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March Blossomed Across San Diego County

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

Forget March madness. For nature lovers and hikers on the thousands of miles of trails in San Diego County, there was March gladness. Wildflowers flourished. Poppies populated the green hillsides, and lilacs and lupines scented the air. Butterflies flitted in swarms from Carlsbad, to Escondido to Borrego Springs. The bugs will be back later this spring, although some may not be as dainty and welcome as the painted lady butterflies that still have plenty of nectar to feast on. “This is an incredible year – absolutely,” said Richard Miller, the chapter director of the San Diego Sierra Club. “This year we’re seeing flowers we have rarely seen before – like 10 years or more.”

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California’s Monster Snow Year … ‘It’s Been A Wild Ride’

/in , /by /KQED by Craig Miller

It’s been a big year for snow in the Sierra Nevada range. This is the time of year—April 1—when the snowpack is typically at its peak and on Tuesday, when surveyors do their monthly manual survey, they’re likely to find a snowpack at about 160 percent of the average. Mammoth Mountain, which soars to 11,000 feet in the central Sierra, has had 50 feet of snow pile onto its sweeping inclines. The nearby Mammoth ski resort tweeted that it had broken its snowfall record for February—and it was only two weeks into the month.

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Here’s How Much The Pure Water Project Could Raise Your Water Bill

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard Quoted:

San Diego water customers will soon pay $6 to $13 more a month to fund the first part of the city’s new recycled water project, according to a newly released estimate. The city is working on a multibillion-dollar plan to purify enough sewage to provide a third of the city’s drinking water by 2035. Most of Southern California’s water now comes from either the rivers of Northern California or the Colorado River, which are not only hundreds of miles away but prone to drought. The city’s wastewater recycling project, known as Pure Water, is meant to provide more reliable water. Of course, that will come at a cost.

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Oroville Dam Spillway To Be Used Tuesday. The State Says It’s Ready

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

Oroville Dam’s massive flood-control spillway will be deployed Tuesday for the first time since it was rebuilt for $1.1 billion after a near-catastrophe forced the evacuation of 188,000 people in 2017. In a brief statement Sunday, the California Department of Water Resources’ deputy director Joel Ledesma said the agency has “restored full functionality to the Oroville main spillway and is operating the reservoir to ensure public safety of those downstream. The Oroville main spillway was designed and constructed using 21st century engineering practices and under the oversight and guidance from state and federal regulators and independent experts.”

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Legislators Cut Funds For Colorado Water, Drought Plans

/in , /by /The Gazette (Colorado Springs)by Jerd Smith

Colorado lawmakers, citing lower revenue forecasts and competing needs, have dramatically reduced proposed funding for the Colorado Water Plan and Colorado River drought work, providing roughly one-third of what Gov. Jared Polis had requested in his budget for this year.

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OPINION: Valley Voice: Why This Drought Contingency Plan Is No Friend To The Salton Sea

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Norma Sierra Galindo

The March 26 opinion piece by Tom Buschatzke and 13 other Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan proponents to persuade the public that the DCP is good for the Salton Sea would have been better served – and made more believable – by a show of good faith rather than a show of force. People who know the Salton Sea as an actual place, rather than a place on a map, can tell the difference. That Buschatzke and his fellow river contractors would be defiantly for a plan that turns the Salton Sea into its first casualty is sad but unsurprising. For them, the Salton Sea was the final impediment on the road to the DCP, not the finish line.

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Cal City OKs Groundwater Plan

/in , /by /The Antelope Valley Press (Palmdale, Calif.)by Allison Gatlin

The City Council ap­proved a regional plan for managing the area’s ground­water resources, which brings a measure of local control and to qualify for state funds for water-re­lated projects. The Fremont Basin In­te­grated Regional Water Plan has been in the works for at least four years, fill­ing in a hole in water plans in the area, as the sur­rounding groundwater basins already have plans in place.California City is one of three pri­mary stake­hold­ers in the document, with the An­telope Val­ley-East Kern Water Agency and the Mojave Public Utility District.

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OPINION: Why Taxing Water Is Wrong

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Arant Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

This year presents an ideal opportunity to solve a critical public health issue that our state must address, and one we cannot afford to miss. While most California residents have access to safe drinking water, there are some people living in disadvantaged communities do not. This is primarily because the water systems within these communities are unable to adequately fund the operation and maintenance of treatment facilities capable of providing water in compliance with state and federal standards. Everyone agrees with the urgent need to provide families in these communities access to safe drinking water and is supportive of Gov. Gavin Newsom making it a top priority for the state.

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California Governor’s Plan To Create New Drinking Water Tax Faces Resistance

/in , , /by /CNBC (Los Angeles)by Jeff Daniels

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, wants to create a tax on water customers to fund a safe drinking water program in disadvantaged communities. But a rival proposal by a lawmaker from his own party seeks to tap into the state’s record budget surplus instead. One million Californians live without clean water for drinking or bathing, according to Newsom. He recently called attention to hundreds of water systems in the state that are out of compliance with primary drinking water quality standards because of contamination by lead, arsenic or uranium.

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OPINION: Why California Needs Water Tax

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phoebe Seaton

California is the only state in the nation that has codified the human right to water. Along with the innovation that streams out of the Silicon Valley, the food that feeds the world that grows in the Central Valley, the creativity that flows from Los Angeles and the beauty that pours out of San Diego, Californians should be proud that we recognize the human right to water. Our pride, though, is diminished by the more than 1 million Californians who do not have access to safe, affordable drinking water in their homes and in their schools.

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