You are now in Home Headline Media Coverage San Diego County category.

Water Authority General Manager Statement on Governor Newsom’s Expanded Drought Proclamation

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Sandra L. Kerl, general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority, issued the following statement on today’s expanded drought declaration and proclamation of a state emergency by Gov. Gavin Newsom and his call for Californians to voluntarily reduce water use by 15%:

“While the San Diego region is thankfully drought-safe this summer due to sound planning and decades-long ratepayer investments in new water supplies and storage and adoption of water conservation as a way of life, we must also be part of the statewide movement now underway to address water supply challenges created by drought and climate change in other parts of California.

“The Water Authority strongly supports the governor’s call for the public to voluntarily cutback water use by 15% in order to allow local, regional and state water agencies to plan and take the steps necessary under these changed conditions to maximize the availability of limited water supplies going forward, through the investment of state funding and implementation of other provisions of the Governor’s Proclamation of a State Emergency and Executive Order N-10-21 calling for water conservation.

“The Water Authority will be working closely with our member agencies and with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California over the next several days, weeks and months, to design and implement strategies to maximize water supply development in collaboration with Governor Newsom and state agencies, in order to protect California.”

Information about the Water Authority’s water-use-efficiency programs is at www.watersmartsd.org/.

Full Story

EV Deal Shows ‘Lithium Valley’ Could Be For Real

/in , /by /E&E Newsby David Ferris

If all goes to plan, General Motors Co.’s future electric cars will rely on batteries made from a broiling-hot, brownish fluid that gushes from the California desert.

The contours of that future emerged on Friday, when GM struck a deal with a little-known company called Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) to supply the country’s largest domestic automaker with tons of lithium from a desolate area called the Salton Sea.

The arrangement is the first concrete sign that “Lithium Valley,” as its boosters call it — a green industrial ecosystem that produces zero-carbon electricity, battery-grade lithium and lots of jobs — could actually become a thing.

Full Story

Vallecitos Employee Encourages Veterans to Work in Water Industry

/in , , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Vallecitos Water District Senior Pump and Motor Technician Dale Austin is a strong advocate and one-person recruiting program, encouraging military veterans to consider water and wastewater industry careers. As an eighth-generation military veteran with 20 years of service, he successfully transitioned to his current profession and wants to help others do the same.

“Every job in the military can be transferred into a water agency,” said Austin. “I’m a proud veteran. I will support veterans 110% any way I can, any time of the day.

Full Story

A Massive Water Recycling Proposal Could Help Ease Drought

/in , , /by /WIREDby Matt Simon

LAKE MEAD, WHICH provides water for 25 million people in the American West, has shrunk to 36 percent of its capacity. One rural California community has run out of water entirely after its well broke in early June. Fields are sitting fallow, as farmers sell their water allotments instead of growing crops, putting the nation’s food supply in peril.

As the West withers under extreme drought, legislators in the US House of Representatives have introduced HR 4099, a bill that would direct the Secretary of the Interior to create a program to fund $750 million worth of water recycling projects in the 17 western states through the year 2027.

Full Story

Drought-Stricken Western Districts Plan New Ways to Store Water

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Greenby Leslie Kaufman

Driving through the Sacramento valley an hour north of California’s capital, most travelers notice nothing but a few cows grazing on grass scorched brown by the heat. But Jerry Brown, the executive director of the Sites Reservoir Project, sees the future of California’s water system.

Full Story

From the Air, Drone Footage of Salton Sea Shows California Drought Impact

/in , , /by /Reuters

Drone footage taken at the Salton Sea, California’s largest inland lake, shows the dramatic effects of the state’s worst drought since 1977.

Its receding shoreline has caused an ecological crisis as exposed silt is carried into surrounding areas.

Full Story

Western Governors Make Bipartisan Plea as States Battle Record Heat and Drought

/in , , /by /CNN Politicsby Chandelis Duster

A pair of governors on Sunday called on the federal government for help and pushed for solutions as their states grapple with recording-breaking temperatures, drought and wildfires that officials have said is being driven by climate change.

Full Story

Authors Say Plan For the Worst on Colorado River

/in , , /by /KUNMby Megan Kamerick

The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people around the West, including New Mexico, but the historic drought gripping our region has prompted a 20% drop in flows in the river. Reservoirs are drying, with Lake Mead at its lowest levels since it was filled in the 1930s. As scientists incorporate these changes into future projections, an article in Science magazine urges them to plan for even greater declines in the river.

Full Story

Hydro Energy Reduced as California Reservoirs Shrink

/in , , /by /SJV Waterby Jesse Vad

California’s reservoirs and rivers are startlingly low, forcing many of the state’s more than 270 hydropower facilities to generate less power.

Lake Oroville, one of the state’s largest reservoirs, made headlines because its water levels have dropped so low the power plant may need to shut down for the first time. While most other hydropower plants aren’t at risk of shutting down, plants that rely on watersheds up and down the state are not able to generate normal amounts of power.

Full Story

Major Renovations Begin on Anderson Dam Tunnel Project; Reservoir Can’t be Used for 10 Years

/in , /by /KTVUby Elissa Harrington

Major renovations will begin Wednesday on the Anderson Dam tunnel project in Santa Clara County. The project will require the reservoir to be drained – and it will be unable to be used for 10 years.

Full Story