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Valley Center Municipal Water District Celebrates 70 Years of Service

/in , /by /Valley Road Runner

June, 2024 marked the 70th Anniversary of the election held on June 21, 1954 approving the formation of the Valley Center Municipal Water District, which was made official by the California Secretary of State on July 12, 1954. 

Since its formation in 1954, much has happened in the District and the community it serves.  The record has been one of early growth and change to meet burgeoning agricultural demands, and then adapting to reflect the ever-changing character of its service area to one of mixed agricultural, commercial, and residential water uses.  

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San Diego to Spend $100M to Figure Out How to Fix its Aging, Vulnerable Dams

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

San Diego plans to pay an engineering firm $100 million over the next decade to thoroughly evaluate the city’s aging dams and create a strategy to prioritize and coordinate repairs and possible rebuild projects.

The strategic plan will include proposals to shore up every dam, including cost estimates and specific timelines. It will also evaluate safety risks and how much each dam upgrade would boost reservoir capacity.

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California Supreme Court Reverses Public Utilities Commission on Water Surcharges

/in , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Edvard Pettersson

The California Supreme Court on Monday reversed the state’s Public Utilities Commission’s 2020 order that stopped water companies from using certain surcharges when their revenue falls short because of conservation efforts.

The court agreed with a group of water companies that the commission hadn’t clearly informed them that it would consider eliminating the so-called decoupling mechanisms — initially prompted by years of drought and the need to conserve water — in the scoping memos for the yearslong rulemaking proceedings that culminated in the 2020 order.

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Federally Unprotected Streams Contribute Most of the Water to U.S. Rivers

/in , /by /Science Newsby Claire Yuan

The dry-looking stream in your backyard may play a major role in feeding U.S. rivers.

Channels that flow only in direct response to weather conditions like heavy rain, called ephemeral streams, on average contribute 55 percent of the water in regional river systems in the United States, researchers report in the June 28 Science.

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California Adopts Sweeping Statewide Water Conservation Framework

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

After years of deliberation, California water officials have adopted landmark rules that will guide future water use and conservation in the state.

According to officials, the Making Conservation a California Way of Life framework will help save 500,000 acre-feet of water annually by 2040 — enough to supply more than 1.4 million households for a year — and apply to the state’s largest water utilities, not individuals or households.

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Hoping to Reduce Colorado River Dependency, Southern California Bets Big on Wastewater Recycling

/in , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Edvard Pettersson

Can wastewater be made potable again on a mass scale? Water-district managers in California think so. At a wastewater treatment plant in Carson in the Los Angeles area, scientists and engineers have been fine-tuning their purification process since 2019.

The facility — known as the Grace F. Napolitano Pure Water Southern California Innovation Center — purifies 500,000 gallons of water each day with the goal of someday processing 300 times that amount, or 150 million gallons daily.

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Over $100 Million is Going Toward Projects to Combat Drought and Climate Change — here’s What’s Being Done

/in , /by /The Cool Downby Sarah Winfrey

Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $179 million will be invested in water reuse projects across the American West. According to CleanTechnica, these projects will be centered in California and Utah, areas that often struggle with drought.

Projects receiving funding include water recycling in Los Angeles and Ventura, California, groundwater replenishment in Los Angeles, and water reuse initiatives in Washington County, Utah. These projects will help the areas have more options when it comes to their water supply and make that supply more resistant to drought.

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Feds Tout Colorado River Deal Despite Concern Over Residents, Wildlife Near Salton Sea

/in , /by /Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

The federal government and Imperial Irrigation District on Friday unveiled a key environmental assessment of a potential huge Colorado River conservation deal that could save nearly 1 million acre-feet of water through 2026 — and yield the agency and area farmers as much as $700 million in public funds.

Growers said they’re ready to begin summertime fallowing and other measures as soon as the paperwork is finalized, and the clock is ticking. But a veteran analyst of intertwined Colorado River and Salton Sea issues and an area environmental justice advocate both said they have concerns.

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How One of California’s Largest Reservoirs Permanently Lost Room for 36 Billion Gallons of Water

/in , /by /SFGATEby Stephen Council

California got a particularly rainy winter, but state officials have uncovered another reason why Lake Oroville overflowed with water this spring. The massive reservoir, the state’s second largest behind Lake Shasta, has slowly but surely shrunk.

New research from the California Department of Water Resources shows that the lake, used for millions of Californians’ drinking water and irrigating hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, isn’t quite the size it once was. The agency released its findings June 26, writing that in the 56 years since Lake Oroville was filled, rock and silt settling on the reservoir floor have cut its capacity by almost 113,000 acre-feet, or more than 36 billion gallons.

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California Burns as Heat Wave Spreads Across Western U.S.

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Grace Toohey, Jireh Deng and James Rainey

As California braces for a dangerous, prolonged heat wave that’s expected to last through next week, firefighters across the state are battling several new wildfires, some serious enough to force evacuations.

The most dangerous fire was burning in Oroville, where crews on Wednesday were fighting the Thompson fire under an excessive-heat warning, with temperatures forecast to reach up to 109 degrees and wind gusts up to 30 mph.

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