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Water District Considers Elimination of Fluoride

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Barbara Henry

The Olivenhain Municipal Water District board of directors is considering seeking state permission to stop putting fluoride into its water supply.

Board members will discuss the proposal at their regular monthly meeting, which is set for 4 p.m. today at the district’s offices at 1966 Olivenhain Road. OMWD covers a 48-square-mile area and serves about 87,000 customers in Encinitas, Carlsbad, San Diego, Solana Beach and neighboring communities, the district’s website said. The district has been adding fluoride into its water supply since 2013, a staff report produced for the meeting said. Like other fluoridation efforts around the nation, OMWD’s Community Water Fluoridation program has been controversial.

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A Look at Southern California’s Water Supply After Winter Storms

/in , /by /ABC 7by Rob McMillan

Southern California’s largest reservoir, Diamond Valley Lake, is nearly full due in large part to two powerful sets of storms that drenched the region over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

It’s at 94% capacity. Many of the reservoirs in Los Angeles County, just as critical, are also in good shape. It’s been a long time since the region has seen this much rain this early in the season.

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Officials Take Drastic Action as Crucial Water Supply Remains in Flux: ‘Preparing for a Future With More Extreme Weather’

/in , /by /The Cool Downby Christine Dulion

After years of unpredictable water resources, California officials are taking steps to make sure precious rainwater doesn’t just wash away when storms hit.

State leaders announced this week that California is expanding efforts to capture and store stormwater during the wet season. According to the governor’s office, per KRCR, agencies across the state are working together to collect runoff, direct it into reservoirs, and recharge groundwater for use during drier months.

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Two-Thirds of the US Is Facing Drought in the Middle of Winter. Here’s Why Scientists Are Worried

/in , /by /The Independent by Josh Marcus

More than two-thirds of the country is facing unusual dryness or full-blown drought conditions, despite winter being known for heavier precipitation, according to a Washington Post analysis of recent U.S. Drought Monitor data.

The conditions touch every state except for the usually drought-prone California, which has had a wet winter.

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OPINION: We Cannot Afford Pure Water Los Angeles

/in , /by /City Watch LAby Jack Humphreville

The Department of Water and Power is developing plans for Pure Water Los Angeles (“PWLA”)  a facility that will convert wastewater to drinking water.  This project will be located at Hyperion, just south of LAX, and will produce an estimated 200,000-acre feet of potable water a year, an amount equal to more than 40% of the City’s annual consumption.

This project is designed to increase the supply of water from local sources (10-15%), reducing our dependence on non-local sources (85-90%).  Today, the City relies on water delivered by the Metropolitan Water District (“MWD”) through the California Aqueduct from Northern California and the Colorado River Aqueduct.  We also receive water via the Los Angeles Aqueduct from sources in the Eastern Sierras and Owens Valley that are controlled by DWP, although this source has been constrained because of environmental issues.

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Watersmart Makeover: A Welcome to Wildlife

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Caron Golden

What kind of yard does a wildlife biologist create for herself and her family? For Shea O’Keefe, the 2025 WaterSmart Landscape Contest winner for San Dieguito Water District, it’s a yard that has a thoughtful connection to nature.

O’Keefe, a wildlife biologist who does restoration on working lands (think farmland, rangeland and forest land whose owners want to do something for wildlife) for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has gradually created her own miniature version of a wildlife preserve in the suburbs of Encinitas.

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Budget Analysts Tell San Diego How to Help Shrink County Water Rate Hikes

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Budget analysts for San Diego say city officials should demand big changes at the cash-strapped County Water Authority, including a thorough re-thinking of its entire operations and urgent action on out-of-state water sales.

The recommendations come with the city facing cumulative water rate hikes of 90% over six years, and the water authority predicting it will need to increase the rates it charges the city and other local agencies 100% to 150% by 2035.

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San Diego-Based Water Farm 1 Aims to Move Freshwater Production Under the Sea

/in , /by /Times of San Diego

Some four miles off the coast, a company is betting it can solve one of desalination’s biggest problems by moving the technology deep below the ocean’s surface.

OceanWell’s planned Water Farm 1 would use natural ocean pressure to power reverse osmosis — a process that forces seawater through membranes to filter out salt and impurities — and produce up to 60 million gallons of freshwater daily. Desalination is energy intensive, with plants worldwide producing between 500 and 850 million tons of carbon emissions annually — approaching the roughly 880 million tons emitted by the entire global aviation industry.

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OPINION: Water Cuts Pending

/in , /by /Imperial Valley Pressby Kay Pricola Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

As we start the second full week of the new year, Imperial Valley continues to receive unwelcome news. While our elected IID Board members and key staff have been busy celebrating the growth in the Coachella Valley in ribbon cuttings IID celebrates and filing litigation against the County of Imperial (IID Files Lawsuit), the most important aspect of their responsibility seems to be slipping away from them and without any notice to the public.

For all things following the Colorado River, be aware that the interim Guidelines which established criteria for water use, expire in August 2026. The 2025 deadlines set for the seven-state negotiating team for new 2026 guidelines were missed. With that failure, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has released a report with five options for managing the Colorado River after 2026. The significance of that 1600-page report can be summarized below:

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Beyond the Forecast: Record-Setting Rain Delivers One of the Wettest Starts to CA Water Year

/in , /by /ABC 7by Brianna Ruffalo

Record-setting rain this season has pushed California completely out of the “abnormally dry” category on the U.S. Drought Monitor for the first time in 25 years, as a series of storms delivered one of the wettest starts to the water year across the state.

Southern California saw a notably soggy holiday period, with rain on Christmas Eve and Christmas marking the fourth-wettest two-day holiday stretch on record.

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