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MarketInk: Veteran Political Consultants Form New Advertising/PR Agency

/in /by /Times of San Diego Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

hree San Diego political consultants have formed a new advertising and PR agency offering public affairs consulting, strategic planning, coalition building and crisis communications services.Tony Manolatos, principal of Apex Strategies, has joined with Bob Nelson and Kelly Murphy Lamkin, principals of BNA Communications, to form Manolatos Nelson Murphy Advertising & Public Relations. The firm’s current list of clients includes 7-Eleven, Community Housing Works, the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors, the San Diego County Apartment Association and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association.

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OPINION: Californians Must Recommit To Water Conservation

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)

Recent news items raise concerns about California’s ongoing struggle to deal with the punishing drought. The Desert Sun’s Ian James reported this month that Coachella Valley water agencies have logged a huge drop in conservation compared to the great efforts seen during 2015 and the first half of this year. Coachella Valley Water District customers used just 4.3 percent less water in September than they did in September 2013, the benchmark year the state has been using to measure conservation.

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Wet Fall Changes Everything For Northern California

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Tom Stienstra

One small change in the world has led to mind-blowing effects for Northern California, nature and the outdoor prospects for winter and the next year. That small change was a shift in mid-October in the location of the jet stream, the conveyor belt of storms. The deluges that have followed stopped a Tahoe fire, saturated soils, put many reservoirs at 100 percent of average for the date, fed wetlands in time for arriving waterfowl and shorebirds, and put ski parks in line for a chance at a big season. One of the best indicator sites is the weather station at the Blue Canyon airport, at 5,284 feet near Nyack along Interstate 80.

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Pacific Storm Brings Needed Rain To California

/in /by /Daily Republic (Fairfield)

A Pacific storm spread needed rain to much of California on Friday, causing traffic snarls but no immediate trouble for communities near slopes left barren by wildfires. Northern and central sections of the state felt the brunt of the storm’s impacts but the threat of heavy rain rapidly diminished as it spread into Los Angeles and flash flood watches in local mountains were canceled. Rainfall rates were highly variable from the coast to the Sierra Nevada, but all of it was needed in a state that has seen only modest improvement in its drought situation.

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California Farmer’s Measure Takes On Jerry Brown’s Legacy

/in /by /Associated Press (As published by The Seattle Times)by Ellen Knickmeyer

Wealthy farmer Dino Cortopassi has a lot in common with Gov. Jerry Brown. Both are in their late 70s. Both are opinionated. Both are Democrats. And both have a lot riding on Proposition 53, which would force state leaders to get voters’ approval before undertaking massive state building projects needing $2 billion or more in revenue bonds. Cortopassi, a 79-year-old Central Valley farmer and food processor, is pouring his money into passing the ballot measure, which could upend two legacy projects for Brown: $15.7 billion to build giant water tunnels to carry Northern California water southward, and $64 billion for a high-speed rail system.

 

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Colorado River’s dead clams tell tales of carbon emission

/in /by /Phys.Orgby Blaine Friedlander
Scientists have begun to account for the topsy-turvy carbon cycle of the Colorado River delta – once a massive green estuary of grassland, marshes and cottonwood, now desiccated dead land.

“We’ve done a lot in the United States to alter water systems, to dam them. The river irrigates our crops and makes energy. What we really don’t understand is how our poor water management is affecting other natural systems – in this case, carbon cycling,” said Cornell’s Jansen Smith, a doctoral candidate in earth and atmospheric sciences.

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Some North County Customers Pay Less for Water Than It’s Worth

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

It’s a good deal if you can get it: Some North County water customers are paying less for their water than it’s worth.

The Vallecitos Water District – which provides water to 97,000 people in and around San Marcos – has kept rates so low it’s now selling water at a loss.

The shenanigans within the small district offer a window into the lengths some California water officials will go to avoid raising rates.

In Vallecitos, the low rates have become an issue in this fall’s water board elections.

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OPINION: Unity Needed For Statewide Water Solutions

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Mark Cowin Quoted: Mark Muir

San Diego County’s reliance on imported water is among the highest in California. Despite previous and planned local investments in desalination and recycling, most of this region’s water will continue to come from distant watersheds for decades to come as far as any water planner today can see. In fact, by 2040 the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) estimates 80 percent of their supply will be imported even with water efficiency savings and increased local supplies. Nearly half of that water will come from Metropolitan Water District which gets its supply from the Colorado River and Sierra Nevada.

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San Diego accelerates new water supply

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David GarrickDavid Garrick

San Diego’s landmark water recycling system took several key steps forward this week when the City Council approved an accelerated timeline and a comprehensive environmental analysis.

The council also approved $52 million in projects to kick start the program, and endorsed plans to use methane from the Miramar landfill as a power source for water purification, making the process more environmentally friendly.

Leaders from several communities in the region that share San Diego’s sewer system complained that accelerating the $3 billion program will unfairly increase sewer rates for them more quickly than expected.

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Water Talks: How California’s Drought Is Fueling Data Innovation

/in /by /Water Deeplyby Tara Lohan

There’s a lot of talk right now in California about water data. Do we have enough of it? Are we doing the right things with the information that we do have? And how are we sharing and using that data? Our first edition of “Water Talks,” a new, monthly conversation around hot topics in California water, centered on those crucial questions.

 

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