It’s only the size of a silver dollar, but this tiny metal disk can tame even the biggest of Southern California water hogs.
In an indication of just how dire drought conditions have become, the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District has unveiled a custom-built device that will drastically reduce water flow to customers who refuse to abide by newly enacted water restrictions.
As the prospect of a floating offshore wind energy development off San Luis Obispo County’s coast gets ever closer, energy storage developers are taking a good look at their prospects in the region.
One company has proposals for pumped storage projects that involve moving water between reservoirs to generate electricity — which would call for three new reservoirs to be built along the Central Coast.
“Water is not a constraint to growth,” according to EDAWN (Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada) Director Mike Kazmierski. But the hard truth is that the Sierra Nevada snowpack is in control of our regional water supply, not EDAWN. And, according to new research by the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, most of the Sierra Nevada snowpack will likely be gone by 2050 because of climate change and drought.
We are told by regional water managers that we have enough water rights to fuel growth in the Truckee Meadows and nearby valleys for the next 50 years.
The U.S. national drought early-warning information system, called NIDIS, gave a rundown Thursday on when much of the Southwest will experience conditions that heighten the potential for wildfire.
Drought is one of the main drivers because less water means drier soils, drier plants and drier air, all conditions that fuel wildfire.
According to NIDIS projections, above-average wildfire potential creeps into the San Diego region (mostly along mountain ridges or high altitudes where winds are strong and fuel is plentiful) come September.
It’s no secret that San Diego County’s top water managers are deeply frustrated with California’s new conservation rules, even as drought continues to ravage the American Southwest.
The San Diego County Water Authority, the region’s wholesaler, has repeatedly lobbied the state for an exemption to prohibitions on watering commercial and other landscapes that go into effect this month.
A new study finds that the upper Colorado River basin is drying out due to climate change. This means in the future, parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming could more closely resemble Arizona and the desert Southwest.
Research from the Los Alamos National Laboratory predicts that mountain snow will start melting and running into streams and reservoirs much earlier.
Every individual landscape sits in one of San Diego County’s 16 watersheds. The watershed approach to landscaping considers every garden its own mini-watershed, holding onto or cleaning the water falling on it and nurturing a diverse habitat of plants and insects.
Any water-saving landscape makeover starts with observing and recording your property as it exists today. Think of it as a bird’s eye view or satellite map showing your property’s boundaries and physical features. This becomes the basis of all your planning.
New water conservation restrictions … ongoing drought … California clearly has a water problem. But lucky us — we live by the ocean! Why not take the salt out and use some of it for drinking?
“A knee-jerk reaction is: stick a straw in the ocean, bring water in, and we’ll never have to worry about the drought again,” said Garry Brown, the founder and director of the environmental group, Orange County Coastkeeper. “And it’s so much more complicated and on so many levels.”
Gary Biggs’ family hasn’t had water coming out of their private well for over a decade, after a multi-year drought and overpumping by agriculture and industry.
Now, the eight-acre farm in West Goshen, California, which Biggs passed down to his son, Ryan, in the 1970s, is parched and fallow. His son and granddaughter carry in water from sources to drink and shower. They go to town to wash their clothes, Biggs says.
