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Local Giant Kelp Forests are Threatened by Warming Waters, Experts Say

/in , /by /La Jolla Lightby Elisabeth Frausto

The waters off San Diego are home to the two largest kelp forests on the West Coast, and both are being closely watched by local experts who are concerned about the effects of climate change on the underwater groves.

The giant kelp forests off La Jolla and Point Loma are important to the ecosystem, said Ed Parnell, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla whose studies focus on coastal ecosystems in Southern California.

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California Fires: State Feds Agree to Thin Millions of Acres of Forests

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

The two dozen major fires burning across Northern California were sparked by more than 12,000 lightning strikes, a freak weather occurrence that turned what had been a relatively mild fire season into a devastating catastrophe

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Officials Urge Water Conservation, Caution in Face of Raging Wildfires

/in , /by /SF GATEby Bay City News Service

With the North Bay’s LNU Complex Fire topping 124,000 acres Wednesday and new state evacuation orders emerging every few hours, local and state officials urged Bay Area residents to take a variety of precautions. The city of Healdsburg said Wednesday evening that all of its roughly 12,000 residents should be prepared to evacuate their homes “soon.”

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California’s Delta Tunnel Project Inches Forward – and Just Got a $15.9 Billion Price Tag

/in , , /by /Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

When Gov. Gavin Newsom downsized the Delta tunnels water project last year, the idea was to save money and try to appease at least some of the project’s critics. Yet the project remains controversial — and still figures to be costly. After months of relative quiet, Newsom’s administration released a preliminary cost estimate for the scaled-back project Friday: $15.9 billion for a single tunnel running beneath the estuary just south of Sacramento.

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Poor Planning Left California Short of Electricity in a Heat Wave

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Ivan Penn

Everybody had known for days that a heat wave was about to wallop California. Yet a dashboard maintained by the organization that manages the state’s electric grid showed that scores of power plants were down or producing below peak strength, a stunning failure of planning, poor record keeping and sheer bad luck.

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WRDA 2020 May Have to Wait Until Lame Duck

/in , /by /Engineering News-Recordby Tom Ichniowski

A new Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, has made headway in Congress, most recently with House passage of a bill authorizing about $9 billion for Army Corps of Engineers flood and storm protection, environmental restoration and other projects.

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Vallecitos WD Uses Innovative Technology to Monitor Water Quality

/in , , , /by /Water News Network

The Vallecitos Water District is known for its sustainable practices in water and wastewater treatment processes, without any compromise in water quality. The district is now using a new ultrasound technology to address water quality at the Stanley A. Mahr Reservoir with a reduced need for chemical treatment. Mahr Reservoir was completed in 1981. Originally called La Costa Storage No. 1 Dam and Reservoir, it was renamed after the district’s original founder 35-year board member Stanley A. Mahr.

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Hurricane Genevieve May be Gone, but its ‘Ghost’ May Bring More Thunderstorms to Fire-Ravaged California

/in , , , /by /The Weather Channelby Jonathan Erdman

Hurricane Genevieve fizzled after hammering Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, but its remnant moisture and spin may boost thunderstorms in the Desert Southwest and fire-ravaged California through Monday.

Genevieve rapidly intensified to a Category 4 hurricane Tuesday, then grazed Mexico’s southern Baja California Peninsula as a weaker hurricane with flooding rain, high winds and high surf.

After that, as most hurricanes in this part of the eastern Pacific do when they move farther northwest over cooler water and more stable air, Genevieve fizzled rapidly into a remnant low west of the Baja Peninsula.

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California’s Delta tunnel project inches forward – and just got a $15.9 billion price tag

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

When Gov. Gavin Newsom downsized the Delta tunnels water project last year, the idea was to save money and try to appease at least some of the project’s critics.

Yet the project remains controversial — and still figures to be costly.

After months of relative quiet, Newsom’s administration released a preliminary cost estimate for the scaled-back project Friday: $15.9 billion for a single tunnel running beneath the estuary just south of Sacramento.

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San Diego County Website Helps Residents Protect Watershed

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Because San Diego County gets so little natural rainfall, most residents must artificially irrigate their landscaping. Rainfall becomes a welcome sight when it occurs. The County of San Diego’s Watershed Protection Program in the Department of Public Works has created a webpage with useful information and photos to educate the public and assist in preventing watershed damage.

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