Media Coverage Archives

6 Months In, Encinitas Water Districts Miss Conservation Goals

January 6, 2016/in San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Encinitas Advocateby By Jared Whitlock Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The two water districts that serve Encinitas both fell short of their conservation mandates in November, and cumulative savings are below their goals.

Residents in the San Dieguito Water District cut back 9.2 percent in November, bringing the district’s cumulative reduction over six months to 20.6 percent, according to a recently released report from the State Water Resources Control Board. The state has mandated that the district slash 28 percent.

Due to the crippling drought, California in June began requiring that water agencies conserve. The mandate is scheduled to expire in February, but could be extended.

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More Rain Expected Across County until Friday5

January 6, 2016/in San Diego County /by Mike Lee /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby By Robert Krier & Joshua Emerson Smith

The most intense phases of this week’s series of storms have passed through San Diego County, but the region is still expected to receive more rain.

The forecast from the National Weather Service calls for precipitation to continue through midnight Friday. There should be scattered showers, plus another round or two of widespread, continuous precipitation.

That rain likely won’t be as heavy as the downpours witnessed Tuesday and Wednesday, but coastal and inland valley areas could get an additional inch of rain.

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January 6, 2016/in San Diego County /by Mike Lee /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby By Joshua Emerson Smith

November marked the second month in a row that Californians failed to meet the governor’s emergency water conservation order amid a historic drought.

Regulators announced Tuesday that residents used an average of 20.3 percent less water in November when compared with the same month in 2013, the baseline year for Gov. Jerry Brown’s mandate. His benchmark is a minimum savings of 25 percent.

California water conservation

The program began June 1 and is scheduled to last through February, with some type of extension eyed for much of the rest of this year.

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El Niño-Fueled Storms Will Put Dent in California Drought

January 6, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /USA Todayby By Doyle Rice

The rain and snow hitting California this week — partly fueled by an El Niño now tied with the strongest on record — will put a dent in the state’s 5-year-old drought, but there’s a catch.

“This week’s storms will help but will not end drought conditions in California,” said Michael Anderson, the state climatologist. The heavy rain brings a double-edged sword: the likelihood of floods and landslides in parts of the state, 97.3% of which is experiencing drought.

January 6, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Lake Tahoe Newsby By Anne Knowles

The Truckee River Operating Agreement is a done deal.

Parties to the landmark water compact, which went into effect Dec. 1 after nearly three decades of negotiations and work, took time out Tuesday to celebrate.

“From a drought perspective, this is a game changer,” Leo Drozdoff, director of the Nevada Department of Conservation & Natural Resource, said Jan. 5. “It provides certainty in uncertain times.”

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Water Management Looks at the Water We Can’t See

January 6, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Central Valley Business Journal

California’s historic drought has forced the state to rely on underground water reserves to an extent unseen in decades. One of the biggest water issues facing the state is how to maintain and rebuild its groundwater supply.

“After four years of drought, farmers are looking to gather up more water than ever,” said Jay R. Lund, director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis. “People are going to be trying to refill aquifers with increased motivation due to the fourth year of drought.”

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Drought-Ravaged Folsom Lake Rises 28.5 Feet in Just One Month

January 6, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /SFGateby By Amy Graff

Water-starved Folsom Lake is beginning to slowly fill up and recover from its lowest water levels ever.

The state’s ninth-largest reservoir, the main water source for the sprawling Sacramento suburbs, shrank to a mere 135,561 acre feet on Dec. 4, 2015. The previous lowest level at Folsom was 140,600 acre feet, recorded during the 1976–77 drought. An acre foot is enough water to flood an acre of land under a foot of water, and roughly the amount required by a family of four over a year.

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‘A Brash El Niño’: Storm Season Begins With Record Rainfall and Mudslide Fears

January 6, 2016/in San Diego County /by Mike Lee /The Los Angeles Timesby Rosanna Xia, Rong-Gong Lin II

The first major El Niño storm of the season arrived at this small Ventura County beach town Tuesday morning, and it didn’t take long for that potent combination of fire and rain to cause problems.

An intense downpour hammered a stretch of Highway 101 where a brush fire had swept through on Christmas weekend. Debris from the fire quickly clogged two drains in the freeway median. Soon, 6 inches of rain had accumulated on the roadway, bringing traffic to a halt.

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The Godzilla El Niño Now Drenching California Is Getting a Boost from Another Potent Climatic Phenomenon: ‘MJO’

January 5, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Discoverby By Tom Yulsman

Godzilla El Niño stormed ashore in Southern California today, offering up a good drenching that has caused flooding, closed roads, and transformed the usually trickling Los Angeles River into a raging torrent.

Today’s fast-moving tempest will be just the first in a parade of storms this week. An El-Niño-energized subtropical jet stream promises to help deliver at least two more rounds of copious rainfall to the drought-plagued region between now and Sunday.

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Governor’s Tunnels Opponents File Legal Actions

January 5, 2016/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Central Valley Business Times (Stockton)

Restore the Delta and its coalition partners on Tuesday filed either formal protests or notices of intent to make formal statements with the State Water Resources Control Board to oppose permitting to change the point of water diversion in the Sacramento River to allow for Gov. Edmund Brown Jr.’s water tunnels to be built.

The twin tunnels touted by Mr. Brown would each be 40 feet in diameter and extend 30-35 miles.

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