A second straight wet winter may be in store for California, but state water regulators are turning their attention to the prospect of long-term water shortages, with plans for permanent statewide restrictions.
The San Diego County Water Authority has the reliable water supplies to meet the region’s needs for 2024, owing in part to more efficient water use and a supply diversification strategy, it was announced on Oct. 2.
The water year began Sunday, Oct. 1, which hydrologists used to begin measuring the snow and rain that will help carry users through dry summer months the following calendar year.
SANDAG crews continue to work on the San Dieguito Lagoon Restoration project in Del Mar, which will convert 84 acres — or approximately 63 football fields — of former agricultural fields to saltwater wetlands.
Let’s dredge up the project’s goals and progress for the portion of the lagoon system east of Interstate 5 at El Camino Real and Villa De La Valle known as W-19.
For the sixth consecutive year, the San Diego County Water Authority’s Water News Network website was recognized as the Best Public Service/Consumer Advocacy Website. The Water News Network was awarded for its public outreach and education at the San Diego Press Club’s 50th annual Excellence in Journalism Awards.
Among the largest annual competitions in the United States, San Diego’s finest reporters, photographers, writers, artists, and communicators were honored with the region’s top awards.
The Water News Network was awarded first place as the Best Public Service or Consumer Advocacy Website. The WNN has won the award every year since the website launched in mid-2018.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria congratulated winners at the San Diego Press Club Journalism Awards. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
The award for best public service website is one of five awards the WNN received during a ceremony October 3 at Balboa Park. At the event, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria recognized the contributions of the San Diego journalism community and the San Diego Press Club over its 50-year history.
Water Authority Senior Public Affairs Representative Ed Joyce and former public affairs department intern Noah Harrel received second place for original reporting in the Online and Daily Newspapers: Military category for “Marine Corps Veteran Shawntrel McCoy Finds Perfect Fit in the SkillBridge Program.”
Writer Gayle Falkenthal received third place in the Online and Daily Newspapers: Public Service/Consumer Advocacy category for “Special Water Rates Program Reduces Costs for San Diego County Growers.”
The WNN team took home a third-place award in the PR, PIO, and Trade Publications Video category, for its Landscape Optimization Program video series.
A joint entry from the Water Authority and the Vallecitos Water District public affairs team of Chris Robbins, Lisa Urabe, and Alicia Yerman won First Place in the Television/Online Video, Community Service/Public Affairs Reporting category for its Landscape Optimization Program video series, published in the Water News Network and on the Vallecitos Water District YouTube channel.
In its sixth year of operation, the Water News Network is viewed as a reliable source of factual information upholding the standards of journalism to benefit the Water Authority, its 24 member agencies, its stakeholders, and the residents of San Diego County.
The San Diego Press Club honors the region’s best communicators in media each year at the Excellence in Journalism Awards.
Websites, Public Service or Consumer Advocacy Site: First Place, Water News Network
Online/Daily Newspapers, Military: Second Place, Marine Corps Veteran Shawntrel McCoy Finds Perfect Fit in the SkillBridge Program, Ed Joyce and Noah Harrel
Online/Daily Newspapers, Public Service/Consumer Advocacy: Third Place, Special Water Rates Program Reduces Costs for San Diego County Growers, Gayle Falkenthal
PR, PIO, and Trade Publications, Video: Third Place, Landscape Optimization Program Video Series, Water News Network Team
(Editor’s note: The Vallecitos Water District is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the metropolitan San Diego region.)
After years of dealing with drought conditions, the region’s water supply is in good shape, ready to meet the demand for 2024, according to the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA).
“Last year we were starting Water Year ‘23 in really heavy drought conditions with state mandatory reductions and this year there’s no mandatory water use reductions… there’s a lot of water in storage in Northern California, reservoirs are full,” said Efren Lopez, water resources specialist with SDCWA.
That’s because of all the storms over the past year that drenched California, delivering above-average amounts of rain and snow with the Sierra snowpack reaching 200% above average.
This October marks 20 years since San Diego cut a famous deal that protected it from drought but paved the way for putting a high price on otherwise free water from the Colorado River.
The hard-fought deal – called the Quantification Settlement Agreement, or QSA – dramatically lowered how much water California takes each year from this river that makes life possible in seven western U.S. states and northern Mexico. It ensured, for the first time, that California wouldn’t use any more than its share. And it achieved that by putting a cap, for the first time, on how much water the farmers in Imperial Valley could take. Water officials would now meticulously count every gallon that once haphazardly emptied from farm fields into the Salton Sea. Today, that massive lake is in danger of becoming a massive public health and ecological disaster.
San Diego County water officials said Monday the region should have plenty of water in the coming year, even though there is lingering concern about water coming from the Colorado River basin.
The San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) said local customers are reaping the benefits from decades of effort to diversify and secure water supplies.
“Because we’ve invested. We’ve done the work — in our infrastructure, in our reliability and in conservation,” said Efren Lopez, a water resource manager with the SDCWA.
The San Diego County Water Authority says higher than expected rainfall amounts and an anticipated El Niño are keeping levels high.
The outlook for the upcoming water year in San Diego County is good, in terms of supply, the County Water Authority said, but that doesn’t mean San Diegans should decrease their conservation efforts.
Efren Lopez, a water resources specialist with the County Water Authority, told ABC 10News that water supply for the county looks good for 2024 in comparison to 2023, when the state was dealing with a severe drought.
But then things turned around.
As the official 2024 California water year began Sunday, the San Diego County Water Authority predicted “reliable supplies” thanks to full reservoirs and and continued investment in desalination and other diversified sources.
At the end of August 2023, reservoirs in the county had an additional 137,400 acre-feet of storage, an 80% increase from the same time in 2022 amid drought conditions. And compared to recent years, the condition of the Colorado River is improved and California will not face supply restrictions.
