It’s been a helluva year, and we’re barely halfway throught it. The arrival of coronavirus and COVID-19 required so much of our focus and energy that it overshadowed a stockpile of existing problems. AWWA CEO David LaFrance shares insight and optimism for these turbulent times in the water industry.
Federal weather forecasters on Thursday predicted the development of drought-producing La Niña pattern that could to last through the winter.
There is a 60% chance that La Niña will develop during the Northern Hemisphere fall, with a 55% chance the pattern will continue through the winter of 2020-21, the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center said in its monthly forecast.
A new report warns Kern County agriculture will face tough challenges in the decades ahead as climate change makes irrigation water scarcer and weather conditions more variable and intense.
The study concludes these hurdles “ultimately challenge the ability to maximize production while ensuring profitability.” But it also predicts impacts will vary by crop, with almond production benefiting somewhat while growers of pistachios, grapes, oranges and carrots face overall difficult conditions.
Rebates for WaterSmart irrigation devices are available in San Diego County to help property owners reduce expenses by improving water efficiency.
The rebates, offered for a limited time by the San Diego County Water Authority, provide significant savings on devices for outdoor landscapes.
For more than two decades, cleaning up the Tijuana River has been one of my top priorities. The wastewater, trash and sediment that continues to flow into San Diego County are a danger to public health and our economy and it must be addressed.
Over the past year we’ve made real strides to fix the problem of cross-border pollution. And last week’s introduction of the Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act is another step toward achieving that goal.
At the end of July, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his revised plan for bringing long-term water security to all Californians. But his announcement was overshadowed by San Joaquin County and several Delta communities scrambling to confront the worst cases of toxic algae blooms ever seen on local sloughs and rivers.
These green, floating slicks brought a new level of criticism to Newsom’s agribusiness-friendly water proposal. That’s because the governor’s strategy relies in large part on the controversial Sites Reservoir proposal and the even more contentious Delta tunnel proposal. Conservation groups say both projects—particularly the tunnel—could worsen the problem of dangerous algae contamination in regional waterways.
Meanwhile, the state continues to spend large sums of money on both multibillion-dollar projects with little clarity on who will ultimately foot the bill as the COVID-19 pandemic drains evermore revenue from public agencies.
The Trump administration is moving to loosen environmental standards for showerheads following a string of public complaints from the president about low-flow fixtures designed to save water.
Funds to support 3rd grade students in the Escondido Union School District have been awarded to The Escondido Creek Conservancy.
The Conservancy has been awarded a national grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Planet Stewards Education Project to fund environmental education and stewardship in Escondido. The program will support 3rd grade students in the Escondido Union School District as they work to address the problem of litter in their community, in conjunction with their learning about local habitats and the impacts of humans on the environment.
The county Department of Environmental Health issued a water contact closure for the northern boundary of Torrey Pines State Beach, north of Carmel Valley Road in the city of Del Mar, due to a sewage spill. The sewage spill has been contained, but an estimated release of 1,800 gallons of effluent entered the storm drain, resulting in potential impacts to beach water quality, according to the DEH.
As the Department of Homeland Security sped construction of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, it ignored concerns from the Fish and Wildlife Service not to abuse groundwater resources and put the survival of some endangered species at risk, new documents show.
