In the age of climate change and drought swings, California is setting a statewide water supply target for the first time to offset supply issues and help power 18 million homes. Ryan Yamamoto reports.
The Ramona Municipal Water District board has a new director and has changed its meeting time.
Casey Lynch is replacing Jeff Lawler as the Division 1 director. Lawler served the water district from 2016 and was re-elected in 2020 and 2024. He resigned on Nov. 9 after after accepting a job in Texas, said Erica Wolski, the water district’s general manager.
As the cost of living rises from gasoline to groceries, some South Bay residents say even small savings can make a difference.
Laura and Roberto Leggs of Chula Vista recently enrolled in the Sweetwater Authority’s Water Affordability Program, which provides monthly bill credits to income-eligible customers and seniors. The couple said the savings have helped ease the strain of higher prices for essentials, like gas, food and medication.
The latest news about the Colorado River is dire. Since 2000, the river’s flow has shrunk about 20%. An extremely warm winter has brought very little snow in the Rocky Mountains. Reservoirs are declining to critically low levels. And the leaders of seven states are still at loggerheads over the water cutbacks each should accept to prevent reservoirs from falling further.
Here are six things to know about the current crisis:
A mammoth solar farm is moving forward in the heart of California. If built, which seems increasingly likely, it would cover 200 square miles of land and generate 21,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power entire cities. Huge batteries will store some of that power until it’s needed most.
Farmers are among the project’s backers. They don’t have enough water to grow crops on big chunks of their land, and they’re looking for new uses for it.
If you’re the kind of person who keeps a sturdy umbrella and strong sunblock in your car, you’ve likely had an easy time dealing with our winter weather.
San Diego County has rhythmically moved from periods of heavy rain to stark sunshine and back again.
A “strong atmospheric river” has started dumping rain in Northern California, according to the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes.
The rain was predicted to start hitting Northern California late Monday, Feb. 23, and is expected to move into Central California throughout the day Tuesday, Feb. 24, the center said.
The Ramona Municipal Water District has created an ad hoc committee to explore the possibility of consolidating with the Ramona Cemetery District.
Erica Wolski, general manager of the water district, said San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson and the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) have expressed interest in a potential consolidation of the two special districts.
The history of Southern California has always been inextricably intertwined with the story of its water supply. Southern California has a dry, Mediterranean climate with limited rainfall. While Southern California is more temperate than the hotter desert climes of Las Vegas and Phoenix, its relatively dry climate cannot sustain a large urban population base.
In the late 1800s as Los Angeles and the surrounding region began to grow, the population relied primarily on the limited rainfall which fed the intermittent flows of the Los Angeles River and replenished the local groundwater basins. By the late 1890s, the discovery of oil reserves in Southern California led to an economic boom and a growing population. It became clear to everyone that Southern California would need to supplement its local water supplies if growth were to continue.
Little more than two months ago, on an unusually rainy November evening, the Queen Creek Town Council staked claim to the city’s future.
Queen Creek, located in central Arizona southeast of Phoenix, was founded in 1989 but is already home to some 88,000 people. In a unanimous vote, the council approved a $244 million deal to acquire 12,000 acre-feet of water annually for the next century from the Harquahala groundwater basin, some 90 miles away. (An acre-foot is enough water for about three households per year.)
