The new U.S. Drought Monitor shows growing severe drought in the southeast corner of California. Moderate drought is also expanding in the same region and the northern border near Oregon.
The Drought Severity and Coverage Index also jumped from 82 to 94 in the last month. This index is an experimental product from the U.S. Drought Monitor converting drought levels to a single value.
The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a significant environmental case brought by San Francisco — one that some city officials are surprisingly hoping to lose.
San Francisco is suing the Environmental Protection Agency because it argues that current law makes the city responsible for more than its share of water pollution, sparking a legal battle that environmentalists fear the court’s 6-3 conservative majority could use to roll back clean water protections on a national scale.
On Oct. 1, the San Diego County Water Authority announced that the region has plenty of water to meet demands in water year 2025 regardless of the weather, thanks to regional investments in water reliability and consecutive wet winters.
A water year is a 12-month period that hydrologists use to track precipitation over the winter and spring with to understand how much water is available during the hot and dry summer months. Precipitation that falls during a water year indicates how much water will contribute to stream flow and groundwater. Right now, the focus is on the emerging La Niña weather pattern, which typically brings hotter and drier conditions to Southern California.
Poway’s average residential customers could see a nearly $33 bimonthly increase on their water bill next spring.
The city has planned for 6 percent annual water rate increases since January 2022. The increases are considered adjustments for rate increases by the city’s water supplier, San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA). On Jan. 1, 2025 customers will see an increase of $23.51 to their bimonthly billing period.
There are few government agencies more central to daily life in Los Angeles than the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which spends billions of dollars each year ensuring that 19 million people have enough to drink, in part by importing hundreds of billions of gallons from the Colorado River and Northern California.
There are also few agencies more prone to bitter power struggles.
Voters in division five of the Sweetwater Authority had a mystery to solve last week: Who’s running to represent them at the water agency?
Sweetwater Authority supplies drinking water to roughly 200,000 people in southwestern San Diego County. Division five encompasses Bonita, the Sweetwater Valley and parts of northern Chula Vista.
Sectors that underpin modern society face rising cyber threats. Water, electricity and satellites — which support everything from GPS navigation to credit card processing — are at increasing risk. Legacy infrastructure and increased connectivity challenge water and the power grid, while the space sector struggles with safeguarding in-orbit satellites that were designed before modern cyber concerns. But many different players are offering advice and resources and working to develop tools and strategies for a more cyber-safe landscape.
When the water sector runs as it should, wastewater is properly treated to avoid spread of disease; drinking water is safe for residents; and water is available for needs like firefighting, hospitals, and heating and cooling processes, per the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Among the many questions on your California ballot this November is whether to approve a $10 billion state bond to invest in climate adaptation. Proposition 4 is one of the largest bonds on the ballot in the country this year.
The money in the bond will be used to make communities more resilient against climate change.
San Diego County voters have a lot on their ballots this year — and many of the races might be unfamiliar.
Along with the more publicized races, voters will also be choosing the people they want to lead a range of local elected bodies, including community planning groups, water districts, fire protection districts and more.
Living in Southern California, it may frequently cross your mind: when will the next big earthquake hit?
“We’re afraid of earthquakes because they’re sudden, we can’t predict them, you don’t see them coming,” seismologist Lucy Jones told Eyewitness News.
