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Water and Southern California: Past, Present, and Future

/in , /by /PBS Newsby Jeffrey Kightlinger

The history of Southern California has always been inextricably intertwined with the story of its water supply. Southern California has a dry, Mediterranean climate with limited rainfall. While Southern California is more temperate than the hotter desert climes of Las Vegas and Phoenix, its relatively dry climate cannot sustain a large urban population base.

In the late 1800s as Los Angeles and the surrounding region began to grow, the population relied primarily on the limited rainfall which fed the intermittent flows of the Los Angeles River and replenished the local groundwater basins. By the late 1890s, the discovery of oil reserves in Southern California led to an economic boom and a growing population. It became clear to everyone that Southern California would need to supplement its local water supplies if growth were to continue.

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Western U.S. Cities Are Opening Their Wallets in the Quest for Water

/in , /by /Circle of Blueby Brett Walton

Little more than two months ago, on an unusually rainy November evening, the Queen Creek Town Council staked claim to the city’s future.

Queen Creek, located in central Arizona southeast of Phoenix, was founded in 1989 but is already home to some 88,000 people. In a unanimous vote, the council approved a $244 million deal to acquire 12,000 acre-feet of water annually for the next century from the Harquahala groundwater basin, some 90 miles away. (An acre-foot is enough water for about three households per year.)

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Bay-Delta Plan Heads Toward Fall Adoption With Limited Changes

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Chaewon Chung

A long-awaited Bay-Delta Plan is on track to be ready for adoption this year, with possible refinements still under review — but with no signs of major changes to the proposal as released in December.

Eric Oppenheimer, executive director of the State Water Board, on Friday told The Sacramento Bee that the board’s staff is reviewing thousands of public comments, evaluating whether any updates to the proposed plan and supporting environmental analysis are needed before bringing it to the board for a final decision.

 

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New Report Reveals Alarming Reason Why the Western US Is Running Out of Water: ‘It Is a Stupid System’

/in , /by /The Cool Downby Noah Jampol

Much of the discourse on how to handle the Colorado River’s viability as the West’s biggest water source is focused on water conservation measures. In reality, those sorts of interventions might be missing the forest for the trees.

Vox’s Kenny Torrella reported on the Colorado River Compact’s struggles to reach a deal for the next two decades. The seven states in the compact — California, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming — missed a Feb. 14 deadline to seal a new agreement amid a snow drought that is adding even more tension.

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California’s Top Environmental Official Explains the Conundrum Over the Colorado River

/in , /by /KCRAby Ashley Zavala

The seven Western states that rely on the Colorado River for water supply have yet to reach an agreement on how to share the shrinking resource.

States failed the meet a deadline earlier this month to establish a plan to confront what experts have said is the result of climate change.

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Why San Diego’s Water Rates Keep Going Up

/in , /by /ABC 10by Olivia Gonzalez-Britt Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water is a necessity, and one that’s costing San Diegans more over time. You may have already noticed it on your water bill. Rates went up 14.7% this year.

But it’s not going to stop there; another 14.5% increase is scheduled next year, 11.5% in 2028 and 11% in 2029, which adds up to a 62% hike over four years.

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WaterSmart Makeover: A Plant Playground in Vista

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Caron Golden Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

If there’s anyone bound to win a garden contest, it would certainly be Janet Chambers. Chambers is the 2025 Vista Irrigation District winner of the WaterSmart Landscape Contest for the design of her front yard. Now retired from her work as an office manager for a small printing broker, she has previously been a garden center manager in Oregon, worked for a landscaper, is a former master gardener and had her own landscape management business in the Bay Area. And, she has an associate degree in horticulture from junior college. But, mostly, she says, these days “I like to just play.”

Chambers and her husband Marc, a retired electrical inspector for the city of San Diego, bought their 1980s home in 2014. Back then, the 30-by-50-foot front yard space was pretty much a thick green lawn with a mature liquidambar tree. The original cement walkway from the garage and driveway leading to the small patio in front of the front door remains. In the squarish garden bed by the house that was created by an angled walkway, there was a seedling fan palm tree — since removed — along with still-intact rose bushes and a hibiscus, along with a collection of smaller flowering plants.

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Big Storms Boost California Water Supply, but Snowpack Lags

/in , /by /KQEDby Emily Zentner

Ever since California was pummeled by a series of storms in fall and early winter, experts have said the state’s water supply is looking strong for this year.

Those storms — with a potential bump from the ones hitting much of the state this week — have helped refill reservoirs and eased immediate drought worries in many parts of the state.

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California’s Governor Offers Support Utah’s Desalination-for-Colorado River Water Idea

/in , /by /Fox 13 Salt Lake Cityby Ben Winslow

A letter from California Governor Gavin Newsom to his fellow governors in states along the Colorado River is offering support for a multi-state solution to managing the water supply for 40 million people.

A letter from California Governor Gavin Newsom to his fellow governors in states along the Colorado River is offering support for a multi-state solution to managing the water supply for 40 million people.

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San Diego’s Colorado River Water Should Be Secure Despite Dispute, Says Official

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Michael Smolens Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The ongoing anxiety throughout the West over the Colorado River water supply ratcheted up once again as negotiators last week blew through a second deadline in three months to reach agreement on how to divvy up the ever-diminishing flow.

The distance and tensions between the upper and lower river basin states, the latter of which includes California, seem as great as ever. Sounds bad.

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