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SoCal Water Recycling Program Gets $80M From State

/in , , /by /KFI Am 640by City News Service

State officials Wednesday presented an $80 million check to advance Pure Water Southern California, a large-scale, regional water recycling program intended to create a new source of water to benefit 19 million people amid changing climate and weather whiplash.

Assemblywoman Lisa Calderon, D-Whittier, Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, and Carson Mayor Pro Tem Jawane Hilton joined water district officials during Wednesday’s event at the Pure Water demonstration facility.

“The climate crisis has strained our region’s water supply,” Calderon said in a statement. “It’s imperative we continue investing in our projects focused on addressing our water needs.”

Pure Water will take cleaned wastewater that is currently sent to the ocean and purify it to produce high-quality drinking water, officials said.

Project partners Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Los Angeles County Sanitation District received funding from the state’s 2022-23 budget to accelerate the project’s design and construction, with the potential to begin construction as early as 2025 and have water deliveries start in 2032.

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Funding for Water Projects Takes $200 Million Bite

/in , , /by /SJV Waterby Jesse Vad

The state’s money problems are taking a $200 million bite out of funding for drinking and wastewater projects.

The state Water Resources Control Board voted Tuesday to approve the cuts as part of a statewide belt tightening effort.

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Arizona Cities Offering Money Incentives to Residents in Bid to Reduce Water Use: Here’s What to Know

/in , , /by /Fox 10 Phoenix by Lauren Clark and Kenneth Wong

From $800 to $1,000, and even $5,000, some Valley cities are dangling money incentives to residents, in the hope they will cut their water use amid the state’s ongoing crisis.

The programs are a direct result of cities grappling with a future of less water from the Colorado River.

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Every Drop Counts: Water-Wise Landscaping and Design Takes Creativity

/in , , /by /Pasadena Weekly by Morgan Owen

Having an eco-friendly yard doesn’t have to mean replacing a lawn with sand and succulents. Ann-Marie Benz, California Native Plant Society’s horticulture program manager, says creating a drought-resilient landscape has a bad reputation. Creating a native, water-wise yard can be rewarding — and done with a personal flair.

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Hellish Heat Leaves Southwest in Misery: Fainting, Broken Cars, Sizzling Sidewalks

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jack Herrera, Hayley Smith, Summer Lin and Cari Spencer

An unrelenting heat wave that has blanketed the the Southwestern U.S. continued to break records Wednesday, inflicting misery in major cities and offering what experts described as a disturbing glimpse into the future as human-caused climate change increases the frequency and duration of extreme heat events.

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Millerton Lake’s Spectacular Waterfall Spectacle: A Result of Third Wettest Year on Record

/in , , /by /Fox 26 Newsby Rich Rodriguez

For more than a week there’s been a beautiful waterfall spilling over Friant Dam.

That’s because Millerton Lake is full to the brim. A water volume of 1,650 cubic feet per second (CFS) is creating the water blanket.

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Six Student Artists Win 2023 Otay Poster Contest

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Six students from schools in the Otay Water District are the winners of the annual Student Poster Contest. More than 53 students submitted entries from schools in Chula Vista, El Cajon, and Spring Valley. The poster art depicts the value of water and using water wisely.

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Planning Underway for Colorado River Basin Operations

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Service by Bob Leal

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation laid down the planning process on the development of post-2026 operational guidelines and strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead during a podcast Tuesday.

Some of the reservoir and water management documents and agreements that govern the operation of the Colorado River basin will expire in 2026, so the planning process has begun to guide the way for a resource that 40 million people in the U.S — and more in northern Mexico — depend on.

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California Outlines Expedited Permitting for Seawater Desalination

/in , , /by /Engineering News-Recordby Pam McFarland

The California Water Resources Control Board is accepting public comment through July 28 on new recommendations to expedite permits for seawater desalination plants in the state.

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He Wanted a ‘Low-Water, Colorful, Smell-Good Garden.’ But First, the Lawn Had to Go

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Lisa Boone

On a closely packed street in Inglewood, where single-family home after single-family home overlooks a manicured lawn, a spectacular garden filled with California native plants reaches to the sky and spills onto the sidewalk.

In Brian Bautista’s yard, upright showy penstemon, aromatic hummingbird sage, hardy toyon trees, and two types of milkweed — dramatic plants requiring little water — attract birds, butterflies and bees and flourish amid the Bermuda grass lawns.

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