Feeling cranky? Blame it on the monsoon.
Moist, unstable air from northern Mexico is flowing into San Diego County, raising the heat and humidity to uncomfortable levels and sparking a few spectacular thunderstorms.
One of those cells unexpectedly pushed into downtown San Diego shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, producing big booms, bright bolts and enough rain to briefly slow traffic on city streets.
Two western states are imposing mandatory water cuts because the Colorado River, which supplies water to 40 million people and about 5 million acres of land across seven states, has dropped to alarmingly low levels.
Nevada and Arizona, concerned that a 20-year drought has dried up much of the river, are trying to rein in water use in an effort to save the disappearing river.
As with the stock market, climate change requires a diversified portfolio of solutions. California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed an executive order to develop a comprehensive strategy for making the state’s water system climate-resilient. The order calls for a broad portfolio of collaborative strategies to deal with outdated water infrastructure, unsafe drinking water, flood risks and depleted groundwater aquifers.
In a related study published earlier this year, Stanford researchers Newsha Ajami and Patricia (Gonzales) Whitby examined effective strategies to rising water scarcity concerns. Ajami is director of Urban Water Policy at Stanford’s Water in the West program and a hydrologist specializing in sustainable water resource management.
California Reps. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, and Mike Levin, D-Dana Point, have co-sponsored legislation aimed at blocking a Trump administration plan to sell new offshore oil leases in U.S. coastal waters.
The measure, HR 1941 creates a permanent ban on offshore drilling around the country and it is getting a hearing in the House of Representatives.
Save as much as we can, for as long as we can.
That’s the new motto for Toni Nelson, who heads the community advocacy group Capo Cares, as the Dana Point resident pushes for the continual effort to save Capistrano Beach before it disappears into the sea – much of it has in recent years.
Work kicked off recently to add more than 500 sand cubes to a stretch of Dana Point, an emergency measure to save a city storm drain and water quality treatment facility that also inadvertently is helping a portion of pathway used frequently by walkers, joggers and bikers that is in danger of crumbling
Back in January, the head of an obscure government agency that exists almost entirely to draw the boundary lines of other public agencies had gotten wind of something. Two rural water agencies wanted to bolt from the San Diego County Water Authority so they could start buying cheaper water from Riverside County.
Keene Simonds knew what was in store for his agency, the San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission, which oversees things like where a city’s limits end and where water districts can sell water.
UC San Diego researchers say they have discovered an “explosion of plastics pollution” in the seafloor off Santa Barbara, in an area where little of the material appeared to exist before the end of World War II.
The university’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography says the surge may reflect the boom in plastics production that occurred worldwide after the war, largely for use in consumer products, ranging from bottles to clothing.
Without explanation, the State Supreme Court has declined to consider a legal challenge backed by the Marina Coast Water District and city of Marina against the state Public Utilities Commission’s approval of California American Water’s proposed Monterey Peninsula water supply project.
Last week, the state’s high court issued notice that it had denied the petition for review of the CPUC decision in September last year certifying an environmental review document for Cal Am’s water project, including a 6.4-million gallon per day desalination plant north of Marina, and approving a permit for the proposal. The court did not include any rationale for denying the legal challenge and has rarely considered challenges to CPUC decisions.
A high-profile series of dog deaths has awakened the public to the growing problem of toxic algal blooms, spurred by rising temperatures and pollution.
The blooms are emerging as a national, not just regional, concern, according to preliminary data reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through July. Samples taken from New Jersey to California, and from Texas to Washington state, all show evidence of toxins given off by the blooms.
Since 2018, when the EPA started collecting the latest batch of data, algal blooms have been documented near the intakes of water treatment plants at least 130 times.
As the deadline for groundwater sustainability approaches in California, one Tulare County city has taken another step toward eliminating its need for landscape irrigation.
At its Aug. 19 meeting, the Visalia City Council approved a notice of completion to replumb the waterlines used to irrigate the Valley Oaks Golf Course to carry recycled water instead of groundwater. The project installed 2-inch potable water lines and 8-inch irrigation lines at four locations throughout the golf course, with backflow preventers and water elevation sensors to separate drinking water from mixing with irrigation water.
