The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors June 22 approved wholesale water rates for 2024 following a public hearing and also approved the recommended budget for the next two fiscal years.
Images from seven photographers were selected as the winners of the 16th annual Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve photo contest. The winning photos were recognized at the June 21 Olivenhain Municipal Water District board meeting.
The contest offers amateur photographers an opportunity to connect viewers with wildlife and the outdoors. Submissions support the reserve’s efforts to protect wildlife and natural resources.
There will be no state lawmakers on the Colorado River Drought Task Force, though Capitol leadership has a lot of influence over who is on the panel. The 17-member task force charged with spending the rest of the year studying the Colorado River water crisis to help state lawmakers respond is starting to take shape, with most of the panel now appointed.
Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas and Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer are asking the board to declare a local state of emergency over cross-border pollution that has fouled San Diego beaches, in hopes of to expediting cleanup and prompting a federal emergency declaration.
The Marin Municipal Water District has approved a $305.9 million, two-year budget that will begin to make significant investments in new water supplies not seen by the agency in decades. “We have a very big job ahead of us with this budget,” Monty Schmitt, the president of the district’s elected board, said before it voted unanimously to adopt the budget on Tuesday.
“The story of Los Angeles is the story of water,” remarks Peter Massey, TreePeople’s project manager of Water Equity Programs, noting how California’s modern history is so deeply intertwined with water issues.
If you’re ready to move ahead with plans to create a water-efficient landscape, the San Diego County Fair is a good place to start. There are several award-winning examples of creative low-water use and native plant gardens at the fair’s popular Paul Ecke Jr. Garden Show exhibit area. (The San Diego County Water Authority has partnered with the state’s Save Our Water to sponsor a booth at the exhibit area).
After 18 months of negotiating—and bickering amongst themselves—the three lower Colorado River basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada reached an agreement on how to best conserve the river’s valuable water supply in the near term.
El Niño has arrived, bringing potentially major effects on weather around the world, such as drought and flooding, and possibly setting a new record for the hottest year. Seven years ago an exceptionally strong El Niño took hold in the Pacific Ocean, triggering a cascade of damaging changes to the world’s weather.
California’s two biggest reservoirs are all but full after reaching perilously low levels late last year. Lake Shasta, at 96% full, and Lake Oroville, at 100%, had fallen to around 25% to 30% of their capacity before the state’s historically wet winter rejuvenated them.
