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California Taps Clean Air Money To Pay For Drinking Water

/in , , /by /AP News

California legislative leaders agreed Sunday to spend $130 million a year to improve water systems in communities where people can’t drink from their taps, something Democratic leaders say amounts to a crisis in one of the nation’s wealthiest states. To pay for it, the state would tap a fund dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a move that alarmed some environmental activists who say its set up an unfair choice between clean air and water. “What kind of choice is that?” said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California. “People shouldn’t have to choose between clean water and clean air.”

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As Water Scarcity Increases, Desalination Plants Are On The Rise

/in , , /by /Yale Environment 360by Jim Robbins

Some 30 miles north of San Diego, along the Pacific Coast, sits the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, the largest effort to turn salt water into fresh water in North America. Each day 100 million gallons of seawater are pushed through semi-permeable membranes to create 50 million gallons of water that is piped to municipal users. Carlsbad, which became fully operational in 2015, creates about 10 percent of the fresh water the 3.1 million people in the region use, at about twice the cost of the other main source of water.

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Temperatures Near 100 Expected Inland As San Diego Heats Up Tuesday

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Lauren J. Mapp

Southern California’s weather is expected to continue heating up on Tuesday, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees in San Diego’s inland valleys, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service‘s local office. On Tuesday morning, “patchy dense fog could make travel hazardous” along the coast, according to the weather service. Then temperatures will begin to heat up. “The heat will be on again today as high pressure aloft peaks in strength over the southwest states,” the weather service said.

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Hispanic Chamber Of Commerce Has A Successful Business Expo

/in , , /by /The Daily Times-Advocate (Escondido)

The 4th Annual North County Business Expo at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido Conference Center was a great success! Presented by the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, this Expo brings together business professionals from all of North County. We invited our local Chambers and their members to participate. The Fallbrook Chamber, San Marcos Chamber, Escondido Chamber and the Veterans Chamber all had vendor tables along with 40 plus other businesses and organizations..

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Gov. Gavin Newsom Abandons Water Tax, Rejects Some New Spending In California Budget Deal

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby John Myers

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders announced Sunday the broad outlines of a new state budget, one that provides a boost for California’s low-income adults and children but excludes a controversial tax to pay for clean water in distressed communities. The details of key parts of the agreement were unveiled during a late afternoon hearing in which legislators from both houses met to approve the proposal. Though it does not signal the end of the budget process — legislators cited numerous places where the plan includes placeholder language, thus leaving the details to be determined later — the action brought to an end principal budget negotiations at the state Capitol, the first for Newsom since taking office this year.

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On Stressed Colorado River, States Test How Many More Diversions Watershed Can Bear

/in , , /by /KUNC (Greeley, Colo.)by Luke Runyon

The Colorado River is short on water. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at a slate of proposed water projects in the river’s Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The river and its tributaries provide water for 40 million people in the Southwest. For about the last 20 years, demand for water has outstripped the supply, causing its largest reservoirs to decline.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom’s First California Budget Deal Is Near. Here’s What To Watch For

/in , , /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Ben Adler

The first California budget deal under Gov. Gavin Newsom is just days away. Newsom and legislative leaders must finalize their spending plan for the coming fiscal year this weekend for lawmakers to meet their June 15 constitutional budget deadline. Democrats had hoped to close out the joint Senate-Assembly budget conference committee by Friday — likely with a late night hearing — in hopes of a budget passing the full Legislature next Thursday, two days ahead of next Saturday’s deadline. But it now appears that talks between Newsom, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) and Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) aren’t gelling as fast as hoped.

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CWA Authorizes Water Audit Contract With Mission RCD

/in , , /by /Village Newsby Joe Naiman Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority authorized a contract with the Mission Resource Conservation District to administer the SDCWA’s WaterSmart Field Services Program. The May 23 CWA board action authorized CWA acting general manager Sandra Kerl to enter into a three-year contract with the Mission RCD which will pay $260,000 for administration of the WaterSmart Field Services Program through June 30, 2022. The authorization also includes an option for a two-year extension which can be ratified administratively rather than by CWA board approval. The WaterSmart Field Services Program includes residential surveys, landscape audits, irrigation checkups and follow-up irrigation controller visits.

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San Diego County Water Authority Marks 75 Years Of Service That Shaped The Region

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribune Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

No roadside marker notes its historic significance, but a rural hilltop just off state Route 76 near Fallbrook is where the story of modern San Diego County begins. A few feet underground is a gravity-flow pipeline delivering water from the Colorado River through Lake Skinner in Riverside County, then to San Vicente Reservoir near Lakeside. South of the hilltop connection is where the San Diego County Water Authority takes ownership of the region’s historic Pipeline 1, along with four other major concrete and steel veins that send water coursing to cities and water agencies throughout the San Diego region.

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Column: Officials Respond To Concerns About Grebe Nests

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Ernie Cowan Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Concerns by conservation and wildlife groups about the destruction of grebe nests at Lake Hodges because of fluctuating water levels has caught the attention of water managers and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The issue was raised last week in a letter to the city of San Diego, owner of the water storage reservoir just south of Escondido. Recent changes in water levels at the reservoir have resulted in as many as 300 grebe eggs being destroyed because adult birds could not reach the nests after water levels suddenly dropped. Brian Caldwell lives adjacent to Lake Hodges and operates Lake Hodges Photo Tours. He was one of the first to sound the alarm about nests being destroyed.

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