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San Diego Region Gets $500,000 For Water Technology Projects

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has awarded the San Diego region $500,000 for three water supply technology projects. The grant will fund projects by the San Diego County Water Authority, Padre Dam Municipal Water District and a collaboration by the City of San Diego and Olivenhain Municipal Water District to diversify water supplies. The three projects are: New seawater intake screens at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. The screens are designed to minimize the amount of fish larvae that enter the water treatment process. New treatment technology at the East County Advanced Water Treatment Project. Brackish water optimization in the San Dieguito River watershed.

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Our Current Drought Is Worse Than Most Megadroughts, New Study Says

/in , , /by /Arizona Daily Star (Tuscon)by Tony Davis

Tucson’s drinking water supply — carries nearly 20 percent less water than in 2000. Bark beetles are chomping away at our forests and killing off ponderosa pines. Wildfires are rapidly growing in intensity. These problems have been linked to a drought that has stretched 19 years with no respite. Now, a team of researchers concludes that the ongoing drought across the western U.S. rivals most past “megadroughts” dating as far back as 800 A.D. — and that this region is currently in a megadrought.

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Rivers In The Sky: What You Need To Know About Atmospheric River Storms

/in , /by /KQED (San Francisco)

The rainy season is well underway in California: Roughly 90 percent of the Golden State’s precipitation typically falls during the months of October through April. While drought has bedeviled the state in recent years, there’s evidence that the wet season is actually getting wetter. If you live on the West Coast, you may hear the term “atmospheric river” thrown around. These massive, fast-moving storm systems can transport more than 25 times the moisture as flows through the mouth of the Mississippi River.

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Winter Storm Batters Northern California, Highway 80 Shut Down At Donner Summit

/in , /by /CBS San Francisco

A winter storm front roared into Northern California Sunday, dumping more than 3 inches of rain in Marin County, triggering flooding along San Francisco’s Great Highway and blizzard conditions in the Sierra Nevada. The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory Sunday afternoon for southeastern Marin County. Forecasters said the storm had dumped 3.32 inches of rain in San Rafael by 4:30 p.m. while 3.86 inches fell in Kentfield. The NWS also posted a flood advisory for southeastern Sonoma County, advising motorists to not drive through flooded roadways.

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OPINION: State Should Use Science To Determine Delta Water Flows

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Jon Rosenfield

How low our expectations of government have sunk. Federal agencies now regularly deny science that explains the warming of our planet and rising seas. Back-room deals and obstruction of the public’s will have become so commonplace that we notice when one of our state government’s agencies takes action to protect the environment, even if it falls well short of the mark.

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Skies Clear After Weekend Storm Drenches San Diego County

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Lyndsay Winkley

Skies cleared Sunday after a Pacific storm drenched much of San Diego County over the weekend, making way for a drier, but still cool week, forecasters said. The latest system dropped more than an inch of rain at Palomar Mountain and Lake Cuyamaca, and nearly an inch at Lake Henshaw, according to Sunday rainfall totals. San Diego International Airport reported 0.9 of an inch of rain, pushing its seasonal total to 5.3 inches, almost two inches above average.

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Trump Asks Supreme Court To Resolve Groundwater Fight

/in , , /by /E&E News (Washington, D.C.)by Ellen M. Gilmer

The Trump administration is pushing the Supreme Court to review what could be the most consequential environmental case of the term: a broiling Clean Water Act debate. The Justice Department yesterday recommended the high court decide whether the landmark environmental law applies to pollution that travels through groundwater before reaching federally regulated water. Two recent circuit court decisions say yes, but critics think that approach vastly expands the statute.

 

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Statewide Snowpack At 67 Percent Of Average For This Time Of Year

/in , , /by /Mountain View Voice (Palo Alto)

Storms have come to California early this winter, but a survey of the Sierra snowpack on Thursday (Jan. 3) shows it is only at 67 percent of average statewide for this time of year, according to the state’s Department of Water Resources. The snowpack survey was the first of 2019 in California and included a manual survey at Phillips Station just off of U.S. Highway 50 near Sierra-at-Tahoe.

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OPINION: New leaders On Monterey Peninsula Must Finish The Job On Water Project

/in , /by /Monterey Heraldby Bill Kampe, Ralph Rubio and Jerry Edelen

In September of 2018, a busload of local citizens traveled to San Francisco to support approval of our local desalination plant by the California Public Utilities Commission. Included among the supporters were local elected officials, representatives of labor, environmental, housing and business organizations, and people from the community at large. The one thing all these people had in common was the understanding that an adequate and drought-proof water supply is a necessity for a thriving community.

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OPINION: Jerry Brown’s Four Biggest Incompletes

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

As Gov. Jerry Brown leaves office amid high praise and some criticism, it’s impossible to give him anything but a grade of incomplete on several major issues. The most prominent of these is criminal justice reform, where Brown has sought huge changes to the overly punitive system he helped create in his first stint as governor. His decision to sign the Uniform Determinate Sentencing Act in 1976 was a major early step in an excessive war on crime that peaked in 1994 when California voters passed the nation’s harshest “three strikes and you’re out” law.

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