It’s about to heat up in San Diego County, with hot temperatures expected to linger for a bit.
The National Weather Service said a slight cooldown is anticipated for Monday, though short-lived as a warming trend sets in for the week of the Fourth of July holiday. The heat will be most felt away from the coast as high pressure moves into the region.
Bottled water extracted from the air using sunlight as a power source will soon be available for purchase in US stores. The sustainable solution, dubbed SKY WTR, is a product of Source, a Scottsdale, Arizona, based company.
Bottled water is a US$350 billion industry that relies on harvesting water from under the ground. Estimates suggest that in the past three decades, 2,150 gigatons of groundwater have been pumped out from Earth.
Two members of Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to review how vulnerable the Bureau of Reclamation is to water theft following a Los Angeles Times report on an audacious and long-running heist from a federal canal in the Central Valley.
The facts related in the story “raise serious concerns about how widespread water theft is and what Reclamation can do to prevent water theft in the future,” Reps. Jarred Huffman (D-San Rafael) and Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) wrote in their letter requesting the review.
Days before the final deadline, California lawmakers have settled on language for a $10 billion climate bond that will be presented to voters for approval in November.
The primary focus of the bond is “to respond to challenges wrought by climate change by investing in natural and built infrastructure,” according to an overview of the bond. It also includes some funding for programs cut from the state’s budget. At least 40% of the bond must help vulnerable and disadvantaged communities with a median household income of less than 80% of the area average or less than 80% of statewide median household income.
Southern California relies on most of its water coming from a long way away. Here’s a look at several of the aqueducts that keep our taps flowing year-round. California receives 75% of its rain and snow in the watersheds north of Sacramento. However, 80% of water demand comes from the southern two-thirds of the state.
About 25% of the water used in Southern California comes from the Colorado River. Another 30% originates in the northern Sierra. The remaining 45% comes from a mix of what are considered local supplies, which include Los Angeles’ Eastern Sierra deliveries as well as recycling, desalination and groundwater supplies.
After hours of debate, San Diego’s water importer (because the region has to buy most of its water from outside the county) decided to raise rates just a smidgen – and put off the doom-iest part of its proposed water price spike until next month.
Why? Well, a lot of local water district representatives (there are 33) weren’t comfortable with how the city of San Diego (the region’s biggest and most powerful water buyer) wanted to try and stave off bigger rate increases. And the city, which has the power to ram through anything it wants, hit the pause button instead.
In times of crises, water utilities stand together to support public safety and reliable service. This was the case recently when the City of Calgary’s water infrastructure suffered a critical blow. On June 5, the City of Calgary issued a notice to the public about a 78-inch feeder main break after reports of massive streams of water spewing out of the ground. The city quickly enacted water restrictions to conserve water. Further evaluation showed that the break was more complex than initially thought, prompting a state of local emergency.
Local water bills might not be going up quite as sharply next year as expected.
The County Water Authority’s board tentatively shrank a proposed rate hike for wholesale water from 18 percent to 14 percent on Thursday — despite concerns the move could hurt the water authority’s credit rating. An increase in wholesale rates will force nearly every local water agency to pass on the extra costs to its customers, but just how much gets passed on could vary widely.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors on Thursday approved an
increase of approximately 4% in wholesale rates for 2025. But that might not be all. The panel plans to assess the need for additional increases after a public hearing in July, according to an agency news release. The approved increase was designed to cover pass-through costs from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that start accruing on July 1.
After hours of debate, San Diego’s water importer (because the region has to buy most of its water from outside the county) decided to raise rates just a smidgen – and put off the doom-iest part of its proposed water price spike until next month.
Why? Well, a lot of local water district representatives (there are 33) weren’t comfortable with how the city of San Diego (the region’s biggest and most powerful water buyer) wanted to try and stave off bigger rate increases. And the city, which has the power to ram through anything it wants, hit the pause button instead.
