Pure Water Oceanside will be the first operating potable water reuse project in San Diego County. Pure Water Oceanside will purify recycled water to provide a local water supply that is clean, safe and drought-proof.
California’s reservoir system serves many important functions. Reservoirs allow for water storage throughout the summer and provide recreational space. Releases from reservoirs also help to keep drinking water free of salt and other contaminants. Water is also regularly released into the Delta to help maintain the stability of the region’s ecosystem
But with 2022 off to a record dry start, water managers are concerned that there won’t be enough water in reservoirs to keep meeting all of those needs through the summer months.
The California Department of Water Resources is cutting its water allocation for the State Water Project to 5%—down from its earlier promised allotment of 15%.
The agency cited dropping reservoir levels and reduced snowpack amid California’s continuing drought.
The March 18 announcement marked another setback for farmers and others who rely on state surface-water supplies.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has announced its second phase of funding through the Urban and Multibenefit Drought Relief Grant program.
The program will provide financial assistance to 62 projects throughout the state to tackle drought impacts on human health and safety, protect fish and wildlife resources, and support other public benefits, such as ecosystem improvements.
Of the $180 million in funding, half will support various types of water supply projects including groundwater, surface water, recycled water, and supply reliability.
Monterey city officials are again lobbying state water overseers to open taps that have been blocked for years because of illegal diversions from the Carmel River, arguing that those diversions are no longer occurring. State water officials disagree.
In a March 17 letter to the chairman and other members of the state Water Resources Control Board, Monterey Mayor Clyde Roberson and other City Council members argued that California American Water Co. is, more or less, no longer making illegal diversions since the amount of acre-feet that is being consumed is now down to the limit set by the water board.
The San Diego County Water Authority and three member agencies are partnering with Altman Plants for an Adopt-A-Plant event Saturday in Encinitas.
Vista-based Altman Plants, the largest nursery plant grower in the nation, has led efforts to increase water-efficiency and sustainability. The first 500 guests will receive free Smart Planet-brand drought-tolerant succulents to spur more residents to adopt water-efficient landscaping.
Water managers from across the Colorado River Basin are preparing to negotiate new rules for allocating the river’s dwindling flow and sharing the pain of a deepening shortage.
They’re adapting the 100-year-old Colorado River Compact to a river that little resembles the bountiful gusher that negotiators from seven states and the federal government in 1922 thought — or hoped — would bless the Southwest forever. The stakes rise with every foot that Lake Mead and Lake Powell fall, as the states and the water users within them recognize they’re due for a tighter squeeze.
From the Murray-Darling system to Great Artesian Basin, “invisible” underground groundwater is often the only water supply available across the vast majority of Australia—and its annual contribution to GDP is estimated at more than $6.8 billion a year.
However, overuse of groundwater during droughts and aquifer depletion has led to water crises, including in Australia’s “food bowl” the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), California and Cape Town in South Africa, with more likely to follow as groundwater management is largely reactive and unlikely to avert more crises as climate change and population pressures grow.
NBC 7’s Joe Little talks to business owners who were shut down by a major leak in the water system in 2019 to see why this multi-million dollar project is so important.
California today proposed a long-awaited standard for a cancer-causing contaminant in drinking water that would require costly treatment in many cities throughout the state.
Traces of hexavalent chromium are widely found in the drinking water of millions of Californians, with some of the contamination naturally occurring and some from industries that work with the heavy metal.
The proposed standard is a major step in a decades-long effort to curtail the water contaminant made infamous by the movie Erin Brockovich, based on residents of rural Hinkley, California who won more than $300 million from Pacific Gas & Electric for contamination of their drinking water.
