San Diego closed its beaches, parks, boardwalks and trails on Monday after those areas were crowded on the weekend despite social distancing orders to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The announcement by Mayor Kevin Faulconer came after the county officials warned that parks and beaches will be closed if local law enforcement cannot ensure social distancing.
As of Friday, 10 workers are quarantined inside the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant for the next three weeks, monitoring and adjusting gauges and switches, watching for leaks, and doing whatever is needed to safeguard San Diego County’s only significant local source of drinking water.
The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies said Wednesday they have increased regional coordination to ensure the coronavirus pandemic does not impact water service in the region.
“In these unprecedented times, the region’s water agencies are collaborating in complete solidarity to perform our vital mission of providing safe and reliable water supplies,” said Sandra L. Kerl, general manager of the water authority. “We are taking strategic, precautionary steps to ensure the region’s water security.”
Floods and other dangerous weather extremes are only getting more intense and more frequent as our climate warms. Historically, we’ve always been able to predict these extremes by looking at how often they occurred in the past. But a new study published Wednesday in Science Advances reveals just how many of those forecasts actually fall short. In just a decade, the findings suggest, the climate has shifted so drastically that the frequency of past extreme events is no longer a reliable predictor.
More rain and mountain snow will move through the West, including communities in worsening drought, in the early part of the week ahead. This wet pattern began when an area of low pressure moved into the California coast on Sunday. It brought more than an inch of rain to much of the Los Angeles area.
The islands of the western Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are sinking as the rich peat soil that attracted generations of farmers dries out and decays. As the peat decomposes, it releases tons of carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas – into the atmosphere. As the islands sink, the levees that protect them are at increasing risk of failure, which could imperil California’s vital water conveyance system.
Sewage systems and toilets are backing up as consumers clean their homes with disinfectant wipes and turn to paper towels, napkins and baby wipes to cope with the lack of toilet paper.
The water agencies that serve the Fallbrook and Rainbow areas of North County have officially filed applications to detach from the San Diego County Water Authority, an unprecedented move with potential financial implications for almost all water customers in the county.
The Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District filed “reorganization” applications with the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) on Wednesday. The filing has been expected for months and will likely trigger a lengthy process that could culminate, should the Water Authority have its way, with a vote of all customers served by any of the 24 water districts that belong to the umbrella water agency.
Something you may not be thinking about during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is what you’re flushing down the toilet. Plumbers say a lack of supplies is causing some major backups.
A lack of toilet paper means a lot of people have been putting other things down their toilets. The experts at Bill Howe Plumbing say that is a terrible idea.
With toilet paper flying off the shelves, some people are scrambling for alternatives. Turns out, you should really think twice about what you’re putting down there.
After an absence of major storms for much of the winter, the ‘March Miracle,’ in terms of wet weather, seems likely to continue next week in California.
The storm that brought drenching rain and yards of snow to the Sierra Nevada early this week was still lingering as of Wednesday night but will diminish over the next couple of days.
A lull in storms is forecast late this week to this weekend, but a new series of storms is destined to impact much of the West next week with more rain and mountain snow from Monday to Wednesday.
