Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Cox unveiled new initiatives on mental health and at-risk youth Wednesday during the annual State of the County speech, part of an ambitious agenda that also includes giving young people a greater voice on policy and advancing more clean energy projects.
The County’s Planning & Development Services is preparing to release draft documents for public review this week related to the project called Water Efficiency Updates to the Landscape Ordinance.
This project will update the County’s Landscape Ordinance to codify requirements set forth by the County’s Climate Action Plan Measures W-1.2 and A-2.1. PDS began implementing these requirements upon approval of the CAP in 2018 through the CAP Development Checklist and existing landscape review process within PDS.
One result of the ordinance will be to reduce outdoor water use in new and existing residential and non-residential landscaping 40% from 2014 levels.
OCEANSIDE (KUSI) – Oceanside officials broke ground Wednesday on Pure Water Oceanside, a recycled-water purification plant billed as the first of its kind in the county.
The $67 million project will take water from Oceanside’s San Luis Rey Water Reclamation Facility and purify it to drinking water standards in a way project proponents describe as “clean, safe, drought-proof and environmentally sound.”
The site’s technology will be used to replicate and accelerate the natural recycling process to provide 3 million to 5 million gallons of fresh water a day, more than 32% of Oceanside’s water supply.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, in a preemptive strike against President Donald Trump, said Wednesday he plans to sue Trump’s administration to block a controversial plan to increase water deliveries to the San Joaquin Valley.
Newsom’s office said he “will file legal action in the coming days … to protect highly imperiled fish species close to extinction.”
The announcement came just minutes before Trump appeared in Bakersfield to announce he’s finalized an order removing regulatory roadblocks and enabling the giant Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pumps to deliver additional water to the southern half of the state.
The city of Oceanside broke ground Wednesday on a water recycling facility that it says will eventually provide 32%, or one-third, the city’s drinkable water supply.
City and state leaders were at the San Luis Rey Water Reclamation Facility to unveil the plan and discuss the benefits for the city. Oceanside says it needs this facility because the cost of importing water from hundreds of miles away is too expensive. Also, a local aquifer is running out of water.
The state’s largest agricultural organization will oppose a proposed “split-roll” ballot measure that would increase commercial property taxes, saying it will cost farmers and consumers billions by mandating costly reassessments for California barns, wineries and processing plants.
Jamie Johansson, president of the 34,000-member California Farm Bureau Federation, said in an interview that it was highly unusual for his organization to oppose a ballot measure at this early stage, “but our board of directors is very concerned about the impact this initiative would have on rural California.”
Local researchers say at least 14 to 94 million pounds of contaminants like oil, grease and toxic metals get mixed with stormwater in Puget Sound every year. Now a new public-private partnership is tackling the growing problem.
The runoff from the Aurora Bridge is the target for a new project. Nonprofits like The Nature Conservancy are working together with local companies like Stephen C. Grey & Associates and Boeing to address the issue. Even the Washington State Legislature approved $500,00 to help with this project.
The image is disturbing and leaves little doubt about California’s growing predicament: The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is a sad whisper of it was a year ago, a withering testament to the lack of precipitation in the state’s increasingly dry winter.
The National Weather Service tweeted satellite images of the Sierra on Tuesday, showing the stark difference between this year and the above-average snowfall from 2019. The mountain snowpack — a crucial element in the state’s annual water supply — is 53 percent of normal for this time of year, according to the Department of Water Resources.
The state of California has dedicated $34 million for eight desalination facilities across the state amid growing concerns about water scarcity in the U.S.
Desalination is when saltwater is converted into freshwater. Though 71% of the Earth is made up of water, extreme weather linked to climate change is adding to concerns about water scarcity.
Scientists estimate that by 2071, nearly half of the 204 freshwater basins in the U.S. may not be able to meet the monthly demand for water, according to a study published in the journal Earth’s Future.
Extracting salt from water seems like an easy fix to a global problem, but the process of desalination can be expensive, and it can also have a huge impact on the environment. That’s why some researchers are looking into how to lower the cost and improve efficiency.
Desalination technology can cost anywhere between two to 10 times the cost of traditional freshwater sources, says Meagan Mauter, research director for the National Alliance for Water Innovation and an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University.
More water will flow toward San Joaquin Valley farmers, President Donald Trump declared at an event in Bakersfield on Wednesday afternoon.
Trump announced the completion of biological opinions that will increase water allocations in Californians.
“A major obstacle to providing more water for the region’s farmers has now been totally eliminated by the government,” Trump said.
