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LAFCO Remains Neutral on RCD Participation in GSA

/in , /by /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman

Under Local Agency Formation Commission law, the county LAFCO agency must grant latent powers to a special district if such latent powers are not already authorized by state law. Under a law called the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act local agencies were required to form a Groundwater Sustainability Agency for high-priority and medium-priority basins by July 2017 and have a January 2022 deadline to develop plans to achieve long-term groundwater sustainability.

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Gavin Newsom Declares a Drought Emergency – But It’s Limited to Two Counties in California

/in , , /by /Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Sophia Bollag

Gov. Gavin Newsom officially declared a drought emergency Wednesday in one of the driest regions of California, the Russian River watershed in Northern California.

While the governor stopped short of declaring a statewide drought, the move makes various forms of drought assistance available for Sonoma and Mendocino counties and could allow the state to take swifter action on curtailing farmers and others from pulling water from the river.

However, Newsom said his order won’t bring the imposition of water-conservation mandates.

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East County Advanced Water Purification Program Video

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

A new video explains how the East County Advanced Water Purification Program will create a new, local, reliable and drought proof supply of drinking water for San Diego residents. The four-minute video, The Clear Solution, shows how recycling and reusing the region’s wastewater will create high quality drinking water. The East County AWP is one of several potable water reuse or recycling projects under development in the San Diego region.

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Drought Spreads Water Shortages Throughout State

/in , , /by /AgAlert (California Farm Bureau)by Christine Souza

The 2020-21 California drought has led to significant water cutbacks, compelling farmers to fallow ground and public officials to respond with legislation intended to address the state’s chronic water shortages. Farmers in more parts of the state have learned in recent days just how little water they will have available to them this summer, as water suppliers from the Oregon border to the North Coast to the San Joaquin Valley announced low allocations.

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This Stunning Timelapse Shows the Megadrought’s Toll on the West’s Largest Reservoir

/in , , /by /VoxMedia by Lili Pike

Just how bad is the drought in the Western US? The shrinking of Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir, is a troubling indicator.

The massive man-made lake, which straddles the border of Arizona and Nevada, is now only at 39% of its full capacity, down from 44% in April 2020. That’s equivalent to a 10-foot drop in the water level, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Reclamation. Which means mandatory restrictions on the amount of water surrounding states draw from Lake Mead could be triggered in the next few months.

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Opinion: Recycling Water has to Become the Norm Because it is Too Scarce and Too Valuable to Waste

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sunby Ari Goldfarb

Like millions of teens around the world, my daughter enjoys long showers. Unlike many fathers of teens, however, I see a bright side to the family water bill. We’re not just taking showers. We’re growing grapes.

Our family lives in Israel, the international capital of water recycling, where nearly 90% of our supply is used more than once. In our area of southern Israel, that means the water flowing down our home drain is used on nearby farms to grow some of the tastiest table grapes on Earth. Turns out my daughter is a friend of agriculture.

All over the globe, climate change is turning fresh water into an increasingly precious commodity. Many countries and regions suffer from extended drought. Rising temperatures increase evaporation from reservoirs. Snow falls less and melts sooner on mountains. And rising sea levels increase saltwater intrusion contamination in fresh water wells along coastal communities.

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“We’ve Been Here Before”: Valley Counties Pile on Newsom to Declare Drought Emergency

/in , /by /San Joaquin Valley Sunby Daniel Gligich

A coalition of Central Valley counties is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare an emergency declaration in response to the drought crisis.

The chairs of the Board of Supervisors for Fresno, Madera, Stanislaus, Tulare, San Joaquin, Kings, Kern and Merced counties sent a joint letter to the governor in support of a letter from a bipartisan mix of Valley legislators spurring a yet-to-be-issued emergency declaration.

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Santa Maria Providing Customers with Groundwater Due to Drought

/in , , /by /KEYT (Santa Barbara)

The City of Santa Maria is providing all of its customers with groundwater supplies, due to the drought. The City says it’s meeting all drinking water standards, but customers may notice a difference in the water due to the increased hardness and mineral content. The exclusive use of local groundwater will continue through May, and the City anticipates again relying solely on the groundwater basin for November and December.

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Public Weighs Potential Fixes to Plug Sewage Problem at US-Mexico Border

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Bianca Bruno

The San Diego region last year secured $300 million to plug a decades-long wastewater pollution crises in waters that snake across the U.S.-Mexico border and dump raw sewage, trash and sediment into the Pacific Ocean.

On Tuesday, Environmental Protection Agency officials held a virtual public meeting attended by more than 130 people to reveal 10 project proposals being considered to fix crumbing wastewater infrastructure at the border using the $300 million earmarked by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

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Opinion: To Keep the Lights On, Here’s How California Should Plan for the Extraordinary

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Julia Prochnik

The headlines are grim. Texas’ power grid fails in the midst of a deadly cold snap, putting millions at risk. A historic heat wave brings California’s power grid to its knees, putting millions at risk. Two massive states with two distinctly different approaches to energy, yet still facing a similar outcome: failure and blackouts. In both cases the cause is the same, a failure to plan for extraordinary climate events that are becoming all too ordinary.

In principle, California has moved in the right direction by embracing renewable energy. But in practice, due in part to bureaucratic delay, it has fallen short and now California’s energy leadership is on a precipice. Move forward with bold action to deploy, procure and plan for a diverse and complementary portfolio of renewable energy and storage – and California fulfils its pursuit of a true green energy economy. Hold back and California cedes its energy future to fossil fuels. It should be an easy decision.

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