Dozens of California cities could be required to impose permanent water conservation measures starting in about a year — and keep them in place even when the state is not in a drought — under proposed new rules from state water regulators.
Clouds of thick white dust billowed through Death Valley National Park this week as crews maneuvered bulldozers and Big Cats to clear the remnants of a rare and record-breaking tropical storm.
On Aug. 20, Tropical Storm Hilary tore through the park near the border of Nevada, dropping more than a year’s worth of rain — 2.2 inches — in one day, forever transforming one of the hottest and driest places on Earth.
For years, environmentalists have argued that the Colorado River should be allowed to flow freely across the Utah-Arizona border, saying that letting water pass around Glen Canyon Dam — and draining the giant Lake Powell reservoir — would improve the shrinking river’s health.
Now, as climate change increases the strains on the river, this controversial proposal is receiving support from some surprising new allies: influential farmers in California’s Imperial Valley.
San Diego County supervisors have formally weighed in on a contentious — and increasingly costly — plan by two rural water districts to break away from a regional authority they say is too expensive.
The county board voted 3-1 this week in favor of a recommendation from Supervisor Joel Anderson to support state legislation that would require approval by a majority of all voters within the regional water authority — rather than only those residents of a breakaway district.
“This process would allow water customers of all (San Diego County Water Authority) member agencies to decide what is best for our region’s water future and the potential implications of their own water bills,” the former state senator told his board colleagues.
While the letter from Anderson to his board colleagues did not specifically mention the Boerner bill, the implication was clear.
The East County supervisor said county water authority members should not be able to withdraw from a broader group of water districts through a ballot measure limited to their own constituents.
Leaving the regional authority would unfairly stick fellow districts and their ratepayers with long-term capital costs, he said.
Oshun O’Rourke waded into the dark green water, splashing toward a net that her colleagues gently closed around a cluster of finger-length fish.
The Klamath River is wide and still here, making its final turn north to the coast as it winds through the Yurok reservation in Humboldt County. About 150 baby chinook salmon, on their long journey to the Pacific, were resting in cool waters that poured down from the forest.
A month after the U.S. Supreme Court severely restricted the federal government’s power to oversee wetlands, the Republican-dominated North Carolina legislature handed state agencies an order: Don’t give the ecologically crucial waters any more protection than newly weakened federal rules provide.
This summer’s heat seems to be easing down as temperatures decline to the 70s and 80s , a reminder that seasons are changing and winter is coming. In June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association officially declared an El Niño, predicting that it will strengthen in the northern hemisphere this winter. But it’s too soon to know exactly what this winter will look like for California.
The county Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to support state legislation that would require a vote by all customers served by water districts within the San Diego County Water Authority before individual districts can leave the authority.
San Diego County Water Authority executives Tish Berge and Kelley Gage were promoted Monday by General Manager Dan Denham. Berge moves from assistant general manager to deputy general manager after two years in her prior post. Gage, who served as director of water resources the past five years, is now assistant general manager.
The San Diego county Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to support state legislation that would require a vote by all customers served by water districts within the County Water Authority before individual districts can leave the authority.
Proposed by Supervisor Joel Anderson in a board letter, the policy follows a July 10 decision from the San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission to allow the Rainbow Municipal Water District and Fallbrook Public Utility District to leave the water authority.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
