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Opinion: Huntington Beach Desalination Plant is a Crucial Tool in California’s Climate Change Arsenal

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Mark Donovan

On May 12, the California Coastal Commission is expected to consider final approval of the Huntington Beach desalination plant. Poseidon Water has weaved through the state’s complex and evolving regulatory landscape for nearly two decades in pursuit of that development permit.

Signing off on this project would demonstrate that seawater desalination — a proven water resource technology relied upon around the world to combat the effects of climate change and drought — has a future in California.

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Marin Water Board Rescinds Emergency Declaration for New Watering Rules

/in , , /by /CBS Bay Area

The Marin Water Board of Directors rescinded the county’s water shortage emergency declaration and updated its water use rules this week, adopting new requirements for outdoor irrigation and swimming pools.

A water emergency in Marin County was declared in the fall of 2021 after reserves reached critically low levels. According to the water board, the county’s reservoirs are way up and are currently at 90 percent capacity due to record rainfall that arrived in October and December of last year.

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Water Districts Targeting Wasteful Residents as Historically Bad Drought Continues

/in , , /by /CBSLA

Californians continue to get hit with water conservation restrictions while in the midst of one of the worst droughts in state history. Now, some water districts are taking another step towards limiting waste from residents who have incurred multiple violations in recent months.

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Opinion: Newsom’s Pragmatism on Desalination, Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Makes Sense

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

A strong case can be made that modern environmentalism was born in California. In 1864, Yosemite Valley and a nearby grove of sequoias became the nation’s first publicly protected wilderness area. Exactly 100 years later, after many other environmental landmarks, the state issued the world’s first tailpipe-emission standards.

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At California’s Second Biggest Lake, the Latest Fallout of Drought Is Gruesome

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

At California’s second biggest freshwater lake, the latest fallout of drought is gruesome: dead fish in nearby stream beds that have run dry.

Some of the foot-long, silvery Clear Lake hitch have been decapitated by raccoons and other varmints, which have had easy pickings of the beached minnow.

The grim sightings by Lake County and tribal crews surveying the lake have prompted a rescue effort over the past week to save hitch, a threatened species found only in this region. Many are still stranded in what little water remains in the channels amid larger questions about the fate of the fish and the state of drought-diminished Clear Lake.

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Businesses Evacuated After Ruptured Water Main Floods Morena Streets, Opens Sinkhole

/in , /by /Times of San Diego

A water main ruptured at a construction site in a Morena commercial district Thursday, causing a sinkhole, evacuations of businesses and closures of nearby traffic lanes.

The failed pipeline began flooding the 800 block of Sherman Street about 3:45 p.m., according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

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Watershed Moment

/in , , /by /Stanford Magazineby Tracie White

Dave Steindorf knows California’s North Fork Feather River like his backyard. He’s driven along its banks so many times, people wave to him as he goes by. As he passes, he takes mental notes about any day-to-day changes—silt backup in reservoirs that could muck up habitat, or river levels low enough to threaten frog and trout spawning grounds. His personal slogan is “Couch potatoes make poor river advocates,” so he gets out in the river whenever he can, on his kayak or with a fly-fishing rod in his hands.

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Patrols, Fines, Altered Landscapes: How Severe SoCal Water Restrictions Will Roll Out

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

More than a week after the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced its harshest-ever water restrictions for millions of residents across the region, several of the affected water agencies are offering a preview of how life will change throughout Southland when the rules kick in June 1.

The restrictions target areas that rely heavily or entirely on the State Water Project, a Northern California water supply that officials say is dangerously low after the state’s driest-ever start to the year.

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Dozens of Water Agencies Meet to Discuss Drought

/in , , /by /FOX 40by Zach Boetto and Jose Fabian Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Dry heat is already being felt at the beginning of May, and without rain, the drought continues across all of California.

Experts said California is in its third consecutive year of drought.

This week, some of the top water experts in the state were in Sacramento to think of solutions. Experts talked about the ongoing dry hydrology – the idea that this dry climate will be consistent up and down the state for the foreseeable future.

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Opinion: Newsom Gets It Right On Desalination

/in , , /by /The Orange County Register

Kudos to Gov. Gavin Newsom for increasing his support for the $1.4 billion Poseidon Water desalination in Huntington Beach. “We need more tools in the damn tool kit. We are as dumb as we want to be,” he said Friday in a meeting with the Bay Area News Group editorial board. “What more evidence do you need that you need to have more tools in the tool kit than what we’ve experienced? Seven out of the last 10 years have been severe drought.”

California is thirsty. And another drought is making us thirstier.

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