San Diegans reduced water consumption by 26 percent last month, the second straight month of strong conservation throughout the region, the County Water Authority reported today.
The May reduction figure followed a 23 percent cutback in April, compared to the same months in 2013, the baseline used by state water officials.
The San Diego County Water Authority and Poseidon Water won the Grand Golden Watchdog award Thursday at the San Diego County Taxpayers Association‘s 21st annual Goldens Dinner.
The regional water agency and developer earned the honor for the Carlsbad Desalination Plant, which began producing drinking water in December. Because of the added supply, state water officials eased mandated conservation targets for San Diego-area water districts.
San Diegans reduced water consumption by 26 percent last month, the second straight month of strong conservation throughout the region, the County Water Authority reported Thursday.
The May reduction figure followed a 23 percent cutback in April, compared to the same months in 2013, the baseline used by state water officials.
Rep. Susan Davis‘ efforts to secure federal funding to expand the Sweetwater desalination facility have paid off with a $3.7 million grant. Davis on Wednesday announced the grant from the Department of the Interior that will pay for doubling the capacity of the Richard A. Reynolds Desalination Facility. “This funding will provide some much needed relief from the drought conditions we have been experiencing in California,” said Davis.
What a difference a year doesn’t make. For anyone who doubts that we’re still in a drought, San Joaquin County’s groundwater “savings account” was even more depleted this spring than last, despite improved rainfall over the course of the winter. Routine surveys of hundreds of wells across the county revealed water levels had dropped about 2 feet on average — not as severe as the 3-foot drop seen the previous spring, but still a decline.Officials had hoped the results might be a little better.“But we weren’t expecting an instant turnaround,” said Fritz Buchman, deputy director of county Public Works.
After El Niño failed to deliver salvation from California’s epic drought, it has now come to this:
Statewide, snowpack is down to just 6 percent of normal for this time of year.
For all intent and purposes, this vital source of water for tens of millions of Californians, and one of the world’s most productive agricultural economies, has vanished prematurely. The culprit: a sunny and warm spring.
And with La Niña probably on the way, things could get worse before they get better.
It’s hard to motivate meaningful responses to abstract environmental problems. That’s why some scientists have thrown their weight behind putting dollar signs on nature. Their hope is that if people better grasp the dividends society reaps from rivers, forests, soil, and the atmosphere, they might support investing in protecting it. Certainly, that’s the philosophy the U.S. Forest Service has adopted in the agency’s work with urban canopies.
Deputy Secretary Mike Connor of the U.S. Interior Department heads to California this week to discuss the state’s worsening water crisis.
Politico reports that he will meet with state officials and water users as the water challenges continue to get bigger. California water users and their legislative allies were surprised by a couple of proposals that aim to protect endangered fish species.
The small town of Stratford, Calif., has been ravaged by drought for years. In this short film, director Joris Debeij talks to locals, hearing the personal stories of how they’re affected by the drought.
These conversations point to heartbreaking effects of this environmental disaster. A local farmer has to sell his land to earn money because he can’t farm without water. “It’s land that I worked with my dad, and it’s gone,” he says.
Based on calculations required under a state-mandated “stress test,” the agency said it had enough water to satisfy anticipated demand over those years.
“We’re not projecting a shortfall based on this stress test,” the Metropolitan Water District’s Brandon Goshi said. “I think the results show that under those challenging conditions, we have available water supply.”
The agency anticipates its customers would require 5.2 million acre feet of water, if the drought lasts another three years. Tallying up resources from the State Water Project, Colorado River Aqueduct and from storage, the MWD anticipates it can meet every drop of that demand.
