Last Tuesday marked the end of the 2019 rain year, which runs from July 1 through June 30. Wednesday was the start of the 2020 rain year.
The 2018 rainfall season that occurred from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019, produced 15.68 inches of rain at the Santa Maria Public Airport, or about 121% of normal.
The Democratic-led House Appropriations Committee on Monday proposed a funding bump for the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency, soundly rejecting cuts proposed by President Trump.
It has been a week since a devastating fire ripped through Niland, demoralizing a poor community already suffering from a pandemic quarantine. Douglas Kline, principal of Grace Elementary, Niland’s only school, spoke about the onslaught.
Central Arizona has been booming – more people, more houses, more need for water. There’s also a long-term drought and less water to buy from the Central Arizona Project canal system. It’s leading Phoenix exurbs to cast about, looking for new buckets.
Bay Area scientists have signed off on a series of fracking permits in western Kern County, allowing the well-completion technique to proceed after Gov. Gavin Newsom put in place new, time-consuming review procedures prompted by environmental concerns and regulatory conflict-of-interest accusations.
This feature highlights water utility employees in the San Diego region working during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure a safe, reliable and plentiful water supply. The water industry is among the sectors that are classified as essential. Carrie Selby, City of Escondido Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator, is the Water Utility Hero of the Week.
If you want to know what climate change means for California’s water supply, consider the last two Februaries. In 126 years of statewide record-keeping, you can’t find a drier February than the one we just experienced. But February 2019 was the third-wettest on record.
A federal funding opportunity was announced on June 30th to improve the water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is providing $20 million for innovations that “strengthen America’s water infrastructure and enable advanced water resource recovery systems that have the potential to be net energy positive.”
Recent climate models are ‘running hot,’ projecting catastrophic global warming. Puzzled scientists are weighing whether the models need correcting or whether severe warming is a real threat.
Despite pandemic related fiscal challenges, work on the Salton sea still remains a priority. Especially for Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, from the 56th district, who helped get funds of over 47-million dollars for new river and Salton sea mitigation projects.
