San Diego County residents who are trying to avoid grocery stores during the coronavirus pandemic can find a lot of their food needs met through a bountiful supply from local farmers, ranchers and other vendors.
An educational organization called “The Water Main” has just released a sweeping new survey of American’s knowledge and concerns about water. I encourage you to browse the full report, but here’s some key findings to entice you.
Technology is revolutionizing wastewater systems, which require a lot of maintenance but are difficult to access under the surface. Ari Goldfarb and Itai Boneh of Kando, a wastewater solutions company, examine how technology is improving wastewater systems and how Covid-19 is having an impact.
State officials said that California isn’t backing away from prioritizing environmental protections, but the harsh realities of the economic meltdown require difficult compromises.
The Trump administration’s long-anticipated water jurisdiction rule has already drawn a half-dozen legal challenges since its April release, with more on the way.
A hard-fought compromise on the saltwater restoration of the Buena Vista Lagoon won the enthusiastic support of the Carlsbad City Council last week.
The agreement between property owners, nonprofits and multiple governmental agencies outlines a plan to remove the weir, or low wooden dam at the mouth of the lagoon, and excavate the entire 220-acre preserve to restore tidal flushing.
Silt has been steadily filling the lagoon since the weir was built in the 1970s, and in the last 30 years about 62 acres of the formerly open water has been filled by cattails and reeds. Without intervention, the lagoon would continue to fill with sediment and vegetation until it eventually disappears.
Thirty-two Imperial Irrigation District (IID), employees committed to serving the community are finally going home after three weeks of fully committing to living at their job site to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The IID’s shelter in place program housed 32 essential employees in individual trailers.
All this was done to make sure employees stay protected in order to continue to bring water and energy to the 400,000 people they serve in the Imperial and Coachella Valley.
The way we use water is one of the many aspects of daily life that has changed in lockdown.
Commercial use may be down, but domestic use has increased.
With greater levels of hand washing, tea drinking and gardening, demand has risen “considerably,” according to David Murray, a field technician for the water network.
Mr. Murray has worked with water for 35 years and has seen how our recent usage has put pressure on the system.
The Poseidon desalination plant proposed for Huntington Beach could be facing rough waters ahead, as several regulatory officials on Friday expressed concerns over the controversial plan..
During a Regional Water Quality Control Board workshop held online, three of the agency’s six board members persistently pressed local officials about the need, consumer cost and environmental harm of the $1 billion project.
The board is tentatively scheduled to a vote July 31 on one of two permits still needed by Poseidon Water before it can negotiate a final contract and begin construction on a project that that company has been pursuing for two decades. The proposal needs four votes from the regional board before it can go before the Coastal Commission for its last permit.
The Orange County Water District, the prospective purchaser of the water, has been attracted to the desalination project because it’s drought-proof and would protect its service area of 2.5 million residents from shortages of imported water. Currently, about 23% of the district’s water is imported.
When the proposal for the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District to detach from the San Diego County Water Authority and annex to the Eastern Municipal Water District is heard by San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission, a public vote will follow any LAFCO board approval.
LAFCO’s board voted 8-0 to call for a public vote, May 4, and the motion also included the creation of a technical advisory committee. LAFCO executive officer Keene Simonds will draft proposed tasks for the committee and a proposed membership composition, and LAFCO is scheduled to approve that criteria June 1.
