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High School Students Invited to Enter Special Districts Video Contest

/in , , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County high school students whose Instagram Reels and TikTok skills impress their friends can put them to good use and earn scholarship money for their efforts.

The 2022 California Special Districts Association San Diego Chapter video scholarship competition is open through the end of April. The annual “Districts Make The Difference” contest promotes public awareness and understanding of the special districts providing communities with essential services like water, sanitation, healthcare, fire protection, and parks.

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Newsom Urged Californians to Cut Water Use by 15%. In February They Saved Less Than 1%

/in , , /by /Ian Jamesby Los Angeles Times

Total water usage in California cities and towns decreased by just half a percent in February compared to the same month in 2020, a far cry from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal of reducing urban water use by 15%.

Figures released this week by the State Water Resources Control Board showed that even during a third year of drought, Californians have been slow to step up conservation efforts.

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Water District Imposes Some of the Toughest Water Use Restrictions in Region

/in , , /by /KCLUby Lance Orozco

A water district serving parts of the Conejo Valley is imposing some of the toughest watering restrictions in the region as a result of the drought. The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District reduced the amount of water customers can use for outdoor irrigation from 75% to 50% of normal.

District officials say if they can decrease water use through the restriction, it could prevent, or at least delay a total ban on outdoor watering.

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Ramona Water District to Discuss Agreement to Sell Water to Barona Tribe April 12

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Julie Gallant

The Ramona Municipal Water District and the Barona Band of Mission Indians are considering a water sales agreement that would serve a growing reservation population and help the community be better prepared for wildfires, officials said.

The water district’s board of directors will consider the proposal at their meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 12 at the Ramona Community Center, 434 Aqua Lane.

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Punishing Bay Area Drought Prompts Calls for Major Water Rethink

/in , , /by /KQEDby Ezra David Romero

Each morning for months, Amelia Morán Ceja has peered out her window, searching Sonoma’s wine country for dark clouds or the residue of rain on the leaves of her grapevines.

Her searching has proved futile, and now she’s worried as California faces its third consecutive summer with drought.

The dry conditions threaten her thirsty vines at Ceja Vineyards and elevate the risk from fire and heat waves. The triple threat is a “perfect storm during harvest,” she said.

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Manteca Water Use Soars 14.6% as Drought Deepens

/in , , /by /Manteca Ripon Bulletinby Dennis Wyatt

Manteca’s per capita water use surged 14.6 percent in March as the city’s consumption continued to grow significantly over 2020 even after making adjustments for population gain.

The double-digit gain in year-to-year use comes nine months after Governor Gavin Newsom asked Californians to voluntarily cut water usage by 15 percent based on 2020 consumption levels. So far water use on average in California jurisdictions is down by 6 percent although Manteca clearly isn’t one of them.

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Report to California Legislature: Prepare for Sweeping Effects of Climate Change

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker and Julie Cart

Painting alarming scenes of fires, floods and economic disruption, the California Legislature’s advisors today released a series of reports that lays out in stark terms the impacts of climate change across the state.

The typically reserved, nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office outlined dire consequences for Californians as climate change continues to alter most aspects of daily life. Much of the focus of the six-part series is detailing the economic cost as the changing climate alters where and how Californians build, grow food and protect the most vulnerable residents.

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The Promise and Pitfalls of Desalination

/in , , /by /The Economist Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Carlsbad State Beach is a Southern California idyll. Palm trees adorn the cliffs above the sand, and surfers paddle out for the waves. From the beach it is impossible to tell that a huge desalination plant not half a mile away is sucking in seawater to produce 50 million gallons of new drinking water each day. It is the largest in America—for now. Soon it may share that title with a proposed sister plant 60 miles (97km) north in Huntington Beach. But only if that one is built.

Poseidon Water, the developer that also built the Carlsbad plant, first proposed the Huntington Beach facility in the 1990s. But it has taken the company more than two decades to persuade Californians of the plant’s necessity.

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Kings County Declares Local Drought Emergency

/in , , /by /The Sentinelby Eric Gill

The Kings County Board of Supervisors on Friday voted to declare a local emergency due to drought conditions in the area. All five Kings County supervisors voted in favor of declaring the local state of emergency.

The resolution was considered during a Special Meeting held April 1 to consider a recommendation submitted by Edward Hill, county administrative officer, and Matthew Boyett, a Kings County Administration staff member.

The primary purpose of the meeting — “declaring a local emergency due to drought conditions in Kings County” — was voted on after the closed session.

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Proposed Tulare County Reservoir Could Begin Banking Water as Soon as 2026

/in , , /by /The Sun Gazetteby Reggie Ellis

Last Friday’s report that California’s snowpack is just 38% of normal underscores the importance for Tulare County to not only take the drought more seriously, but to brace for drier winters to become the rule rather than the exception.

Two Tulare County irrigation water agencies aren’t waiting around to see how the state will cope with the current and future drought and are taking steps to secure more water storage in the Kaweah Subbasin. Tulare Irrigation District (TID) and Consolidated Peoples Ditch Company (CPDC) purchased 260 acres in December 2020 near McKay Point, where the Kaweah River forks into the Lower Kaweah and St. John’s rivers near Lemon Cove, to build a reservoir capable of storing 8,000 acre feet of water.

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