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Californians With Past-Due Water Bills Can Get Help With Payments. Here’s How

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Karen Garcia

Low-income Los Angeles County residents who are behind on their utility payments have a chance at keeping the water on, with a federally funded program that has been extended through March.

The Low Income Household Water Assistance Program, administered by the California Department of Community Services and Development, was established by Congress in December 2020 as a one-time support to help low-income Californians pay past-due or current bills for water, sewer or both services.

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What the Fed’s New Proposal for Management of Colorado River Reservoirs Means

/in , , /by /High Country Newsby Brooke Larsen

Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation released an updated proposal for the near-term management of Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Its revised draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) includes a proposal crafted by the Lower Colorado River Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — that commits to conserving 3 million acre-feet of water through the end of 2026.

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The Water Wars Deciding the Future of the West

/in , , /by /The New Republic by Kyle Paoletta

On the eastern flank of metropolitan Las Vegas, out past a water park advertising “the world’s largest man-made wave” and a nascent development called Cadence, a red-dirt parking lot teases public access to the system that enabled the past three decades of growth in southern Nevada. Called the Las Vegas Wash, it amounts to a channel that funnels the area’s recycled water back to its aquatic lifeline: Lake Mead.

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Kings River Water Agencies Celebrate Record Wet 2023

/in , , /by /The Business Journal by Staff

Record water flow this year has propelled the Kings River region closer to groundwater sustainability.

After multiple years of drought, the Kings River ended the 2023 water year with a record breaking 4.5 million acre-feet of runoff.

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Toxic Algal Blooms in California Rivers Were Seen a Lot Less This Summer

/in , , /by /Spectrum News 1 by Jamie Kennedy

As a beginner fisherman, Robert Allstead says he took up the sport partly because many around him kept telling him about their amazing fish stories.

“I didn’t have any to tell,” Allstead said. “I’ve got a couple now.”

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Some South OC Residents’ Water Rates Double

/in , , /by /Voice of OCby Noah Biesiada

Water bills are about to double over the next five years for over 13,000 Orange County residents after the Trabuco Canyon Water District increased their rates this year.

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Santa Margarita, City Celebrate Restoration of Groundwater Plant’s Clearwell Tank

/in , /by /The Capistrano Dispatchby Shawn Raymundo

It was this past January when the roof support of the clearwell water tank at San Juan Capistrano’s Groundwater Recovery Plant gave way, requiring local officials to take it offline.

“Why is that important?” asked Laura Freese, a member of Santa Margarita Water District’s governing board. “Well, this is the way we get our water from the aquifer, our local water, our groundwater, and so we needed to get it back up really fast.”

Santa Margarita, which operates the plant as the town’s water utility agency, spent the next six months and roughly $1.8 million conducting repairs to the reservoir tank that holds about 320,000 gallons of drinking water.

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San Diego County Water Authority Planning for Pipeline Work in Rancho Bernardo, Poway

/in , , /by /Poway News Chieftainby Elizabeth Marie Himchak Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority will begin aqueduct maintenance next spring, with the $66 million project expected to be complete in summer 2026. The project area will include pipelines that run through Rancho Bernardo and Poway.

The Southern First Aqueduct Facilities Improvement Project will focus on 99 aqueduct support structures in streets, along access roads and within utility easements. There are two 48-inch- and 54-inch-diameter critical regional pipelines involved, officials said.

The plan is for one pipeline to be taken offline at a time, according to engineering manager Brent Fountain, who spoke at the Rancho Bernardo Planning Board’s Oct. 19 meeting. The project is “very proactive” because it will be replacing some of the concrete vault structures and doing other infrastructure work to components, such as air vents and pump wells, before it becomes absolutely necessary, Fountain said.

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San Diego Temporarily Solved its Water Crisis by Turning Ocean Water into Fresh Water. But Desalination Won’t Work Everywhere.

/in , , /by /Business Insiderby Maiya Focht Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

In the early 1990s, San Diego was dying on the vine, starved of water in a series of years long droughts.

The county, which relied almost entirely on imported water, had to cut back on 30% of its usage and was at risk of losing 50%.

At the last minute, a miracle saved San Diego — rain and snow in the desert replenished aquifers, saving the city from intense cutbacks.

But the water didn’t extinguish the passion of San Diegans, who after finding themselves in this situation, rallied together to find a way to become more self-sufficient, Jeremy Crutchfield, the water-resources manager at the San Diego County Water Authority, told Insider.

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California’s Young ‘Water Buffalo’ JB Hamby Spurs United Colorado River Rescue, For Now

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sun (via Yahoo News)by Janet Wilson

It was a rough debut. JB Hamby, 26 years old, had rocketed to the innermost circle of state and federal officials charged with saving the Colorado River from collapse. In mid-January, he was elected to chair California’s river board, representing Imperial Irrigation District, by far the biggest recipient of the overused river’s supply.

Federal officials had bluntly threatened to impose mandatory cuts across the region if huge voluntary reductions weren’t made.

But 12 days later, after contentious closed-door talks, he watched in dismay as media outlets across the U.S. published stories about six states releasing a joint plan to save the river, with only his state, California, refusing to sign on.

It was a baptism by near drowning for the youngest “water buffalo,” as negotiators of Colorado River agreements have historically called themselves. But Hamby didn’t respond angrily or publicly. Instead he wrote individual thank-you notes to top negotiators in every other state, and asked if he could meet with each to discuss mutual solutions.
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