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The Santa Fe Irrigation District and San Dieguito Water District held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 31 to mark the completion of a new solar project at the R.E. Badger Filtration Treatment Plant in Rancho Santa Fe, expected to produce about 80% of the jointly owned plant’s annual energy needs.

According to a news release, the new solar installation atop the plant’s clearwell structure will generate 574 KW of clean, renewable energy to help power facility operations, reduce long-term electricity costs and lower both districts’ carbon footprint. The project will provide a total benefit of approximately $4 million over the solar panels’ 25-year lifespan.

For more than a century, shoreline stations operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have measured water temperatures along the California coast. This year, they are flashing a warning sign.

Over the last three months, several stations have repeatedly posted record-breaking daily high temperatures – with the La Jolla station registering temperatures a full 10F above historical average at one point last month.

Cathy Spence didn’t grow up gardening. She attributes that to the multiple moves her military family made when she was growing up — before they settled in Chula Vista. Now, she lives with her husband David in the same area — with their cute scruffy terrier mix rescue, Skipper.

They bought their house in 2018 after both retired from the military. David had been an emergency manager in the Army Corps of Engineers, while Cathy was a Department of Defense worker in the family services side of the Army and Air Force in Alaska, then in Germany, Georgia and Japan.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to propose to study microplastics and pharmaceuticals in what could be the first step toward drinking water limits for these substances.

The Trump administration is touting the move as a win for the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, a subset of voters that is skeptical of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries — and has at times been critical of the Trump administration EPA.

The final official snow survey of the year finds the California snowpack at just 18% of average thanks to record heat in March.

“It feels like we skipped spring this year and dropped straight into a summer heatwave,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources. “What should be gradual snowmelt happened suddenly weeks ago.”