You are now in California and the U.S. Media Coverage category.

‘Farming the Sun:’ As Water Goes Scarce, Can Solar Farms Prop Up The Valley?

On the Changala family farm in Tulare County, the past and future are separated by a dirt road and a barbed-wire fence.

On the south side sits a wheat field. On the north, a solar farm, built three years ago, sending electricity to thousands of Southern Californians. Alan Changala sees little difference between the two.

MWD Extends Lake Skinner Lease

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California owns land around Lake Skinner which is leased to the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District. The lease arrangement allows recreational activity on the land with the county park district having responsibility for operations and maintenance. The lease agreement was to have expired in 2030, but a Sept. 10 MWD board vote extended that lease through 2049.

San Diego’s Landmark Water Recycling Program Halted by Dispute Over Union Workers

San Diego’s $4 billion plan to boost the city’s water independence is facing delays and cost increases thanks to a legal dispute over the use of unionized construction workers.

A judge issued an injunction in June that halted the project, a recycling system called “Pure Water” that would purify treated sewage into drinking water and supply one-third of the city’s water supply by 2035.

MWD Approves Conjunctive Use Project Subsidy

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has a subsidy program for projects which produce local supply and the projects MWD will fund now include the Santa Margarita River Conjunctive Use Project.

MWD’s board vote Sept. 10 approved the agreement with the San Diego County Water Authority and the Fallbrook Public Utility District. FPUD is expected to receive $23,637,500 in incentive payments over a 25-year period.

Major Water Pipe Running from Temecula to Chula Vista Shut Off to Fix Crack

Several engineers will spend the next few weeks 20 feet underground fixing a crack in a large water pipeline that spans almost the entire length of San Diego County.

The San Diego County Water Authority discovered a leak earlier this month in a portion of its 90-inch Pipeline 4, which has carried water since 1966 from the Skinner Water Treatment Plant near Temecula down to the Otay Reservoir near Chula Vista.

“We have very old, aging infrastructure so we’re always keeping tabs on things to make sure we can stay ahead of any failures or issues with our pipe,” said SDCWA Principal Engineer Brent Fountain.

Often Short of Water, California’s Southern Central Coast Builds Toward a Drought-Proof Supply

The southern part of California’s Central Coast from San Luis Obispo County to Ventura County, home to about 1.5 million people, is blessed with a pleasing Mediterranean climate and a picturesque terrain. Yet while its unique geography abounds in beauty, the area perpetually struggles with drought.

Indeed, while the rest of California breathed a sigh of relief with the return of wet weather after the severe drought of 2012–2016, places such as Santa Barbara still grappled with dry conditions.

San Diego County Now Offering Discounted Rain ‘Harvesting’ Barrels

The rainy season is coming, but you still have time to get a discounted rain barrel to “harvest” the upcoming rains, cut your watering costs and protect local beaches by reducing pollution. Through Oct. 13, County residents can get a discounted, top-of-the-line, $90 Ivy rain barrel — a cost that could shrink to as little as $25 — by ordering one online, thanks to San Diego County’s Watershed Protection Program and the nonprofit Solana Center.

The First Rain of the Season Arrives in LA. But Don’t Get Excited – It’s Just a Drizzle

Dust off your windshield wipers, L.A. The first rain of the season dripped from the skies Thursday morning, sprinkling morning commuters.

Extreme fire warnings across California have officially expired, thanks to a slight chance of light rain through Saturday, with low clouds and much cooler temperatures than in the last few days, said Tom Fisher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

Black & Veatch to create digital twin for Anglian Water

The utility’s ‘future water company, today’ initiative uses the Newmarket region of its operating area as a proving ground for innovations promising the greatest benefits.

As part of this, Black & Veatch is creating a digital representation of the region’s water treatment and distribution infrastructure and embedding Hybrid Adaptive Real-time Virtual Intelligence (HARVI) – an artificial intelligence (AI) provided by its strategic partner EMAGIN – into the digital twin.

This enables predictive capabilities and intuitive decision support and intervention.

EPA to California: You’re Also ‘Failing’ to Meet Water Pollution Standards

The Trump administration warned California officials Thursday that the state is “failing” to meet federal water quality standards, the latest move in the president’s escalating political feud with the state’s liberal leaders.

In a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler threatened possible enforcement action if the state did not improve the way it deals with lead, arsenic and human waste in its water.