The San Diego County Water Authority’s First Aqueduct will be shut down periodically over the next three months for maintenance projects to ensure a safe and reliable water supply for the region. Two shutdowns on the First Aqueduct are scheduled from January through March, when portions of the aqueduct will be relined, along with other maintenance.
Officials involved in the talks over how to cut Colorado River water use amid a historic drought say they’re optimistic a consensus will be reached by states before a Feb. 1 deadline even though the negotiations are in a delicate place.
If the seven Western states don’t reach consensus, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation will consider mandating water cuts—a move the states are working feverishly to avoid.
California voters approved a ballyhooed $7.5-billion bond issue eight-plus years ago thinking the state would build dams and other vital water facilities. But it hasn’t built zilch. True or false?
That’s the rap: The voters were taken. The state can’t get its act together.
As the parade of storms hitting California leaves behind widespread damage and impacts, scientists are literally diving into these atmospheric river events to better predict and understand what’s coming on the horizon.
Flying over the Pacific Ocean on specially-equipped aircraft, the “hurricane hunters” of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration play a huge role in helping communities determine the severity of atmospheric river storms.
Nearly every square mile of California was in a severe drought four months ago. The first six months of 2022 were the driest on record and, in many corners of the state, the rest of the year wasn’t much better.
Now we’re worrying about whether we have too much water in some places.
California and Nevada have had extremely heavy rainfall in recent days, during one of the severest droughts the region has ever seen.
So what does that mean for the water levels at Lake Mead?
Californians have suddenly turned their attention from drought to flooding.
The future likelihood of a series of huge atmospheric rivers in California, a so-called ARk storm scenario, seems to be a certainty. Atmospheric rivers channel moist tropical air towards the West Coast, where mountains condense it to rain and snow. Over the last few weeks, California has suffered through a sneak peak of its devastating potential.
As California emerges from a two-week bout of deadly atmospheric rivers, a number of climate researchers say the recent storms appear to be typical of the intense, periodic rains the state has experienced throughout its history and not the result of global warming.
Although scientists are still studying the size and severity of storms that killed 19 people and caused up to $1 billion in damage, initial assessments suggest the destruction had more to do with California’s historic drought-to-deluge cycles, mountainous topography and aging flood infrastructure than it did with climate-altering greenhouse gasses.
A malfunction at a wastewater pumping station spilled 500,000 gallons of raw sewage into San Diego Bay, authorities said.
More than six miles of shoreline were closed or posted with warning signs after the spill Monday afternoon sent untreated wastewater flowing out of manholes and into storm drains downtown and in the Midway area instead of going to a treatment plant, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wednesday.
Fast action by the San Diego County Water Authority and its partners is helping maintain water service in Tijuana after problems with the city’s aqueduct emerged in December.
Emergency water deliveries started last week after a coordinated effort between the Water Authority, Otay Water District, and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The typical multi-month approval process was compressed into a few days to avoid additional water supply shortages in Tijuana.
