The Palmdale Water District’s proposed advanced water treatment plant that would turn recycled water into groundwater will be notable not only as the first of its kind in the Antelope Valley, but also for partnering with a firm to use brine discarded in the treatment process for its carbon-capture technology.
Colorado River water from Lake Mead makes its way to Southern California through the California River Aqueduct.
Once this water arrives in Lake Mathews, it’s then distributed to a water treatment plant owned by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
The Department of Interior has indicated that if states don’t cooperate on dividing Colorado River water, more cuts may be on the way.
The agency indicated that California could also face cutbacks, which means that the state’s wait-and-see strategy may have fallen short.
California has senior water rights to the Colorado River, and so far, that has worked in its favor.
It’s coming. Winds are weakening along the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Heat is building beneath the ocean surface. By July, most forecast models agree that the climate system’s biggest player – El Niño – will return for the first time in nearly four years.
El Niño is one side of the climatic coin called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. It’s the heads to La Niña’s tails.
Although much of California no longer suffers from drought conditions thanks to the recent record rainfall, the Golden State isn’t quite yet out of the woods when it comes to a scarcity of water.
And that means sustainable water management must continue to be top of mind for executives in a variety of industries, including turf management, agriculture, and hotel and resorts.
While drought conditions have improved on the Central Coast following our wet winter —saving water is still a priority. That’s why the city of Soledad is getting creative when it comes to how they water their public sports fields and parks.
Soledad is using a $16 million state grant to build a pipe system from their wastewater treatment plant to deliver recycled water to public fields across town. The city made history a few years back with the construction of a wind turbine that powers the treatment plant Their newest accomplishment comes in the form of purple pipes.
The atmospheric rivers may have dried up as April began, but coastal San Diego County now has to contend with a heavy marine layer bringing cool weather and drizzle.
“Basically no clearing has occurred in the San Diego coast and valleys, with only partial clearing elsewhere from the lower coastal slopes to the coast,” the National Weather Service said in its Monday afternoon update. “As a result, it was another unseasonably cool day west of the mountains.”
More than a century ago, an accidental oasis in the California desert created a popular residential and vacation spot for families.
But over the last few decades, environmental experts say climate change and drought in the Salton Sea have led to a destination that’s been plagued with dust bowls, receding waters and other hazards.
In the Central Valley, agriculture is everything. Farmers here grow 25% of the country’s food, yet copious amounts of flawed produce is dumped or left to rot.
For many supermarkets, an orange with a hail scratch is deemed unsellable. In 2019, researchers from Santa Clara University found that an estimated one-third of food in northern and central California is wasted, largely because of supermarket standards and consumer habits. We cannot follow this model of growing more produce than we need – or wasting this much – given California’s limited water resources, drought on surface water, and severe overpumping of groundwater.
A recent upgrade to a Helix Water District treatment plant saved money for its ratepayers while ensuring a continued supply of high quality drinking water. After 20 years of service, the ozone disinfection system at the R.M. Levy Water Treatment Plant needed an upgrade.
