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Drought, What Drought? Largest Snowpack in 4 Years, Most Stored Water in Southern California History Paint Rosy Picture

/in , /by /The Orange County Register by Steve Scauzillo

With snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada registering at 90% of normal Thursday and state reservoirs at record historic levels, the urban water supply picture for 2020 could hardly be any rosier.

Southern California water managers are trying to restrain their joy, not because of a picture-postcard mountain top, but for the bounty that will come in spring when the snow melts, sending pristine water into state reservoirs and more importantly, southward via the State Water Project aqueduct, a source that supplies 30% of Southern California’s drinking water.

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Helix Water District Taking Entries for High School Scholarship and Photo Contests

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Karen Pearlman

The Helix Water District has launched two contests for high school students in the East County district’s service area and both contests have a payoff.

The 2020 High School Photo Contest “Water in Everyday Life” offers $150 to the winner, $100 for second place and $50 for third place in both color and black & white categories.

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Moving Forward with the California Water Portfolio

/in , /by /Ag Net West Radio (Gainsville, Florida)by Brian German

The development of California’s water portfolio continues to progress. A presentation at the most recent meeting of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture highlighted the priorities for establishing the state’s water resiliency portfolio. Board President Don Cameron noted that the development of a water resiliency plan for California is going to need to incorporate several different factors.

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Water Crisis Puts Oregon Community At A Crossroads

/in , /by /National Public Radio (NPR)by Emily Cureton

In a desert far from any city, farmers use groundwater to grow lush green hay. The hay fattens livestock all over the world. But there’s a big problem: The water is drying up. Now scientists warn it will take thousands of years for an aquifer in southeastern Oregon to recover, while residents there are already hurting.

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2019 In Review: Desalination Plans Stalled By Lawsuit

/in , /by /The Beach Report (Hermosa Beach)by David Rosenfeld

Plans to build an ocean desalination plant by West Basin Municipal Water District have been percolating for years.

The past year saw the completion of an Environmental Impact Report for a proposed facility in El Segundo that would generate 20 million gallons of freshwater daily from the salty ocean. Conservationists opposed to the technology say it’s too energy intensive, pollutes the air and water, and would sidetrack ongoing water recycling and replenishment goals. The district, meanwhile, says it’s a prudent measure to ensure water needs are met in times of droughts or emergencies.

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FPUD Approves 2020 Rates

/in , /by /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Fallbrook Public Utility District approved FPUD rates and other charges for calendar year 2020.

FPUD’s board vote 4-0, Dec. 9, with Don McDougal absent, adopted the 2020 rates and charges for water, recycled water and wastewater delivery and services. Water and wastewater rates will increase by 8% while the increase for recycled water will be 4.5%.

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Proposed Ordinance Would Promote and Protect Agriculture

/in , /by /Valley Roadrunnerby News Staff

A proposed county ordinance that would implement California’s AB 551 is seen as benefiting local agriculture by recognizing its benefits, according to the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

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Fires, Floods and More: A View of California From Space In 2019

/in , /by /CALmatters

The year began amid the ashes of the deadliest wildfire in California history. Then came torrential rains, the superbloom, a marine heat wave, and fires again.

They are events that foreshadow a future pattern of more extreme wildfires and rainstorms as climate change drives the Earth’s temperatures higher. The 2019 events prompted now familiar responses from politicians confronted with catastrophe across the state: disaster relief money, funding for scientific studies, and recriminations against bankrupt utility Pacific Gas and Electric.

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Opinion: Drink More Recycled Wastewater

/in , , /by /Natureby Cecilia Tortajada and Pierre van Rensburg Mentioned: City of San Diego

Drinkable water is becoming increasingly scarce. Population growth, pollution and climate change mean that more cities are being forced to search for unconventional water sources. In a growing number of places, drinking highly treated municipal wastewater, called ‘reused water’, has become the best option — and, in some cases, the only one (see ‘What is reused water?’).

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County Officials Lift Coronado Water Contact Closure

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby City News Service

CORONADO — The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health lifted a water contact closure Monday for the Coronado shoreline and beaches from Avenida Lunar through North Beach.

Water quality testing confirmed Tijuana River flows are no longer impacting those beaches, according to the Department of Environmental Health, which had placed water contact closure signs to alert Coronado beach-goers to sewage-contaminated flows from the Tijuana River.

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