority over water resources and expanding their leverage on infrastructure permitting decisions, including for pipelines.
With a final rule announced Thursday, EPA reversed Trump-era limitations on state permit approvals, a move the agency said would bolster state and tribal abilities to protect their waters. In addition to restoring certain oversight powers, the move also gives states, tribes and territories a direct role in determining the duration of review processes.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement that the rule would support “economically secure, healthy, and sustainable communities” and foster the relationship between the federal government and its lower-level partners.
Would a proposed Salton Sea Conservancy help efforts in the troubled region? Elected officials and local organizations are split, with some saying it will just add another layer of bureaucracy to already mired efforts.
California Senate Bill 583, authored by state Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, and coauthored by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, would create the Salton Sea Conservancy, “tasking it with coordinating management of all conservation projects in the region to restore the shrinking sea and reducing the negative health impact the Sea imposes,” according to Padilla’s office. There are currently 10 similar state conservancies under the California Natural Resources Agency, including the local Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy.
