Poway Secures $1M in Federal Funding for Water Project
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.
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State Unveils Long-Awaited Standard for Drinking Water Contaminant
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.
Oceanside Holding Ribbon Cutting for First Operating Potable Water Reuse Project in San Diego County
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.
Dry Winter Combined With Another Bay Area Heat Wave Raises Concerns Amid Drought
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.
Water Authority Confident in Local Water Supply, But Still Urges Conservation Amid Drought
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.
As It Enters a Third Year, California’s Drought Is Strangling the Farming Industry
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.
California Drought Conditions Predicted to Worsen in Coming Months, Federal Forecasters Say
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.
Drought Year Three in California, 2022
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.
Water Authority Confident in Local Water Supply But Still Asks to Conserve
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.
Lake Powell Water Crisis Is About to Be an Energy Crisis
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.
