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Oceanside Holding Ribbon Cutting for First Operating Potable Water Reuse Project in San Diego County

/in , , /by /CBS8by Chris Gros

Tuesday is a big day for San Diego County as a first-of-its-kind project that will change how we get our drinking water will open.

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.

The plant will recycle the water using state-of-the-art purification technology that replicates and accelerates nature’s natural recycling process.

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Dry Winter Combined With Another Bay Area Heat Wave Raises Concerns Amid Drought

/in , , /by /ABC 7 Newsby Amanda del Castillo

Parts of the Bay Area are expected to heat up on Tuesday. Warm temperatures could be near record-breaking in some areas. The heatwave comes only days after Saturday’s storm, which wasn’t significant enough to impact drought conditions.

There is looming concern, as the state struggles to conserve water.

The warm weather and sunny skies forecast for Tuesday will bring a typical springtime event, according to Meteorology and Climate Science expert Alison Bridger.

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Water Authority Confident in Local Water Supply, But Still Urges Conservation Amid Drought

/in , , /by /Times of San Diego by City News Service Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

California’s Department of Water Resources Friday announced that due to the ongoing statewide drought, it must reduce the State Water Project allocation to 5% of requested supplies for 2022, but San Diego County Water Authority officials said they remain confident in the region’s supply.

DWR previously set the allocation at 15% but a historically dry January and February, with no significant storms forecast for March, required a reduction in the allocation to conserve available water supply, a statement from the state agency read.

Local water supply

“Today’s announcement about reduced allocations from the State Water Project brings into focus the increasing challenges created by the megadrought,” said Sandra L. Kerl, general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. “This is an emergency felt throughout the state and we strongly support continued conservation.”

“Reduced water deliveries from the State Water Project highlight how the San Diego region’s conservation ethic combined with investments in drought-resilient supplies are paying off,” Kerl said. “The region uses very little water from the Bay-Delta, and even with reduced allocations, the Water Authority has reliable water supplies for 2022 and beyond.”

In addition to the 5% allocation, DWR will also provide any unmet critical health and safety needs of the 29 water agencies that contract to receive State Water Project supplies.

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As It Enters a Third Year, California’s Drought Is Strangling the Farming Industry

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Scott Wilson

The school is disappearing.

Westside Elementary opened its doors nearly a century ago here in the San Joaquin Valley, among the most productive agricultural regions on earth. As recently as 1995, nearly 500 students filled its classrooms. Now 160 students attend and enrollment is falling fast.

This was where the children of farmworkers learned to read and write, often next to the children of the farm owners who employed their parents.

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California Drought Conditions Predicted to Worsen in Coming Months, Federal Forecasters Say

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

Serious drought conditions across California and the West are expected to worsen this spring into early summer, with hotter-than-normal temperatures, reduced chances of rain and increased fire risk likely, federal forecasters said Thursday.

The next three months through the end of June show little to no drought relief, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency of the National Weather Service.

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Drought Year Three in California, 2022

/in , , /by /California WaterBlogby Jay Lund

2022 is another drought year, although we won’t know exactly how dry for about another month.  Precipitation and snowpack this year in California are below average.  In addition, the prolonged dry and warm months of January through March of this year’s “wet” season will have evaporated more water from watersheds and reduced snowpack, reducing runoff and groundwater recharge from this year’s modest precipitation and likely lengthening this year’s wildfire season.

Some reservoirs did refill during the wetter-than usual December, but many of the largest reservoirs remain significantly lower than at this time last year, in the 2nd year of this drought.

 

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Water Authority Confident in Local Water Supply But Still Asks to Conserve

/in , , /by /CBS 8by City News Service / Richard Allyn

California’s Department of Water Resources Friday announced that due to the ongoing statewide drought, it must reduce the State Water Project allocation to 5% of requested supplies for 2022, but San Diego County Water Authority officials said they remain confident in the region’s supply.

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Lake Powell Water Crisis Is About to Be an Energy Crisis

/in , , /by /Gristby Jake Bittle

Stretching for 186 miles along the border of Utah and Arizona, Lake Powell serves as one of two major reservoirs that anchor the Colorado River. Last week, the lake reached a disturbing new milestone: water levels fell to their lowest threshold ever, since the lake was created by the damming of the Colorado in 1963.

The precipitous drop is the result of the decades-long drought in the American West that has ravaged the Colorado River for years, forcing unprecedented water cuts in states like Arizona.

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Fifty Percent of U.S. Waterways Impaired by Pollution: Report

/in , /by /The Hillby Sharon Udasin

A half century after the passage of the federal Clean Water Act, 50 percent of U.S. river and stream miles are so polluted that they are classified as “impaired,” a new report has found.

Not only are 50 percent of these waterways impaired, but so too are 55 percent of lakes, ponds and reservoirs and 25 percent of bays, estuaries and harbors — meaning that none of these resources are suitable for public uses, according to the report.

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Opinion: California’s Drought Response Isn’t Working. It’s Time to Order Cuts in Water Use.

/in , /by /Los Angeles Times

California is in year three of a worsening drought and the situation is growing dire. After a wet and snowy December, California experienced its driest January and February on record. More than 93% of the state is now suffering “severe” or “extreme” drought, compared with 66% last month, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Sierra Nevada snowpack has dropped to 55% of normal for this time of year and reservoirs are depleted.

Gov. Gavin Newsom in July called for Californians to voluntarily reduce water use by 15% compared with 2020 levels, but the state has cut back by only about 6.5%. In January, urban water use increased by 2.6%, compared with the same month in 2020, heading in the wrong direction even as the drought deepens.

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