You are now in Home Headline Media Coverage San Diego County category.

OPINION: Saving The Salton Sea Isn’t Just California’s Problem, Says Sen. Dianne Feinstein

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

I agree with the March 29 editorial that projects to cover the shrinking Salton Sea’s exposed shoreline are desperately needed to prevent an environmental and public health crisis.In the recent farm bill, I secured provisions that made the Salton Sea eligible for Department of Agriculture conservation funding for the first time. We’re now working with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to make additional funds available as quickly as possible to support conservation efforts at the Salton Sea. Addressing the Salton Sea’s shoreline problems is only one step needed to improve environmental conditions for Imperial County residents.

Full Story

Reservoirs Release More Water In Anticipation Of Snowpack

/in , /by /Calaveras Enterprise, (Calaveras, Calif.)by Davis Harper

Local reservoir managers are proactively releasing water at higher rates than usual in anticipation of increased inflows from heavy winter rains and snowstorms. The Central Sierra five station index has recorded 43 inches of rain since Oct. 1, the beginning of the water year – 129 percent of normal levels for April 1. The snowpack for the San Joaquin hydrologic region, which encompasses the northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley bordered by the Sierra Nevada on the east and coastal mountains of the Diablo Range on the west, is at 165 percent of its average with about 48 inches in snow water equivalent for this time of year, based on California Department of Water Resources data.

Full Story

Assemblyman Todd Gloria Holds “Inaugural Dialogue” With Mexican Officials On Tijuana Water Pollution

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

Officials met in Imperial Beach Friday to discuss the sewage pollution that continues to plague South Bay shorelines — shuttering beaches more than 100 days every year. The event was billed as an “inaugural dialogue,” which in the future will include a host of other binational issues, including climate change and commerce. Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) and others met on Friday with Baja California officials to discuss future collaboration on how to address Tijuana’s lack of wastewater infrastructure and the potential for California to help with funding. “It’s a statewide concern elevated at the highest levels of state government,” Gloria told a crowd of concerned residents and elected officials, largely from Imperial Beach and Coronado.

Full Story

New Recreational Amenities, Restored Marshland Proposed For Mission Bay Park’s Fiesta Island

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

San Diego officials are proposing a variety of upgrades to Mission Bay Park’s Fiesta Island including new parks, playgrounds, volleyball courts, marsh areas and habitat preserves. The proposed master plan for the mostly undeveloped 470-acre island is envisioned as a balance between improving the island and retaining its rural ambiance, city officials said. While it would include some significant changes, city officials stress that the plan is less intense than some previous proposals for the island, which has occupied much of eastern Mission Bay since it was created by dredging in the 1940s.

Full Story

Councilmember Corner

/in , /by / Coronado Eagle and Journal (Coronado, Calif.)by Bill Sandke Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

On March 26 I was privileged to represent Coronado at the 2019 San Diego Climate Summit. It was held at the Robert Paine Forum at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and was billed as a regional dialogue about climate change on the San Diego Region. Built on the foundation of the State of California’s Fourth Assessment recently released there is some sobering news for Coronado regarding sea level rise and more generally, predicted climate variations that look certain to need addressing as we move forward with land use, water and other policy discussions.

Full Story

Oroville Residents Submit Petition To ‘Hold DWR Accountable’ To Federal Agency

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise Record (Chico, Calif.)by Risa Johnson

A petition to “hold the DWR accountable” was hand-delivered this week by Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C. The Feather River Recovery Alliance is the name of the nonprofit run by local volunteers who organized the petition. It evolved from the local advocacy group Oroville Strong which was affiliated with the Oroville Chamber of Commerce. Specifically, the Feather River Recovery Alliance is asking FERC to not reissue a license to the state Department of Water Resources to operate the Oroville Dam until terms of the agreement are renegotiated, including a new recreation plan. The group says it received 6,469 local signatures on the petition.

Full Story

What Climate Models Get Wrong About Future Water Availability

/in , /by /Earth and Space Science News (Washington D.C.)by Emily Underwood

One of the most challenging questions about climate change is how Earth’s warming atmosphere will affect water availability across the globe. Climate models present a range of possible scenarios—some more extreme than others—which can make it difficult for cities, states, and countries to plan ahead. Now, however, in a new study, Padrón et al. suggest a way to reduce uncertainty using precipitation patterns from the past. A rule of thumb for global warming’s impact on Earth’s water availability that was sometimes proposed in the past was that dry regions will get drier and wet regions will get wetter, also known as the DDWW hypothesis. But mounting evidence suggests the reality is more complicated.

Full Story

Escondido Moves Forward With New Recycled Water Plant Plans

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

The Escondido City Council has decided to move forward with building a recycled water treatment plant off Washington Avenue, in the western part of the city in an industrial area where, unlike two other locations, there aren’t any residents nearby to complain. The council on Wednesday unanimously approved spending $3 million for initial engineering, design and pre-construction costs. Director of Utilities Chris McKinney said the expenditure signals the council’s acceptance of the location at 901 W. Washington Avenue near Interstate 15. The plant, which now has an estimated cost of $47 million, is needed to further treat already treated recycled water in order to desalinate it to a point where it can be used to irrigate avocado groves and other crops in the eastern and northern parts of the city.

Full Story

Zapping Lead Pipes With Electricity Could Make Them Safer For Drinking Water

/in , /by /Scientific Americanby Angus Chen

The toxic effects of lead—developmental delays, organ damage, even death—are well-known. But millions of Americans still rely on lead pipes to deliver drinking water. In an attempt to make them safer, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are working on a new technology that uses electrical current to rapidly build a protective layer on the insides of the pipes. In early tests they reduced the amount of the toxic metal entering water, but other scientists are skeptical of the method’s potential as a long-term solution.

Full Story

Water Authority Seeks Statewide Solution To Drinking Water Woes

/in , , /by /Water News Network

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors on March 28 threw its support behind a coordinated statewide approach to ensure that all communities in California have daily access to safe, reliable drinking water. The California State Water Resources Control Board has identified 329 water systems statewide that serve contaminated drinking water or cannot provide reliable water service due to unsound infrastructure or lack of resources. Most of the systems are in rural areas and serve fewer than 10,000 people.

Full Story