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Sweetwater Authority To Consider Water Rate Hikes

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Hernandez

The Sweetwater Authority governing board next month will consider increases to its water rates under a proposal that would create three separate fees for customers. The charges would include a fee to cover the cost to purchase water from the San Diego County Water Authority and two separate fees to cover costs from the Metropolitan Water District for purchased water. The costs from the outside agencies are embedded in the Sweetwater Authority’s current water rates.

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Temperature Could Hit 117 Degrees In San Diego County During Weekend Heat Wave

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

San Diego reveled in “Goldilocks” weather Wednesday — the Fourth of July. A sea breeze made temperatures “just right” countywide, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to parks and beaches for fireworks shows that were set to begin at nightfall. But there’s about to be abrupt change in a county that’s quickly falling into drought.

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Meet The New Entity In Charge Of California’s Water Tunnels Project

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

California is about to embark on one of the biggest public works projects not just in its own state history, but in any state’s history. The $17 billion WaterFix tunnel project was approved by the state Department of Water Resources in June 2017 after a decade of study, and now moves into the nitty gritty of construction planning.

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The Bay Area’s Sinking Neighborhood Gets A Boost

/in , /by /KQED (San Francisco)by Tiffany Camhi

Welcome to Alviso, where at any given time it can be 10 to 15 feet below sea level. This neighborhood, which used to be its own bona fide town, sits on the southernmost tip of the bay in San Jose, and it’s the next stop in our series about where our money from Measure AA is going. That’s the “Clean and Healthy Bay” tax measure that passed two years ago.

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As Modesto Rain Year Ends, There Remains Gratitude For The Very Wet 2016-17 Season

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby Deke Farrow

It wasn’t the best of times, it wasn’t the worst of times. With the Modesto Irrigation District’s rainfall season — July 1 to June 30 — at its end, district and farming officials indicated they’re feeling OK about the water picture. Especially since they’re still feeling the benefits of the very wet 2016-17 year. MID’s recorded rainfall in downtown Modesto is just a small part of the local water picture. As of Friday, it stood at 7.87 inches, less than two-thirds of the historical seasonal rainfall average of 12.23 inches. For comparison, 2016-17 totaled 17.93 inches, and the wettest year on record is 1982-83, with 26.01 inches.

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‘The New Normal’: Wildfires Roar Across The West, Again

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Thomas Fuller and Julie Turkewitz

As a roaring fire engulfed the hillside above him, Capt. Mark Bailey leaned on his shovel and guarded against embers leaping to the unburned side of the road above this small Northern California town. “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said on Monday. He was one of a dozen firefighters positioned along the dirt road in a remote patch of forest, which fire engines and bulldozers used to access the front lines of the blaze, a wall of flames several stories tall and moving north above a valley filled with vineyards and olive groves.

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Local Water-Storage Project May Benefit From State Water Bond Measure

/in , /by /Daily Bulletin (Rancho Cucamonga)by Sandra Emerson

An Inland Empire water wholesaler is poised to get a boost in state funding for its effort to create a new local water supply that would provide ecological benefits in Northern California. The California Water Commission has tentatively approved nearly $207 million in Prop. 1 water bond funds for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency’s Chino Basin Conjunctive Use Environmental Water Storage/Exchange Program.

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Diamond Valley Lake Remains Closed Because Of Blue-Green Algae

/in , /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside)by Craig Schultz

An outbreak of blue-green algae will keep Diamond Valley Lake closed until at least Friday, July 6. The algal bloom has turned the water green and is releasing cyanotoxins, which in high concentrations can be harmful to humans and animals, especially when ingested. “Cyanotoxin levels continue to improve, however in part of the lake they remain above levels we would like to see to reopen the lake to recreation,” Metropolitan Water District spokeswoman Rebecca Kimitch wrote in a message Tuesday, July 3.

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Drought Conditions Spread Throughout California — Here’s What SLO County Looks Like

/in , /by /The Tribune (San Luis Obispo)by Lindsey Holden

Heading into the heart of summer, drought conditions have held steady in San Luis Obispo County but worsened in other parts of the state. Abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions have spread along the Northern California coast and into fire-scorched areas north of the Bay Area, according to recent U.S. Drought Monitor maps. Much of the Central Coast was saved from severe drought conditions after “Minor Miracle March” storms swept through the area during the spring.

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OPINION: California Should Turn To Markets To Solve Its Water Woes

/in , /by /The Hillby Johnathan Wood

After a brief reprieve, California once again is entering a drought. Having just climbed out of the state’s worst drought in centuries, this news is a sober reminder that reform is urgently needed to avoid endless water wars. Thanks to population growth and climate change, the problem is not going away any time soon.

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