San Diego gave emergency authorization this week to pay an extra $80 million to chemical suppliers that say they need to sharply raise prices because of pandemic-related supply-chain issues, higher fuel costs and rising costs for raw materials due to inflation. City officials say the chemicals are essential for treating sewage and keeping drinking water clean and healthy.
California lawmakers representing the state’s Delta area are calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom to cancel his plan for an underground tunnel that would reroute water from Northern to Southern California.
Representatives John Garamendi, Josh Harder, Jerry McNerney and Mike Thompson, all Democrats, released a joint statement in response to the draft environmental impact report for the project.
U.S. and Mexican officials are doing their best to cope with two major sewage line breaks in a Tijuana canyon.
As a result, Mexico shut down the pump station in the Tijuana River channel allowing more than 30 million gallons of sewage-tainted water to cross the border into the United States every day.
As extreme drought grips the Southwest, businesses across California are taking a variety of water-saving actions. The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies offer business rebates and other incentives to help businesses save money while saving water.
The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board spoke with executives from the San Diego County Water Authority on Tuesday.
They discussed rate increases, what’s needed to secure California’s water future, and why we can’t conserve our way out of the drought.
Plus, they give tips on the one thing we should all be doing to improve our water situation.
New data suggest Californians are steadily reducing water usage in the face of severe drought, although cities and towns in the northern part of the state are cutting back more than those in the thirsty and more heavily populated south.
Water use in cities and towns across the state decreased 7.6% in June when compared with the same month in 2020 — significantly short of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s voluntary 15% goal last year, but a significant shift compared with the previous month, according to data released by the State Water Resources Control Board. In May, statewide savings were just 3.1%.
This month will be a moment of truth for Arizona cities.
The Federal Bureau of Reclamation is scheduled to release its “24-month study” that announces how much water Lake Powell and Lake Mead will release in 2023.
Meanwhile, seven western states must also present a plan to dramatically cut 2-4 million acre-feet of water. According to federal records, that amounts to as much as 25% of water allocated to the states.
After California’s record dry start to the year, efforts to conserve water have created a patchwork of rules for residents that sometimes vary by city or even by neighborhood.
Emergency regulations took effect statewide, prohibiting water waste and requiring water providers to address a 20% water shortage.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California imposed stricter rules for several communities in Ventura, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
A major Tijuana pipeline collapse is causing a lot of sewage-tainted water to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
The cross-border flow began Sunday night, and is expected to continue flowing across the border at a rate of more than 30 million gallons a day.
An estimated 49.9 million gallons have already entered the United States.
Californians began paying more attention to their water use as summer arrived, but statewide conservation remains well short of what the governor has requested during the drought.
In June, municipal water consumption dropped 7.6% compared to the same month in 2020, marking a second straight month of savings, according to state data released Tuesday, and parts of the Bay Area did considerably better. The four prior months, however, saw increases in water use, sometimes by double digits.
