La Niña, the cooling of the equatorial Pacific that shifts weather patterns the world over, is fading away. But California may still be prone to dryness, and the U.S. Gulf Coast faces the risk of another busy hurricane season. Water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean will likely return to normal in the next few months, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said in a report Thursday.
Ventura County has moved into severe drought conditions as it wraps up what is typically the rainiest months of the year.
The Central Valley has reached a critical juncture.
On one path, without proactive, collaborative planning, the Valley could become a haphazard patchwork of dusty fields infested with invasive weeds and pests, further impairing already poor air quality, devastating the agricultural economy and putting many farmworkers out of work.
On another path, the Valley can remain a thriving agricultural region amid a mosaic of new land uses, like vibrant habitat corridors for the endangered San Joaquin kit fox or wildlife-friendly groundwater recharge areas for migratory birds or outdoor recreational green spaces for families.
The BBC posted an article this week, written by reporter Paige Sutherland and entitled, “The water fight over the shrinking Colorado River”. I guess that officially makes us — the folks dependent upon that same Colorado River — famous.
But does this have to be a “fight”? How about, instead, “The earnest conversation over the shrinking Colorado River”?
The electronic payment the Rainbow Municipal Water District made to the San Diego County Water Authority didn’t process by the date it was due, so Rainbow was assessed a late penalty. The fault was in the electronic processing rather than Rainbow’s lack of a payment attempt, so March 25, the SDCWA board unanimously approved a waiver of the penalty.
The water agencies in Fallbrook and Rainbow announced Thursday they will move forward with an effort to leave the San Diego County Water Authority and join the Eastern Municipal Water District in southwest Riverside County.
The Rancho California Water District received a nearly $3.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency which will fund up to 75% of Phase 1 of the Vail Dam Hazard Mitigation Project. Phase 1 has already begun and includes pre-construction activities such as design, environmental compliance and permitting to upgrade the dam at Vail Lake, located east of Temecula.
The Fallbrook Public Utility District approved a contract with SCADA Integrations to upgrade the conveyor system at FPUD’s Water Reclamation Plant with a programmable logic controller system.
A 5-0 FPUD board vote Monday, March 22, approved the request for proposals submission from SCADA Integrations. The upgrade will be constructed in two phases, and the contract has a total value of $128,470.
The Rainbow Municipal Water District is planning to sell some of its property to fund the replacement of its current headquarters, but that will require prerequisites to have potential buyers interested in the land.
Rainbow has contracted with MasterCraft Homes Group, LLC, for a development study which is being performed in phases, and on March 23 Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy provided the Rainbow board with an update on information which has been obtained from the study.
SRK Engineering received the Fallbrook Public Utility District contract to replace FPUD’s Gum Tree Pipeline.
The FPUD board voted 5-0 Monday, March 22, to award SRK a $428,500 contract, which matches the Escondido company’s bid. The work will replace approximately 1,400 feet of 20-inch diameter cement mortar lined and coated steel pipe along with associated appurtenances.
