You are now in Home Headline Media Coverage San Diego County category.

From the Archives: San Diego Aqueduct Dedication 75 Years Ago Marked New Era in Region’s Quest for Water

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Merrie Monteagudo Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Seventy-five years ago, on Dec. 11 1947, the 71-mile San Diego Aqueduct was dedicated and put into operation, bringing water from the Colorado River to San Diego. By 1949, 85 percent of all water consumed in San Diego was Colorado River water. Today, after conservation, desalination, and other efforts to add to local water supplies, some 70 percent of the region’s water supply still flows through the aqueduct system.

Full Story

Storm Blankets Sierra Nevada in Heavy Snow, Brings Rain Across California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

A storm blanketed the Sierra Nevada in heavy snow and soaked much of California with rain, bringing a wet start of winter weather after three years of record drought. The storm brought 3 to 4 feet of fresh snow in parts of the Sierra Nevada over the weekend. From the San Francisco Bay Area to Southern California, between 1 inch and 4 inches of rain fell in many areas.

Full Story

Doheny Desalination Plant in Dana Point Clears Final Regulatory Hurdle

/in , , /by /The Orange County Registerby Brooke Staggs

State officials on Friday cleared the final major regulatory hurdle for the Doheny desalination plant, which aims to use ocean to help shore up drinking water supplies for drought-ridden Southern California. The California State Lands Commission unanimously granted South Coast Water District a 20-year lease for land off Doheny State Beach, in Dana Point.

Full Story

Planned Upper Colorado River Basin Program Reboot Could Pay Water Users to Conserve

/in , , /by /KUNCby Alex Hager

As climate change continues to shrink the Colorado River’s largest reservoirs, a group of four states that use its water are set to lay out plans to reboot a conservation program. The Upper Colorado River Commission – comprised of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico – plans to announce details of an extended “System Conservation Pilot Program” through which water users could be paid to cut back on their use.

The soon-to-be-launched program aims to use a pool of $125 million from the Inflation Reduction Act for payouts to “mitigate the impacts of long-term drought and depleted storage,” according to presentation slides obtained by KUNC.

Full Story

Drought-Ravaged L.A. Seeks Surprising Source of Water: A Contaminated Superfund Site

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

As drought and climate change ravage California’s once-reliable supply of drinking water, officials in Los Angeles are setting their sights on a relatively new, almost untapped resource for the city’s 4 million residents: the Superfund site in their own backyard. Nearly 70% of the city’s 115 wells in the San Fernando Valley groundwater basin — the largest such basin under the purview of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power — have been sitting unused for decades after dangerous contaminants seeped into the aquifer.

Full Story

La Niña Forecast to Fade by April, Easing California Drought

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Newsby Brian K. Sullivan

The odds that the drought-enhancing La Niña will fade by the end of California’s rainy season are rising, offering some hope of an easing of parched conditions across the US West.  The Pacific Ocean has a 71% chance of returning to normal temperatures between February and April, bringing an end the La Niña weather pattern that has persisted for three years, the Climate Prediction Center said in a Thursday forecast.

Full Story

Here’s Where California Reservoir Levels Stand After December’s Storms

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Jack Lee and Yoohyun Jung

December kicked off with a parade of storms across California, and while the plentiful precipitation is likely good news for California, data shows storage levels at the state’s major water supply reservoirs have not budged much. “We are just now moving into the rainy season,” said Jeanine Jones, interstate resources manager for California’s Department of Water Resources, referring to the months between November and March when much of California’s precipitation is recorded.

Full Story

‘It’s Imperative That We Take Action:’ Lake Powell Power Plant Could Stop Running by July

/in , , /by /12Newsby William Pitts

New predictions by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation show that Lake Powell’s water levels may fall below the level needed to produce power as soon as July 2023. The Bureau of Reclamation issues two-year predictions for the water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead and revises those predictions every few months. It uses multiple projections to come up with expected, worst, and best probable outcomes.

Full Story

Delta Residents Gather to Protest Delta Tunnel Proposal

/in , , /by /ABC 10by Brody Adams

Approximately 100 concerned Delta residents gathered at a public forum in the community of Hood Tuesday to express concern with the Delta Tunnel proposal. Among the speakers was State Senator Bill Dodd, Attorney Osha Meserve, State Assemblymember Lori Wilson and State Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua.

Full Story

Household Water Wells Are Drying Up in Record Numbers as California Drought Worsens

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Dorany Pineda and Gabrielle Lamarr Lemee

For almost four decades, water flowed faithfully from Fred and Robin Imfeld’s private well here in rural Tehama County, a region where thirsty orchards of walnuts, almonds, plums and olives stretch across thousands of acres. But that reliable supply of household water began to sputter last year, and then ceased completely this summer amid California’s driest three-year period on record.

Full Story