The nearest water station for Darlene Yazzie is nine miles away at the Dennehotso Chapter House — or community center — in the Four Corners region of the Navajo Nation. On Tuesday, she counted her dimes and nickels to pay for water. It costs $1.10 plus gas money to fill up two 50-gallon barrels and she’s just been told the price is going up next month.
The San Diego County Water Authority announced Friday that its officers are negotiating contract terms with acting general manager Sandra L. Kerl to make her role permanent following a national search.
“We are excited about what Sandy brings to the Water Authority — deep experience with water issues and her top-notch skills managing an agency that’s so critical to San Diego County,” said Board Chair Jim Madaffer. “Sandy has the knowledge, temperament and vision to begin a new, collaborative era of extraordinary achievements for our agency and our region.”
Longtime Otay Water District General Manager Mark Watton, regarded as one of the architects of the historic water-transfer agreement with the Imperial Irrigation District, will retire next year.
Watton, who has represented the water interests of Otay, the county and the state for more than 30 years, said he intends to step down in late February.
“Looking back on my career, I’m fully satisfied,” he said.
Anyone who has taken a weekend drive into San Diego’s backcountry — along state Route 78 between Ramona and Julian or state Route 79 from Santa Ysabel to the Riverside County border — knows that the local winery industry is booming.
You can’t go more than a mile or so without seeing a directional sign to a boutique winery where vineyards and often tasting rooms await.
California’s perpetual, uber-complex conflict over water progresses much like the tectonic plates that grind against one another beneath its surface.
Periodically, as subterranean friction increases, there’s a sudden movement that we call an earthquake — sometimes imperceptibly small, but occasionally large enough to disrupt and endanger life at the surface.
The power company NRG will need a few extra months to demolish the old Encina Power Station on Carlsbad Boulevard, but the work will start on schedule and there’s no chance of preserving the plant’s signature seaside smokestack, officials said.
The Carlsbad City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an extension of up to nine months to complete the demolition. Under an agreement NRG signed with the city in 2014, work was required to begin this December and be finished in two years.
Literature promoting the SaddleBrooke Ranch development west of Oracle touts feature after feature — high Sonoran Desert terrain with beautiful mountain views, “multimillion-dollar country club amenities,” an 18-hole championship golf course and more.
The development, now roughly 1,000 homes strong with 5,600 total planned, also has delivered something not promoted — a falling water table.
Sancon Technologies Inc. was awarded the Fallbrook Public Utility District contract for the rehabilitation and relining of FPUD manholes.
A 5-0 FPUD board vote, Oct. 28, approved a contract with the Huntington Beach company, which bid $78,787. Sancon will rehabilitate 22 manholes and one wet well.
FPUD’s capital improvement program includes improving the reliability of the district’s sewer collections system through strategic rehabilitation of existing infrastructure.
It’s been a tough few years for Northern California, disaster-wise. The north state has been hammered in quick succession by catastrophic drought, intense flooding and rampaging wildfires. While it’s reassuring to know such extreme events are historically uncommon, they’re also not simply a result of bad luck.
Scientists have only recently begun to understand that they share a common natural link.
Little rain has fallen in California since the start of the water year on Oct. 1, putting signs of drought back on the map.
The federal Drought Monitor Map, a mechanism to measure drought that’s mainly used in agriculture, shows 81% of the state as abnormally dry. A small portion (4%) of the map near the Arizona border is designated as “moderate drought.”
