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Zero Delta Smelt Found in Latest Search. New Habitat Hopes to Change That

/in , , /by /GV Wireby Jim Jakobs

An annual search for a tiny endangered and contentious fish in the sprawling California Delta has once again come up empty.

The state’s annual Fall Midwater Trawl Survey found no delta smelt in September’s sampling of the critical waterway. The last time the rare fish turned up in a survey was in October 2017 when just two were found. Hoping to reverse the recent trend, the Westlands Water District and the California Department of Water Resources announced the completion of a Delta habitat restoration project on Wednesday.

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Otay Ranch Resort Village, with 1,938 Homes, Wins County Supervisors’ OK

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby City News Service

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors Wednesday voted 4-1 in favor of Otay Ranch Resort Village 13, a mixed-use community to be developed near the city of Chula Vista.

When completed, Otay Ranch Resort Village will feature 1,938 energy-efficient homes, a fire station, sheriff’s station, trails, an elementary school, parks and open space, according to a county staff presentation.

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Agencies Unite to Fight Troublesome Mussels

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Michael Doyle

The Trump administration today announced a newly strengthened team effort to combat invasive mussels.

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Tesla to Help Power Santa Barbara’s Cater Water Treatment Plant

/in , , /by /Santa Barbara Independentby Nick Welsh

At a time when every other car on the South Coast seems to be a Tesla, it’s fitting that the City of Santa Barbara will soon be relying on a small mountain of Tesla storage batteries to help move water in and out of its Cater Water Treatment Plant high atop San Roque Road to customers as far away as Montecito. With precious little fanfare, Santa Barbara’s City Council authorized a chain of events that will eventually result in the installation of 16 Tesla battery packs — valued at $3 million — at the facility.

All those battery packs combined will create a stylishly designed assembly of white metal boxes bearing Tesla’s distinctive corporate monogram that together will be about 60 feet wide, seven feet high, and five feet deep. On a good day, these batteries will be capable of cranking out 700 kilowatts of electricity, which is roughly 70 percent of the total load needed to move the 37 million gallons of treated H2O that go in and out of Cater each day.

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What Happens When a Rural Area’s Only Well is Contaminated?

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rebecca Sohn

In the spring of 2013, Jocelyn Walters moved Nativearth, her family’s small shoe business, into a warehouse in Mariposa Industrial Park that gave them more space to grow.

But there was one quirk of the new space she hadn’t foreseen.

The industrial park, which has only four businesses and isn’t connected to the town’s water system, gets its water from a well on her family’s property on the outskirts of Yosemite National Park. So Walters found herself helping run a water company from a shoe business.

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U.S. Agricultural Water Use Declining for Most Crops and Livestock Production

/in , , /by /Water Online

Climate change and a growing world population require efficient use of natural resources. Water is a crucial component in food production, and water management strategies are needed to support worldwide changes in food consumption and dietary patterns.

Agricultural production and food manufacturing account for a third of water usage in the U.S. Water use fluctuates with weather patterns but is also affected by shifts in production technology, supply-chain linkages, and domestic and foreign consumer demand.

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Kern Farmers Tapped for $14 million to Study Delta Tunnel

/in , , /by /SJV Water (San Joaquin Valley)by Lois Henry

Kern County farmers on Wednesday agreed to chip in $14 million over the next two years to kick off another attempt to move water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta via tunnel.

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San Diego County Still Working on Climate Action Plan

/in , , /by /KPBS-FM/TVby Erik Anderson

San Diego County is already working on another climate action plan, hoping they can finally come up with one that stands up to legal scrutiny.

The county has, over the past 10 years, put together four climate action plans. Each was a spectacular failure.

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Trump Pushes New Environmental Rollbacks on Way Out the Door

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Matthew Brown and Ellen Knickmeyer

Down to its final weeks, the Trump administration is working to push through dozens of environmental rollbacks that could weaken century-old protections for migratory birds, expand Arctic drilling and hamstring future regulation of public health threats.

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WaterSmart Contractor Incentive Program Benefits San Elijo HOA

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

A major landscape makeover is helping a San Diego County neighborhood save money during these uncertain economic times. The WaterSmart Contractor Incentive Program helps qualified landscape contractors as well as large homeowners associations, save money and improve water-use efficiency in large landscapes by retrofitting irrigation devices.

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