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As the Salton Sea Dies, $4.12M Contract Approved to Give It Life

/in , /by /Patch

Riverside County supervisors Tuesday approved a $4.12 million contract with an Encinitas-based firm to provide engineering and design services for a project to revitalize a portion of the dying Salton Sea.

“We’ve been working on this project for several years now,” Salton Sea Authority Executive Director Patrick O’Dowd told the Board of Supervisors. “It’s a big day for the community of North Shore and a big day for Riverside County.”

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Water Use in California Dips, but Still Short of Newsom’s Goal

/in , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Kevin Winter

Californians used less water in June but are still falling short of the 15% mark set by Governor Gavin Newsom.

According to numbers released Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board, Californians cut water usage by 7.5% in June compared to June 2020. However, between July 2021 and the end of June 2022, water usage dipped by just 2.7%.

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California Cities Introduce Rules and Fines on Water Use During the Drought

/in , , /by /FOX 40by Matthew Nobert

As California enters yet another year of drought, cities and counties across the state implemented water restrictions in the hopes of reducing strain on the states water sources.

According to the state, banning the watering of non-functional lawns will save hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water a year.

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California’s Megadrought is Worse Than You Think

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Anne C. Mulkern

When Maria Regalado Garcia tried to wash the dishes in her California home one recent morning, only a trickle of water emerged from the kitchen faucet. Other taps in her Tooleville house in rural Tulare County ran similarly dry.

The lack of water meant Garcia, 85, couldn’t brush her teeth properly or fill a swamp cooler that pumps out chilled air — a necessity with temperatures topping 100 degrees in her central California town. So Garcia fled to her granddaughter‘s home in Exeter, a few minutes away, to have a place cool enough to sleep.

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Opinion: A Water Crisis is Here, the West Must Act Aggressively, Collectively

/in , , /by /The Denver Post

A billboard in St. George urges residents to use less water — “Utah is in a drought.”

Other nearby billboards in Washington County advertise one of the largest outdoor swimming pools in the world and a soon-to-arrive luxury surfing community with three artificial lakes.

It certainly doesn’t feel like this arid city – hosting the nearby headwaters for two important tributaries to the Colorado River — is in a drought.

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Drought-Friendly Lawn Makeovers Take Root Among Santa Clara County Homeowners

/in , , /by /CBS Bay Areaby Len Ramirez

As the drought drags on, there is surging demand in Santa Clara County for rebates that pay you back for removing a water-thirsty lawn.

“I have so much more appreciation for the California native plants now,” said Julie Garrett, who re-landscaped her front yard in San Jose.

She used drought tolerant plants, and a patch of UC Verde buffalograss — a new alternative turf grass that can go long periods without water.

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As West Burns, House Passes Major Drought and Wildfire Resilience Package

/in , /by /Gristby Emily Pontecorvo

The Western U.S. saw wildfire season kick into high gear last week. As firefighting crews made progress toward containing a blaze in Yosemite National Park in California, another fire erupted near the Oregon border and quickly became the largest California wildfire of the year. Flames also tore through tens of thousands of acres in northern Montana and eastern Idaho.

On the other side of the country, in swampy but fire-free Washington, D.C., Democratic lawmakers were feeling the heat.

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State Can Seek Environmental Safeguards for Oroville Dam Beyond Federal Regulations, California Supreme Court Rules

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Bob Egelko

The state Supreme Court allowed local governments and conservation groups Monday to ask the state for further safety measures and environmental safeguards at the Oroville Dam despite federal authority to license the facility, where a breach and spill forced 188,000 people to evacuate their homes in 2017.

The ruling will not interrupt operations at the nation’s tallest dam, a 770-foot structure on the Feather River in Butte County. But the 5-2 decision enables California water officials to conduct additional review, under state environmental laws, of the dam and other federally regulated water projects.

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Practical, Pure, Potable

/in , /by /WaterWorldby Cari Dale

Advanced purified water first flowed from Pure Water Oceanside on Dec. 30, 2021, making the site the first operational indirect potable reuse facility in San Diego County, Calif. The project treats the City of Oceanside’s wastewater flows and, after additional residence time in the ground and further treatment, will distribute the finished purified drinking water to city customers later this summer.

The $71 million project took eight years of planning and two years of construction during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Settlement Blocks New Federal Fracking Leases in California

/in , /by /AP Newsby Kathleen Ronayne

Leasing for new oil and gas drilling on federal land in central California is temporarily blocked under a settlement announced Monday between the state and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The deal, which still needs court approval, centers on more than 2,500 square miles (6,475 square kilometers) of land and subsurface mineral rights owned by the federal government in California’s Central Valley, a hub for oil and gas activity.

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