Voters in division five of the Sweetwater Authority had a mystery to solve last week: Who’s running to represent them at the water agency?
Sweetwater Authority supplies drinking water to roughly 200,000 people in southwestern San Diego County. Division five encompasses Bonita, the Sweetwater Valley and parts of northern Chula Vista.
Sectors that underpin modern society face rising cyber threats. Water, electricity and satellites — which support everything from GPS navigation to credit card processing — are at increasing risk. Legacy infrastructure and increased connectivity challenge water and the power grid, while the space sector struggles with safeguarding in-orbit satellites that were designed before modern cyber concerns. But many different players are offering advice and resources and working to develop tools and strategies for a more cyber-safe landscape.
When the water sector runs as it should, wastewater is properly treated to avoid spread of disease; drinking water is safe for residents; and water is available for needs like firefighting, hospitals, and heating and cooling processes, per the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Among the many questions on your California ballot this November is whether to approve a $10 billion state bond to invest in climate adaptation. Proposition 4 is one of the largest bonds on the ballot in the country this year.
The money in the bond will be used to make communities more resilient against climate change.
San Diego County voters have a lot on their ballots this year — and many of the races might be unfamiliar.
Along with the more publicized races, voters will also be choosing the people they want to lead a range of local elected bodies, including community planning groups, water districts, fire protection districts and more.
Living in Southern California, it may frequently cross your mind: when will the next big earthquake hit?
“We’re afraid of earthquakes because they’re sudden, we can’t predict them, you don’t see them coming,” seismologist Lucy Jones told Eyewitness News.
Atmospheric rivers are forecast to “drench the West Coast” this winter, according to a recent meteorological report.
Last winter, the West Coast faced a slew of atmospheric rivers that caused devastating floods and landslides. The storms also brought a deluge of rain that supplemented California lakes and rivers, helping to eliminate the state’s drought. Meteorologists are again predicting a wet winter for the West Coast, according to an AccuWeather report published Monday, and meteorologists are warning of a “big change” expected in the Golden State by midseason.
The total value of San Diego County’s agricultural products dropped nearly $120 million from 2022, according to the 2023 annual Crop Report released Friday.
The losses largely are attributable to last winter’s storms, flooding and mudslides, analysts said. The largest of those storms, in January led a rainy winter that overall caused an estimated $90 million in damages.
It was 111 degrees when Mark McBroom stepped from his air-conditioned pickup and onto a dry alfalfa field. Remnants of desiccated hay crunched underfoot, and the sun-baked soil was fragmented with deep cracks.
McBroom and other Imperial Valley farmers agreed to leave many hay fields unwatered for seven weeks this year in exchange for cash payments from a federally funded program designed to alleviate the water shortage on the Colorado River.
After an Orange County resident flushes her toilet, the water flows through the Southern California community’s sewer system, meanders its way to the sanitation plant, has its solids removed, is piped to a wastewater recycling facility next door and undergoes three different purification processes until it is clean enough to drink.
“It tastes like water,” said Mehul Patel, executive director of operations for the Orange County Water District’s project, after taking a gulp from a clear plastic cup at the sampling station, as he stood outside the final purification process facility on a warm afternoon earlier this month.
A cyberattack continues to affect the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the United States, renewing a focus on the importance of protecting critical infrastructure sites.
New Jersey-based American Water paused billing to customers as it announced the cyberattack on Monday. It said it became aware of the unauthorized activity on Thursday and immediately took protective steps, including shutting down certain systems. Water services have been unaffected as protections remained in place Wednesday.
