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OPINION: Large Scale Desalination Could Transform California

Why is it axiomatic among California’s water agencies and policymakers that large scale desalination is inconceivable in California? That certainly isn’t the case in other arid locales. In 2024, an estimated 30 million acre feet of fresh water was produced by desalination plants worldwide.

On the coast of the Red Sea, about 60 miles south of the port city Jeddah, and only slightly further from the inland city of Mecca, the Shoaiba Desalination Complex produces nearly 900,000 acre feet of fresh water per year. Situated on approximately 1,200 acres, this one installation could, if it were located in California, supply more than 12 percent of ALL California’s urban water consumption. That’s not very much land, for an awful lot of water.

Deadline Closing in for Utah and 6 Other States Hammering Out a New Water Plan

Utah and six other states along the Colorado River are pushing up against a deadline to figure out as a group how to manage the river and its reservoirs.

If they can’t reach an agreement by Nov. 11, the federal government is set to intervene and make its own plan. The existing agreement expires at the end of next year.

California Farmers Dealt Costly Defeat Over Water Usage

California’s water resources control board can regulate groundwater usage by farmers in Kings County, after the state’s appellate court threw out a preliminary injunction and overruled a demurer.

The pair of rulings means that farmers in the county will have to start metering and reporting how much water they draw from the ground, and pay the state fees of $300 per well and $20 per acre-foot of water used.

OPINION: Water Independence — Not at Any Price

When it comes to water, honesty matters as much as infrastructure. On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council narrowly approved a two-year water rate increase — 14.7 percent next year and 14.5 percent the following year — rejecting staff’s push for a four-year plan. The Council’s message was clear: They want answers and accountability, not finger-pointing.

City staff continue to blame the San Diego County Water Authority for rate hikes, citing higher wholesale costs and claiming the Water Authority “has too much water.” Yet when a councilmember asked what the city’s rate increase would be if the Water Authority raised rates by 0 percent, staff offered only double talk. That moment crystallized a larger issue — a troubling lack of transparency about the city’s own cost drivers, from deferred maintenance and energy costs to the growing expense of building the Pure Water program.

NOAA Winter Outlook: Drier, Warmer Weather for San Diego Region

If you’ve been feeling like it’s a little warmer than usual this time of year, you’re not wrong. Experts from the National Weather Service say this heat isn’t going away anytime soon. Meteorologist with NWS Adam Roser says Santa Ana winds are playing a big role in the warmer weather many in the valleys are feeling right now.

“We do have some Santa Ana winds today, which helps warm up the valleys a lot, so that’s why you’re kind of feeling it pretty warm,” said Roser.

Elo-Rivera Wants City to Build Solar to Combat High Water Rates

What if San Diego blanketed land, reservoirs and buildings its Public Utilities Department owned with solar and used the money it made off that power to subsidize skyrocketing water rates for poorer people?

That’s the idea San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera pitched during an uncomfortable series of debates over raising water rates on San Diegans by 63 percent over the next four years. The Public Utilities department owns 42,550 acres of land – about the size of Washington D.C. It could, in theory, lease that land out to solar developers and help bring down water rates, fix dams or otherwise prop-up a city department key to ensuring water is treated and distributed to 1.4 million people.

$286M Upgrade Done For Carlsbad Water Plant

The Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant has completed a $286 million upgrade to its seawater intake and discharge system, a state-mandated project designed to protect marine life while maintaining the facility’s water production capacity, the San Diego County Water Authority announced Tuesday, Oct. 28.

The work was finished on schedule and $29 million under budget, according to a Water Authority news release.

Vulnerable Communities Still Struggling With Aging Water Systems

Americans in vulnerable communities across the country are at risk of or already experiencing a water crisis marked by limited access to safe drinking water and clean lakes and streams. Pollution, aging infrastructure and underinvestment have left many communities vulnerable to long-term illness and a diminished quality of life.

Approximately 2.2 million Americans live in homes without running water or basic plumbing, according to DigDeep, a human rights non-profit organization. Black and Latino households are twice as likely to live without basic plumbing as White households.

Los Banos at the Crossroads of California’s Water Wars: How San Joaquin River Decisions Shape the Valley’s Future

The San Joaquin River continues to sit at the center of California’s most complex water disputes, and Los Banos remains one of the communities most directly affected. As state and regional leaders debate over mining, water storage, flooding, fish habitats, and groundwater management, the outcomes will shape how water moves through the Central Valley for generations, and how much of it reaches local communities like Los Banos.

At the western edge of the river system, just north of Los Banos, the B.F. Sisk Dam and San Luis Reservoir play a key role in storing and distributing water from Northern California to the rest of the state. Expansion of the reservoir, now underway, will increase capacity but has raised questions about who benefits most. Local observers note that while Silicon Valley and coastal regions may receive much of the additional water, Los Banos continues to serve as the logistical and environmental gateway where the reservoir, aqueduct, and wildlife refuges intersect.

While San Diego Leaders Balk at High Rates, City Debates Less-Ambitious Sewage Recycling Plan

In September, the San Diego City Council gave the mayor a month to find ratepayers savings on water rates. Tuesday’s the councilmembers’ second attempt to pass a 63 percent water and 31 percent wastewater increase over four years.

Nothing has changed in the proposal.