San Diego is accelerating efforts to shore up the city’s aging dams, including moving up construction of the new Lake Hodges Dam from 2031 to 2029 and committing to comprehensively evaluating the eight other city dams by 2028.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting higher-than-usual rainfall for parts of Nevada, California and Arizona this winter, but that rainfall isn’t expected to translate to gains in the water level at Lake Mead, regional climate experts said.
El Niño’s southern oscillation cycle began changing weather patterns this month and will continue through the winter to bring wetter conditions to the southern United States, said Jon Gottschalck, the operational prediction branch chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Residents in the Ashley Falls neighborhood were surprised last month when all of the landscaping in the water quality project in their community was removed, leaving behind an expensive dirt hole with cut-back weeds. After sounding an alarm to the city, the area’s vegetation will be restored.
The first stage of a new groundwater storage project in the Antelope Valley is now up and running after three years of construction.
The High Desert Water Bank, which is through a partnership with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency (AVEK), has the capacity to store and withdraw enough water to serve about 210,000 Southern California homes each year.
For California, a mixed bag of results on irrigation regulation has occurred with the signature of Assembly Bill 1572 into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom, while Assembly Bill 1573 was ordered to the inactive file by the state’s Senate.
The two bills each had different aims to address conservation measures in California and targeted various irrigation methods as a means of advancing that effort.
San Diego County will spend $5 million to expand removal of sewage and trash from Mexico that accumulates in the Tijuana River Valley.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan that involves building a sediment- and trash-control basin and dredging the drainage channels, known as Smuggler’s Gulch and Pilot Channel, that often build up with debris after storms.
The first measurable, widespread snow is expected in California’s Sierra Nevada Wednesday into Thursday, with a cold storm from the Gulf of Alaska poised to sweep the Golden State, according to the National Weather Service. There’s another chance for snow later in the week as well.
With California facing the prospect of a second consecutive winter of heavy precipitation, state officials are urging residents to prepare for possible widespread flooding and evacuations in the coming months.
Barely a year after dozens of powerful atmospheric rivers pounded the state and triggered historic flooding, state officials gathered at a muddy berm and pumping station near the Sacramento River this week to highlight the threat of flooding in a warming climate.
After three years of construction, water officials announced on Monday, Oct. 23, the completion of the first stage of a groundwater storage project they say will “significantly increase Southern California’s water supply in the face of a rapidly changing climate.”
A wet year and major conservation efforts are paying off in the short term for the Colorado River, with California, Arizona and Nevada on track to conserve a record 1 million acre-feet of water or more by the end of 2023, officials announced last week.
