The Sweetwater Authority learned of and greenlighted the design of a floating solar array on its reservoir all in the same day. The swiftness of the approval after considering only a single company put some members of its governing board and the public ill at ease.
City leaders are beginning the process of setting a new five-year rate schedule for water and wastewater customers, which is set to go into effect in July. Under Proposition 218, utility agencies must conduct rate studies to forecast future expenditures and determine rates to cover rising costs equally.
In the sprawling urban tapestry that is Southern California, water – its abundance, scarcity, and distribution – often becomes a central narrative shaping the region’s destiny. Recently, San Diego has emerged at the forefront of a compelling chapter in this ongoing saga.
The California Department of Water Resources on Wednesday announced an increase in its projected statewide water allocations for 2024 — following a series of storms that deluged the Golden State over the past two months.
The San Diego County Water Authority hopes to leverage last year’s wet winter to switch to a cheaper water supply and sell their more expensive water. Those savings would be passed onto its member agencies in smoothed future rates.
Concerns that California might remain in a “snow drought” this winter have eased after a series of storms this month blanketed the Sierra Nevada with a near-average amount of snow for this time of year.
After a dry start to winter, California’s rainy season is finally well under way. December downpours sent water racing through streets in coastal Ventura County and the city of Santa Barbara. Flash floods hit San Diego in late January, and back-to-back atmospheric river-fueled storms arrived earlier this month, causing wind damage in Northern California and hundreds of mudslides in Los Angeles.
In the past few decades, we have witnessed the pendulum swinging back and forth in California between managing drought, to questions about how we will handle too much water. While the weather might be fickle, one thing is certain, climate change will make extreme weather more common and will require residents to invest in their stormwater infrastructure.
A stormwater tax is one step closer to making its way on the November ballot after a San Diego City Council committee voted unanimously Wednesday to direct staff to take a closer look at what this measure would look like.
Some of the thorniest debates over water in California revolve around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where pumps send water flowing to farms and cities, and where populations of native fish have been declining.
