The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has posed an unprecedented threat to the global community, requiring quick action, responsible decision-making, and forward thinking. With nearly every community facing this global health emergency, the Olivenhain Municipal Water District has taken several proactive steps to protect customers, employees, and the water supply, according to a news release.
Last month’s storms brought nearly 4.5 inches of rain to the San Bernardino region — about 57 percent above normal for March — helping to reverse the season’s plummeting precipitation totals to about 86 percent of normal for this time of year, the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District has announced.
Both Jameson and Gibraltar reservoirs are over capacity, with each holding some 100.4% of their respective capacities. Gibraltar Reservoir, holding 4,603 acre-feet of water, has experienced an increase of 2,064 acre-feet during the 2020 water year, which began Sept. 1, 2019, and runs through Aug. 31.
One of the poster-lake shots for the California drought in 2016 was Cachuma Lake in the Santa Ynez Valley when it dropped down to a muddy level of seven percent surrounded by brown hills. This morning after impressive rains and a direct runoff from the Santa Ynez watershed it is rising to within 15 feet of the spill level at Bradbury Dam.
California has evacuation plans for earthquakes, floods, mudslides and, of course, wildfires, but what if one of those disasters occurs as the state is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak when everyone is being urged to stay home?
State and local officials are trying to figure that out.
“That’s something that is being looked at, but it’s challenging,” said California Office of Emergency Services’ spokesman Brian Ferguson.
Kim Zagaris, longtime fire and rescue chief for the emergency services agency, came out of retirement to help with planning during the virus crisis.
The California Public Utilities Commission, the agency that regulates the state’s major investor-owned power companies such as San Diego Gas & Electric, has agreed to shift the timing of a credit SDG&E customers receive each year to help give some financial relief in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The commission is also looking at extending less expensive winter rates by a few months into the summer, although making such a move would not result in customers really saving money over the long-term.
Because of recent heavy rainfall, the city of San Diego Saturday began releasing about 923 million gallons of water from Hodges Reservoir into the San Dieguito River, which may eventually lead to the ocean, city officials said.
The dam release began at about 11 a.m. Saturday and will continue for about seven days or until the reservoir elevation is near 295 feet, spokesperson José Ysea said.
For safety reasons, the California Division of Safety of Dams has determined that the water level at Hodges Reservoir should not exceed 295 feet, which is 20 feet below spillway elevation, Ysea said. This requires periodic water releases from Hodges Reservoir.
Many nature webcams in California are seeing record traffic and interest this past month, as people bracing against the coronavirus pandemic look for virtual escapes from the doldrums of life indoors.
San Diego has agreed to build seven new road medians in University City at an estimated cost of $1.2 million to settle two lawsuits that sought to block construction of the city’s Pure Water sewage recycling system.
More than three dozen atmospheric rivers made landfall on the West Coast from fall through early spring, but a lack of strong events in California led to the development of drought conditions in parts of the state.
An atmospheric river is a thin, but long plume of moisture in the atmosphere that stretches from the Pacific Ocean tropics or subtropics into higher latitudes. They provide a boost to the rain and snow totals produced by storm systems taking aim at the West Coast, mostly from late fall into early spring. Although these events can bring hazardous impacts, they are also beneficial since they help replenish the water supply in the West.
The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography studies atmospheric rivers and other extreme weather. Graphic: CW3E Scripps/UC San Diego
