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CWA Asks LAFCO for Countywide Vote on FPUD/Rainbow Reorganization

The San Diego County Water Authority has asked for a countywide vote in case San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission approves the prior steps for the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District to detach from the SDCWA and become part of the Eastern Municipal Water District.

The CWA board voted to request a countywide public vote Nov. 21. The term “countywide” applies only to residents within the CWA boundaries, which does not include the entirety of San Diego County.

CWA Approves Completion Notices, Final Change Order for Moosa Canyon Pipeline Repair

The completion of the emergency repair to the San Diego County Water Authority’s Pipeline 4 in Moosa Canyon led the SDCWA board to approve notices of completion which will release funds to the contractors, and the CWA board also ratified the final change order for the repair work.

The Nov. 21 CWA board action accepts the emergency repair work by J.F. Shea Construction Inc. and the carbon fiber repair work by Fibrwrap Construction Services Inc. as complete while also ratifying a $200,000 change order in the emergency contract with J.F. Shea.

Helix Continues to Evaluate Local Drinking Water Project

On Nov. 5, Padre Dam Municipal Water District, city of El Cajon and County of San Diego formed a Joint Powers Authority to serve as the governing body for the East County Advanced Water Purification project.

A Helix Water District representative will serve as an ex officio, nonvoting member of the JPA board. “The JPA board will be focused on the wastewater side of the project. Our role in the project if it moves forward, is on the drinking water side,” said Helix Water District General Manager Carlos Lugo.

Atmospheric Rivers Cause $1 Billion In Damage A Year, Study Shows, And Are Getting Worse

As back-to-back atmospheric rivers have made umbrellas a necessity across the state — and with more rain on the way in California this weekend — a new study reveals the connection between the weather phenomenon and the economic effects of localized flooding.

Atmospheric rivers, the storms that carry moisture from the tropics to the mid-latitude regions, have long been linked to the ecological impacts they have on a region. But when the storm passes, what’s left in its wake?

Cross-Border Commitment To Combat Sewage Crisis

California Governor Gavin Newsom and his counterpart from Baja California Norte, Jaime Bonilla, on Wednesday pledged to work as partners in combating toxic sewage flows from Tijuana into the South Bay as the cross-border crisis continues to threaten the health of thousands of San Diego County residents.

The persistent flow of toxic sewage from Mexico into the South Bay is one the most pressing problems facing both Baja California Norte and the state of California.

Opinion: On Water, California And Feds Need To Work Together For The Benefit Of Fish, Farmers And 27 Million People

We face an important opportunity to finally put the seemingly permanent conflicts that have defined water and environmental management in California behind us, but not if we let it drift away.

This new era of opportunity springs from a common recognition that our ways of doing business have failed to meet the needs of all interests. 

We have a choice: continue to live the never- ending “Groundhog Day” of conflict, apocalyptic rhetoric and litigation, or embrace the opportunities to meaningfully improve the way we make decisions and get things done for the good of all.

California Storm Parade Continues Friday With More Rain, Feet of Sierra Snow Through The Weekend

Another Pacific storm will surge into California Friday and last into the weekend wringing out feet of Sierra snow and more rain that could trigger additional flooding and debris flows.

Satellite imagery clearly shows the next system waiting in the wings to soak the Golden State beginning Friday.

Wednesday’s storm dumped about an inch of rain in downtown L.A. and San Diego, with locally higher amounts over the mountains.

Securing SoCal Water to Benefit NorCal Salmon

Life is perilous for juvenile chinook salmon just starting their journey to the ocean: predatory striped bass lurk in gin-clear pools; low streamflows limit access to the shrimplike amphipods they feed on; downstream sloughs halt at dead ends. As young fish navigate from spawning grounds in California’s Feather River to the Pacific, climate change is further reducing the water available for their celebrated runs. Of the salmon populations struggling to survive along the Pacific Northwest, scientists worry California chinook may be the first to blink out.

Update: Tahoe Ski Resorts Open More Lifts, Terrain Before Next Snow Dump

Early-season snow is prompting 18 of the 21 major ski areas around Tahoe and the high Sierra to open by this weekend.

On Wednesday, snow was falling lightly on the ridges surrounding the Tahoe Basin, and a storm due to arrive this weekend will allow ski areas across the board to open more chairlifts, ski runs and terrain and position themselves for the blitz that comes with the Christmas-New Year’s holidays.

California Must Act Now To Prepare For Sea Level Rise, State Lawmakers Say

The camera zooms in on the majestic sandy bluffs that make this stretch of the San Diego County coast so iconic: a close-up, everyone realizes, of that cliff crumbling in real time — ancient sand and soft, somewhat cemented rocks tumbling onto the beach below.

Moments later, a popular commuter rail rumbles by. Some in the room gasped. Lawmakers watched in sober silence.

“This is a natural phenomenon; it’s feeding the beaches, but it’s happening more and more frequently in part because of sea level rise,” said Merrifield, director of Scripps’ Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation. “So what can do? That’s why we’re here, right?”