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Don’t Believe Your Windshield Wipers: Despite Storms, Southern California Water Conservation Is Still Needed

/in , /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside)by Brian Rokos

As rain continues to pelt Southern California, signs of an abundance of or even too much water are everywhere: Roads are flooded, reservoirs are filling and the wait time for Radiator Springs Racers at the damp Disneyland Resort has been less than a half hour. But as residents of burn areas evacuate and even heavier rain is forecast for Thursday, those who watch the state and local water supplies note that while the drought is technically over, the need to conserve water is not.

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OPINION: Part-time Sweetwater Authority Board Members Don’t Deserve Costly Insurance Perk

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

Board members with local water agencies — often politicians or politically connected people — don’t always bring a lot of relevant expertise to the job. They generally meet no more than a few times a month, basically to bless staff recommendations. They do not have demanding positions. Against this backdrop, the recent 6-1 vote by members of the Sweetwater Authority board to give themselves access to heavily subsidized health insurance for their dependents is a pathetic and cynical act. The authority, which serves 190,000 people in National City, Bonita and parts of Chula Vista, approved significant rate hikes last year despite public criticism of compensation practices that provide authority workers with average salary and benefits of $176,000.

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OPINION: Newsom’s Picks For Environmental Protection And Water Chiefs Will Reveal His Priorities

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Richard M. Frank

One of the keys to former Gov. Jerry Brown’s success as California’s chief executive over the past eight years was the stellar group of individuals he recruited as his top environmental and water officials. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s initial, senior environmental appointments suggest that he is wisely following in Brown’s footsteps. Californians can only hope his water leadership team turns out to be equally strong. Newsom’s first two environmental appointments are his most important, and his choices are impressive indeed.

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El Nino, A No-Show So Far, Losing Steam

/in , /by /Capital Press (Salem, Oregon)by Don Jenkins

The weather has yet to be influenced this winter by a warmer Pacific Ocean and likely won’t be impacted in a major way, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports. Federal climatologists reduced the chances that an El Nino will form in January or February to 82 percent, down from 96 percent a month ago. If an El Nino does occur, it will be weak, according to NOAA. “Significant global impacts are not anticipated during the remainder of the winter, even if conditions were to form,” the agency stated, in its monthly outlook on sea-surface temperatures along the equator.

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San Diego Again Gets Drenched By Overnight Rains, And There’s More Coming Tonight

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

For the second time this week, drenching rains spread across San Diego County during the overnight hours. And it will happen again late this evening and early Thursday, says the National Weather Service. So far, the rainfall has been impressive, in a cumulative sense. Since early Monday, parts of San Diego have received more than two inches of rain, including Palomar Observatory, which got 2.87 inches, Henshaw Dam, which got 2.25 inches, and Julian, which got 2.16 inches. San Onofre received 1.63 inches.

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Long Beach Says Sea-Level Rise Will Bring Dire Flooding To Some Neighborhoods

/in , /by /Press-Telegram (Long Beach)by Martin Wisckol

Rising sea levels are not only going to increasingly flood parts of Long Beach, but could leave the most vulnerable neighborhoods uninhabitable within a generation or two, according to a city presentation Monday night that drew more 300 residents concerned about the city’s — and their own — future. “Residents can continue living on Naples and the Peninsula for several decades as long as you’re willing to experience occasional flooding,” said Jerry Schubel, a marine scientist and CEO of the Aquarium of the Pacific. “(But) over the next few decades, you need to think about moving.

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Sonoma Valley Water Users Can Get Smart About Water Use

/in , /by /Sonoma Index-Tribune by Christian Kallen

“Have you ever wondered how you can save money on your water bill?” So begins, in a perky female voice, the 1-minute video overview of the new WaterSmart online tool being offered by the Valley of the Moon Water District. It promises instant cell-phone alerts of high water use, upcoming bills, track leaks and costs, and recommendations on ways to reduce water use and achieve lower water bills. That’s the promise of the WaterSmart “customer water portal” now offered by VOMWD, characterized as “an online tool for customers to look at their water use information,” according to interim VOMWD general manager Matthew Fullner.

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New Escondido Council Poised To Rescind Siting Of Recycled Water Plant

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

The new majority on the Escondido City Council appears poised to rescind the former council’s 2017 decision to locate a $44 million recycled water plant in the middle of a residential area. “It’s the wrong location,” newly elected Mayor Paul “Mac” McNamara said Friday of the site in the center of the city at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Ash Street. ”I’m seriously considering moving it. It’s in the middle of a neighborhood. It’s not the right location. It never was. I totally get it. It might cost us a few more bucks, but in the long term, it’s better to have it where it needs to be.”

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Santa Clara Valley Water District Files Suit Challenging State Plan To Divert Water For Fish

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Emily DeRuy

In an attempt to block the state’s plan to divert more water toward the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and away from the Bay Area, the Santa Clara Valley Water District has filed a lawsuit arguing the project could significantly reduce the local water supply. If the plan advances, the water district might have to spend millions of dollars to obtain alternate water supplies and pull up more groundwater.

 

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OPINION: The Delta is California’s heart. Gavin Newsom must save it

/in , /by /CALmatters (Sacramento)by Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla

The confluence of California’s two great rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, creates the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas. Those of us who live here call it, simply, the Delta. It is part of my very fiber, and it is essential to California’s future. That’s why we must save it. In the early 1800s this estuary teemed with salmon migrating to and from the rivers of the Sierra Nevada. Salmon were, as documented in photographs, so plentiful that you could harvest them from the river with a pitchfork.

 

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