California’s snowpack is supposed to reach its peak April 1, so today, state surveyors hold their final Sierra snow survey of the year.
But instead of peak snow, there’s almost none.
What if nuclear power could fix the Colorado River’s water crisis?
That’s the pitch from Ben Burr, president of the Idaho-based Blue Ribbon Commission, who is shopping a proposal to build new desalination plants on California’s coast. The plants would convert Pacific Ocean seawater into freshwater and pump it hundreds of miles inland, adding new water to a system that has spent decades losing it.
It’s a good problem to have in drought prone San Diego, an excess of water. Now, the county plans to sell some of it to other areas in need.
The San Diego County Water Authority has announced the sale of water to the Western Municipal Water District that covers parts of Riverside County, including Temecula.
Under pressure to strike a compromise on water cuts, and amid talk of litigation, Wyoming and other upper Colorado River Basin states are pointing to the climate-driven disaster unfolding in the West to insist they can’t cut what Mother Nature isn’t providing in the headwaters.
While some observers suspect that argument is cover for withholding more cuts in water use, the upper-basin contingency insists it has negotiated in good faith, and still hopes to strike a deal with its lower-basin counterparts, despite missed deadlines. They simply cannot commit to calculations that are beyond their control.
The Helix water district is flipping the switch on their new electric vehicle charging capabilities. This comes as the state of California is requiring public agency fleet vehicles to shift towards being electric and fast. All new vehicles purchased must be zero-emission by 2030.
NBC 7’s Dana Williams checked out the new technology and shares why these chargers, in particular, are so important for San Diegans.
A water transfer agreement involving the Western Municipal Water District, the San Diego County Water Authority, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California was signed March 19 in San Diego.
The signing followed a unanimous SDCWA board vote to approve the agreement. Western Water will purchase a minimum of 10,000 acre-feet of water annually from the CWA.
Water, get your water here!
With Andrea and Bella out, Scott Lewis, Jakob McWhinney and Will Huntsberry held it down this week. Former County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher is re-emerging post-controversy. We’re talking press conferences, speeches and a new Substack, “Grounded,” about his life on a family ranch.
A major milestone has been reached for the proposed Sites Reservoir project, a plan to build a large new water storage facility west of Colusa.
The state has issued a draft decision to conditionally approve a key water right permit for the project. Under the proposal, water would be pumped from the Sacramento River to the reservoir, which would store up to 1.5 million acre-feet of water. Supporters say the added storage would help improve water supply during dry years for farms, communities and wildlife.
As state leaders battle along the Colorado River for a larger share, a city in California is possibly willing to sell its water to Arizona—but it comes at a huge price. Just a few years ago, Arizona considered asking Mexico to allow the construction of a desalination plant. It never happened, but in California, there already is one, leaving the question— can Arizona get a cut?
The salty Pacific might be one of the answers officials have been waiting for. In Carlsbad, California, the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere provides 10% of San Diego’s water, and that water might soon be up for grabs.
A historic drought has gripped Corpus Christi, the eighth-largest city in Texas, placing unprecedented strain on a water system that serves roughly 500,000 people across seven counties, along with one of the nation’s largest petrochemical corridors and Port of Corpus Christi, the country’s top port for crude oil exports.
Industrial demand accounts for more than half of the region’s water use.
