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Report Says Pasadena’s Groundwater Water Needs to be “Stabilized”; City Seeks Assurance of Continued MWD Supply

/in , /by /Pasadena Now

Pasadena Water and Power will be reporting about the City’s Water Supply and Projected Water Use for the years 2025 through 2040 when they appear Tuesday at a meeting of the City Council’s Municipal Services Committee.

A preliminary PWP report showed the presentation on Tuesday will focus on residential demand and regulatory drivers for water efficiency in new and existing residential projects.

The report, from PWP Interim General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger, said the City continues to draw 30 to 40 percent of its water supply out of local groundwater from the Raymond Basin. The remainder of the water requirement is imported from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD).

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College Scholarships Offered for Water Industry Education

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Multiple California water associations and water agencies in San Diego County are offering college scholarships to help candidates achieve their goals.

A large number of recent retirements combined with the need for a skilled workforce up to date on new technologies have resulted in a critical need to increase the talent pool of skilled individuals in the water and wastewater industry, including in San Diego County.

Scholarships are available for community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, and graduate-level programs.

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New Water Restrictions in Place for Thousands in Diamond Bar, Pomona, Walnut

/in , , /by /CBS Los Angelesby CBSLA Staff

The WVWD Board of Directors declared a level 2 water shortage, which calls for a 20% drop in water use.

The Walnut Valley Water District has about 100,000 customers in parts of Diamond Bar, Walnut, the City of Industry, Pomona, West Covina and an unincorporated area of Rowland Heights.

Under the restrictions, residents are limited to watering their lawns only three days per week. There is also no watering between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

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People Haven’t Just Made the Planet Hotter. We’ve Changed the Way It Rains.

/in , , /by /USA TODAYby USA TODAY Staff

You probably noticed a lot of weird weather in 2021.

From record-breaking deluges and tropical storms to drought-stricken landscapes that erupted in wildfire, the nation seemed to lurch from one weather-related disaster to the next.

You’re forgiven if you dismiss these events as unrelated, albeit unfortunate, phenomena. But they actually share a common bond – they’re all part of a new climate reality where supersized rainfalls and lengthening droughts have become the norm.

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Busting Water Limits Won’t Cost You in Marin County: Penalties Canceled as Rain Fills Reservoirs

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Danielle Echeverria

After recent reservoir-boosting rainfall, Marin County’s largest water district decided Tuesday to repeal recently established financial penalties for excessive water use.

In September, the Marin Municipal Water District board adopted an ordinance that established financial penalties for exceeding certain water use limits it set in April as drought conditions worsened across the Bay Area and California.

In the September ordinance, the district set penalties for going over “tier 1” water usage, which, for single family households, is 65 gallons of water per person, per day. Penalties would range from $5 to $15, depending on how much customers went over that limit.

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UN Report: the World’s Farms Stretched to ‘a Breaking Point’

/in , , /by /Yale Climate Connectionsby Dana Nuccitelli

Almost 10% of the 8 billion people on earth are already undernourished with 3 billion lacking healthy diets, and the land and water resources farmers rely on stressed to “a breaking point.” And by 2050 there will be 2 billion more mouths to feed, warns a new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

For now, farmers have been able to boost agricultural productivity by irrigating more land and applying heavier doses of fertilizer and pesticides. But the report says these practices are not sustainable: They have eroded and degraded soil while polluting and depleting water supplies and shrinking the world’s forests.

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COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance Shows San Diego’s Case Surge is Slowing

/in , , /by /KPBS-FM/TVby Matt Hoffman and Nicholas McVicker

COVID-19 wastewater data now shows that the record spread of the virus in San Diego is beginning to fall.

“We’re coming off the surge for sure,” said UC San Diego Professor Rob Knight. “However, it’s possible that cases will continue to rise or maybe peak around now.”

Knight leads the project that has been analyzing San Diegans sewage from the Point Loma treatment plan over the last two years. He said wastewater is a leading indicator of the virus’ spread, with data typically three weeks ahead of confirmed cases.

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Water Board Tables Delta Drought Regulation

/in , /by /Agri Pulseby Brad Hooker

The State Water Resources Control Board on Wednesday withdrew an emergency drought regulation for the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.

Despite a dry January, board staff said the regulation, known as a temporary urgency change petition (TUCP), would not improve conditions if implemented as planned in February. They found no potential benefits to Shasta and Trinity reservoirs, which have the greatest need for water.

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Poseidon Water Could Receive Millions in State Bonds for Huntington Beach Plant

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Matt Szabo

The controversial Poseidon Water seawater desalination plant in Huntington Beach could be in line to receive millions in state funds from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee.

The committee met Wednesday, a three-hour meeting during which it partially decided how to divide up more than $4.3 billion in tax exempt Private Activity Bonds that are available for distribution in 2022.

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Record-Setting December Rains Spell Relief for San Diego Area Farmers

/in , /by /NBC San Diegoby Omari Fleming

San Diego County is in the midst of moderate drought conditions, even after experiencing its 28th-wettest December on record, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS).

For farmers like Charley Wolk in Fallbrook, last month’s rain was money to their ears.

“That December rain was verging on miraculous,” Wolk said.

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