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After Sales Tax Hike’s Failure, SANDAG Anticipates Delays to Long-Term Highway Improvements

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Stewart

The defeat of a November ballot measure and overly bullish economic forecasts are causing delays to the construction of new trolley lines and highway improvements, forcing a regional planning organization to seek new strategies to pay for its long list of transportation projects. A part of the San Diego Association of Government’s new approach is due to the failure of Measure A, an ballot item that, had it passed, would have levied a half-cent sales tax that was expected to raise $18 billion over 40 years to pay for transportation and infrastructure projects.

 

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After Six Years Of Drought, This Is The Winter Weather We’re ‘Supposed To Be Getting,’ Meteorologists Say

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Angel Jennings

The slow but steady improvement in California’s drought picture should accelerate in the new year with a series of storms that are expected to dump rain and snow in Northern California. The northern half of the state has already seen impressive rains this fall and winter, filling reservoirs and replenishing the Sierra snowpack, a key source of water for California cities and farmlands.

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After A Year Of Weird Weather, Is There More Unpredictability To Come?

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

San Diego County’s weather in 2016, like many things in that unusual year, did not play out as expected. It was dry when it was supposed to be very wet. And vice versa. Now it appears the region will stay wet, at least for a while.The one constant through 2016 was warmth. Excessive warmth at times. Every month of the year was warmer than normal — including December, which had a string of cold mornings and afternoons.

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California Officials Say A New Plan Will Make Water Conservation ‘A Way Of Life’

/in /by /The Washington Postby Darryl Fears Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant

Here in the land of beauty and make-believe, it’s important to keep up appearances. Tracy Quinn sees it whenever she walks her dog: sprinklers irrigating pretty green lawns and wasted water bleeding across sidewalks during the state’s driest spell in centuries. “It drives me crazy,” said Quinn, a water policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

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Water Guzzlers Face More Fines, Public Shaming Under New State Law

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

Despite five years of record drought, many Californians have not been required to cut their water use. Some wielded a heavy hand at the tap, enjoying green lawns and showy landscapes even as water supplies dried up. This could soon change. If the rains fall short this winter — or whenever the next bad drought descends on California — households are in for a far more serious crackdown on water waste.

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Carlsbad’s Seawater Desalination Plant Marks One-Year Anniversary

/in /by /The Fallbrook/Bonsall Village Newsby Mark Muir

In its first year of operations, the nation’s largest and most technologically advanced seawater desalination plant produced enough high-quality, drought-proof water from the Pacific Ocean to meet approximately 10 percent of the region’s demand. The Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant quickly generated significant benefits by relieving pressure on imported water supplies, reducing state mandates for emergency conservation measures in March and helping the region pass the state’s stringent water supply stress test in June. After completing construction on schedule, the plant was dedicated on Dec. 14, 2015, in front of more than 600 elected officials, community leaders and project partners.

 

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No Bounceback For Delta Fish

/in /by /Record Net (Stockton)by Alex Breitler

The Delta smelt has survived 2016, but that’s about where the good news ends. Surveys that wrapped up this month revealed no real increase in smelt numbers despite a wetter year with more freshwater flow in the Delta. In fact, the smelt’s situation may actually have gotten worse: For the first time since the extensive fish surveys began in the late 1960s, officials found smelt just one month out of four. In their many hours spent trawling the Delta with nets from September through December, they found a total of seven smelt, all of them in November.

 

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Billions Of Dollars At Stake Over County Water Authority, MWD Legal Battle

/in /by /The Coast News Group (Encinitas)by Steve Puterski Quoted: Dennis Cushman

“Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting.” Whether or not Mark Twain coined the term, the axiom rings true, especially in the West and specifically the water war between the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) and the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The battle raging between the two entities has resulted in higher water rates for customers in San Diego County. In November, the Carlsbad Municipal Water District Board of Directors (the City Council), approved rate increases stemming from a cost of service study.

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Surveying the Colorado River Aqueduct

/in /by /The American Surveyor (Frederick, Md.)by Sherri Lee Barnes and Paul L. Tucker,

During the 1920s, the city of Los Angeles was burgeoning. Demographics were changing and geographic boundaries were being pushed out in all directions. Oil was booming, industrialization was in full swing, and water was in high demand. Southern California was very dry and thirsty, on the heels of a drought and on the verge of the Great Depression. Importing water to its residents was a high priority, and in many ways, circumstances then were comparable to California’s present-day drought scenario.

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High Demand, Low Supply: Colorado River Water Crisis Hits Across The West

/in /by /NPRby Grace Hood and Lauren Sommer

The Colorado River is like a giant bank account for seven different states. Now it’s running short. For decades, the river has fed growing cities from Denver to Los Angeles. A lot of the produce in supermarkets across the country was grown with Colorado River water. But with climate change, and severe drought, the river is reaching a crisis point, and communities at each end of it are reacting very differently. Just outside Boulder, Colo., surrounded by an evergreen forest, is Gross Reservoir.

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