As the unprecedented drought continues to affect California and the San Diego region, homeowners can still balance the need to conserve water as efficiently as possible while preserving valuable landscaping, including trees. Trees can be maintained while following California’s water guidelines.
The Colorado River is the backbone of the West’s water supply. The river provides water to hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and 40 million people in seven U.S. states (California, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada) and northern Mexico. But overuse, a 23-year “megadrought” and aridification fueled by the climate crisis has left the river stretched far too thin.
Up and down the Colorado River last week, the state, local and tribal leaders in charge of water supplies for more than 40 million people waited to see if the federal government would impose deeper cuts to river allocations.
The Bureau of Reclamation had given states and tribes an Aug. 15 deadline to find ways to conserve 2 to 4 million more acre-feet of water to stabilize the drought-stricken river and its two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Without such a plan, the bureau said, it would act.
Federal officials aren’t ready to give states along the Colorado River a new deadline for water conservation goals.
The seven states that rely on the river blew past an August 16 deadline without a plan to conserve 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water. They were given that task by officials with the Bureau of Reclamation and from within the Interior Department. The agency’s models show that amount is what is necessary to keep the river’s biggest reservoirs — lakes Mead and Powell — from reaching critical levels.
When Contra Costa County supervisors last summer signed off on 125 new homes slated for 30 acres of grazing land in the oak-dotted Tassajara Valley, they were warned water was going to be an issue.
As droughts worsen across the world, investors are turning up the heat on companies wasting water and trying to pick winners from a sparse crowd of specialist listed companies looking to address the problem.
From Kenya to California and nearly half of Europe, a shortage of fresh water has grabbed the attention of policymakers and given millions of citizens a fresh window into the stressed state of the planet.
California has $1.5 billion to distribute to cities and local water agencies to help the state cope with increasing aridity and less predictable rainfall. Should at least a third of it go to Los Angeles to boost a historic water recycling project?
That’s an easy “yes.” $500 million in state funding would be a smart investment not just for residents of L.A. but for the entire state.
The Vista Irrigation District Board of Directors recognized Jennifer Dell as its 2022 WaterSmart Landscape Contest winner for her creative, colorful use of materials and plants. The annual contest recognizes outstanding water-wise residential landscapes based on overall attractiveness, appropriate plant selection, design, appropriate maintenance, and efficient methods of irrigation.
California’s water future is dire indeed — there’s not only the likelihood of too little, but also the possibility of way too much.
The potential for broad, devastating effects of climate change have become familiar over the years. In recent times, the prospect of actually running out of water has gone from the abstract to a realistic scenario in some regions of California and the Southwest.
San Diego County is not currently facing water cuts as the historic drought reaches a new low and the nation’s largest reservoir — Lake Mead — is at its lowest water level on record, according to the San Diego County Water Authority.
