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How Did California’s Rainfall Season Measure Up? Good, But Not Great

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Paul Duginski

Sunday is the end of the 2018-19 rainfall season in California, and you may have heard that the season’s precipitation totals were extraordinary. The figures show that the season was good — above normal — but not in the top 20% of wettest seasons. With the exception of a brief, early-June heat wave, Southern California has been relatively cool and moist with a thick marine layer through most of the month. The heat wave was more pronounced in Northern California, where the Bay Area experienced record heat, and those records will lift the state to warmer-than-average status for June 2019.

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Surf, Jousting And Rock ‘N’ Roll: Switchfoot’s Bro-Am Festival Celebrates 15 Years

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

Success has hardly gone to the heads of the San Diego rock band Switchfoot, as they showed Saturday at their 15th annual Bro-Am surf and music festival at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. The musicians mingled with youngsters flown in from across the country by the nonprofit Challenged Athletes Foundation, and with guests and lifelong friends, including professional surfer Rob Machado, a co-sponsor of the event. “It’s the best day of the year,” said Chad Butler, the band’s drummer. “We grew up here. Music and surfing kept us out of trouble. We wanted to give something back to the community that we love.”

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Judge Halts Pure Approved Water Construction Contracts

/in , , /by /KUSI News (San Diego)

In a recent ruling, Superior Court Judge John S. Meyer awarded an injunction against the City of San Diego after the City Council, last year, voted to exclude non-union contractors from bidding on the Pure Water project.  In his ruling, Judge John S. Meyer, rightfully stated that the City’s action “is puzzling because it appears to be an attempt to amend or repeal SDMC 11.4401 (Prop A), et seq., which is precluded under the Ordinance. ‘This Ordinance shall not be amended or repealed except by a majority vote of the voters of the City of San Diego.”

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OPINION: California Needs Clean Water

/in , , /by /Bloomberg

In 2012, former California governor Jerry Brown signed into law the Human Right to Water Act, recognizing that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water.” At least 1 million Californians are still waiting to exercise that right, according to Brown’s successor, Governor Gavin Newsom, who has called the state’s water crisis a “moral disgrace and a medical emergency.”

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Lower Colorado River Basin Can Still Expect Shortage Next Year

/in , , /by /KJZZby Bret Jaspers

The Lower Colorado River Basin does not avoid a shortage in 2020 despite the plentiful snowpack on the Rocky Mountains this past winter. Why? Well, the new Drought Contingency Plan defines different “tiers” of shortage. The Lower Basin will not drop into a Tier One shortage next year because Lake Mead will almost certainly remain above 1,075 feet in elevation.  At the same time, Mead will likely remain under 1,090 feet. That triggers a Tier Zero shortage.

 

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San Diego Tops Clean Beach Honor Roll

/in , , /by /Fox 5 San Diego by Mathew Meyer and Aric Richards

Some San Diego beaches are among the cleanest in the state, according to a water quality report card by a Southern California environmental group. Each year, Heal the Bay releases its Honor Roll and notorious “Beach Bummers” list ranking the bacteria levels found in water at beaches throughout the state. San Diego County had the most beaches on the honor roll with 12 this year — more than Orange County’s 10 and Los Angeles’ two.

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Search Begins For The Next General Manager Of The County Water Authority

/in , , /by /San Diego Metro Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority has hired the executive search firm William Avery & Associates to manage the recruitment and selection of the agency’s next general manager. The Los Gatos-based Avery & Associates has decades of experience recruiting candidates for public and private sector positions. After a competitive selection process, a work group of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors chose the firm to fill the position vacated in March by the retirement of longtime Water Authority General Manager Maureen Stapleton.

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Special Districts Recognized For Use Of Tech In Innovation

/in , , /by /Techwireby Janet Grenslitt

AT&T and Government Technology, Techwire’s sister publication, have launched a regional awards program for special districts, with three categories to recognize IT innovation and leadership. An evaluation committee reviewed nominations in the three categories, and California districts placed well in the West region. Nominations were submitted by the public and private sectors,  and three categories were available

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Fire-Ravaged Paradise Water Agency Faces State Ultimatum: Fix Your Cracked Dam Spillway

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Tony Bizjak and Dale Kasler

Just months after California’s deadliest wildfire laid waste to the town of Paradise, hillside residents face yet another costly and potentially dangerous problem. State safety officials have downgraded the Magalia Dam on the hill above town to “poor” condition, and have ordered the dam’s owner to make interim repairs by November on the cracked spillway. It’s the latest in problem for the Paradise Irrigation District, which lost most of its revenue base in the Camp Fire and is still struggling to deliver potable water to its remaining customers. The fire tainted the district’s water supply with the chemical compound benzene, forcing almost all of the few thousand people who’ve returned to Paradise to drink bottled water.

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Morning Report: Pure Water Up In The Air Amid Labor Dispute

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diego

A project that is supposed to eventually provide a third of the city’s drinking water is now held up in court because of a dispute between anti-union contractors and a union-friendly city government.The city was about to open bids from contractors who want to work on the Pure Water project, which will take sewage and make it drinkable.

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