Before starting your WaterSmart landscaping makeover, there are significant decisions to make about improving your water efficiency, including plant and irrigation choices. First, determine what type of landscape will meet your needs and maximize your water savings potential.
Every WaterSmart landscape added by a homeowner becomes a key part of the San Diego region’s water efficiency goals.
By converting a turf-focused yard to a WaterSmart landscape, you have the potential to beautify your property, save money, and reduce maintenance. You also play a critical role in protecting and improving the health of our natural environment by cultivating native plants, retaining and minimizing stormwater runoff, and conserving water.
There are six distinct steps to successfully plan and create a WaterSmart landscape.
Standing on the grassy plateau where water is piped onto his property, Josh Davy wished his feet were wet and his irrigation ditch full.
Three years ago, when he sank everything he had into 66 acres of irrigated pasture in Shasta County, Davy thought he’d drought-proofed his cattle operation.
Outdoor watering restrictions area set to take effect in Los Angeles at the end of the month, and the prospect of an improvement in drought conditions appears dim.
Just how bad is the drought? According to state figures, the first three months of the year were the driest in the state’s recorded history. California is currently in the third year of a drought.
California needs more water and renewable energy, and Solar AquaGrid CEO Jordan Harris is trying to help.
“We need some bold solutions and big solutions,” he said.
A big idea is starting with a small stretch of canals in the Turlock Irrigation District, located just south of Modesto.
For years, plaintiffs’ lawyers suing over health and environmental damage from so called forever chemicals, known collectively as PFAS, focused on one set of deep pockets—E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.
But over the past two years, there’s been a seismic shift in the legal landscape as awareness of PFAS has expanded.
After decades of negotiation, the largest dam-removal project in U.S. history is expected to begin in California’s far north next year.
The first of four aging dams on the Klamath River, the 250-mile waterway that originates in southern Oregon’s towering Cascades and empties along the rugged Northern California coast, is on track to come down in fall 2023. Two others nearby and one across the state line will follow.
San Diego’s top brass offered on Thursday to pony up more than $33 million to resolve a hotly disputed pipeline deal between the city and East County concerning two large water recycling projects.
The move comes as the parties inch closer to what could become a protracted legal battle, with serious implications for the East County Advanced Water Purification Project and the city’s massive $5 billion Pure Water sewage recycling venture.
The resort at Mammoth Mountain just announced it will extend the skiing season into June because of storms in April and May.
A week earlier and 350 miles south, tinder-dry conditions fueled a wildfire that ripped through Laguna Niguel, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate and destroying 20 homes.
The Tucson City Council voted unanimously to give back about a third of its Central Arizona Project water allocation to help an ailing Lake Mead.
The lake, hit hard by a prolonged drought, is at 31% capacity and dropping. It provides water for 20 million people in Arizona, California and Nevada as well as large swaths of farmland.
“I feel that the city of Tucson is in a position where we can add water back to the lake, specifically Lake Mead,” said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero before the vote.
