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COLORADO RIVER: Lake Powell, Lake Mead, and Southern California’s Water Dilemma

/in , /by /Maven's Notebook

Two years ago, the Colorado River Lower Basin states united to conserve an extra 3 million acre-feet of water by 2026, aiming to stabilize Lake Powell and Lake Mead while crafting the post-2026 guidelines for managing the river. With last year’s near-normal snowpack and conservation efforts ahead of schedule, success seemed within reach.  However, over the last few months, this year has become anything but normal, and the system is looking to be anything but stabilized.

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California Lawmakers Approve Last-Minute, Sweeping Rollbacks of Environmental Law

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Alejandro Lazo and Rachel Becker

California lawmakers today approved one of the most substantial rollbacks of the state’s signature environmental review law in decades, including a controversial exemption that would allow high-tech manufacturing plants to be built in industrial zones with no environmental review.

The changes to the California Environmental Quality Act were embedded in a last-minute budget bill that sailed through the Senate and the Assembly. The new law exempts nine types of projects from environmental reviews: child care centers, health clinics, food banks, farmworker housing, broadband, wildfire prevention, water infrastructure, public parks or trails and, notably, advanced manufacturing.

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California Fire Season Is off to a Furious Start, and Experts Say It’s Just the Beginning

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Grace Toohey

Wildfire season in Southern California got off to an ominous start this weekend, with several fires sparking across Riverside and San Bernardino counties’ parched landscapes, elevating concerns that conditions are ripe for a fiery year across the Golden State.

Experts have been warning that the Southland’s below-average rainy season is likely to set the stage for a particularly bad stretch of fires this summer and fall — and the recent spate of blazes appears to be a sign of what’s to come.

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Water Conservation Garden Loses San Diego County Water Authority Funding

/in , /by /East County Magazineby Karen Pearlman Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority
The fate of public access to the Water Conservation Garden in Rancho San Diego is a little less certain after another partner, the San Diego County Water Authority, on Thursday voted to withdraw its funding and participation from the Water Conservation Authority, operators of the Water Conservation Garden.
The Garden is a six-acre site focused on natural resource conservation and sustainability. It was initially funded starting in 1990 and opened with strong backing during an era of major drought issues in 1999. A demonstration site for water-wise landscaping that offers programming reaching across the county, The Garden had been receiving support from the SDCWA since 2001.
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County Water Authority Approves Water Rate Hike, but It’s Lower Than Originally Forecast

/in , /by /KPBSby John Carroll Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA)Thursday approved a new wholesale water rate for the next fiscal year. The agency said the 8.3% increase is less than what it originally forecast earlier this year.

“The reductions were achieved by cutting budgets across the agency, including capital improvement projects, operating departments, the Board of Directors, and equipment replacement,” the Water Authority said in an announcement. “In addition, the adopted rate was lowered by third-party water exchanges and financial benefits from the conclusion of litigation between the Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.”

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OPINION: The Cost of State Inaction – The Future of California’s Water Supply

/in , /by /OC Registerby Jay Lund, Josue Medellin Azuara and Alvar Escriva Bou

California’s weather whiplash has left the Golden State in a place of severe uncertainty about its diminishing water supply and increasing human and environmental demands for water.

Research that my colleagues and I published last year, “The Magnitude of California’s Water Challenges” showed that Californians can expect their water supply to shrink 12 to 25% by 2050, up to 9 million acre-feet, or equal to one to two Lake Shastas.

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John Griffith on Strains Facing the US Water Supply

/in , /by /Bloombergby Open Interest

John Griffith, CEO of American Water, joins Open Interest to talk about the need to invest capital in our water infrastructure.

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Officials Turn to Innovative Method to Address Longstanding Emblem of Water Crisis: ‘Difficult Projects Are Possible’

/in , /by /The Cool Downby Jamie Speka

The Salton Sea has long been a worrying emblem of California’s water crisis. Based in the parched, desert-like lands, the decades-long project to bring new wetlands back to the scorched dirt is finally underway. In the midst of the Salton Sea’s years of evaporation, the waters have grown progressively saltier, killing native fish that acted as a food source for dozens of migrating birds like white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, and eared grebes — all of which have faced significant population declines.

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For the Future of Water Conservation, Look to … Los Angeles?

/in , /by /New York Timesby Michael Kimmelman

You’ve probably come across more stories about water woes in California than you can recall, so you may feel you’ve had enough for a while. I understand. There’s no easy or permanent fix. The protagonists don’t divide neatly into good and evil. Water in the state often isn’t where the people are — or, as with the recent fires, isn’t there at all.

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San Diego Residents Protest Water Rate Hikes as County Votes on New Pricing

/in , /by /ABC 10 News San Diegoby Dani Miskell Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority
Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego residents from underserved communities, seniors, to recent flood victims, gathered to protest against proposed water rate increases at the San Diego County Water Authority on Thursday. The water authority’s board met to deliberate on future pricing. It’s why residents came to share during public comments their demands for any future rate hikes not to be passed down to customers.

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