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Long Beach Stormwater Treatment Plant Moves Ahead With $4 Million Grant

/in , /by /Press Telegramby Harry Saltzgaver

The City Council accepted nearly $4 million from the State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday night, June 5, to push Long Beach’s new stormwater treatment plant into full production.

The plant, called LB-MUST (Municipal Urban Stormwater Treatment), has been in the design phase for a few years. It is designed to take low-flow stormwater from the Los Angeles River drainage area, treat it and use it to create a new wetlands nearby. Eventually, the plant may also provide recycled water for irrigation.

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San Diego City Council Votes to Set Hearing for Potential Water Rate Increase

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diego

Correction: San Diego City Council did not vote to raise water rates Tuesday. It voted to send out a public notice and set a public hearing on a potential water rate increase. This story has been corrected.

The San Diego City Council has unanimously voted to set a public hearing to discuss the potential of a water rate hike.

In May, the San Diego County Water Authority proposed increasing its rates by about 5% for treated water and nearly 4% for untreated water, citing inflation, increased energy costs and rate hikes set by the Southern California Metropolitan Water District

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San Diego Taking Steps for Possible Water Rate Hike

/in , /by /CBS 8by Regina Yurrita Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

If you are still watering your lawn or taking long showers, you might want to start practicing how to cut back on your water usage because come next year, water bills could go up.

 “I don’t like it and I don’t feel good about it,” said Ron Aguila, a Kearny Mesa resident who was shopping for house supplies.

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Catalina Island and SoCal Edison’s Desalination Plants Are Quenching Thirst

/in , /by /The Logby Katherine M Clements

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Southern California Edison’s (SCE) first desalination plant on Catalina Island. The desalination process strips salt out of ocean water from two underground saltwater beach wells to make it drinkable. The desalination plant was considered a developing technology in 1992. It was the first ocean water to drinking water plant on the West Coast and one of the first prototypes in the country.

SCE built the first desalination plant in response to the development of the nearby Hamilton Cove condominiums and the drought in the late 1980s.

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L.A. Water Use Plunges a Record 9% as Unprecedented Water Restrictions Bring Savings

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith and Carolyn Cole

Damon Ayala peered at a wet patch of sidewalk on South Tremaine Avenue on a recent Wednesday and clicked his pen.

“No one should be watering today,” he said. “That’s evidence of a watering today. They’re going to get an information letter from me.”

Ayala is a member of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s water conservation response unit, and he spends his days patrolling the streets of L.A. looking for homes and businesses in violation of the new drought rules.

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El Centro Implements New Drought Mandates

/in , , /by /Hotville Tribuneby Marcie Landeros

The City Council voted unanimously to move into Stage 2 of the city’s water shortage contingency plan as required by the state Water Resources Control Board in response to increasing drought conditions.

The July 5 vote came in direct response to an emergency regulation passed on May 24 by the Water Resources Control Board, which required water suppliers, such as cities or the Imperial Irrigation District, to implement Stage 2 of their respective plans, according to El Centro Public Works Director Abraham Compos.

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Pasadena Water and Power Plans to Ratchet Up Water Restrictions: Once a Week Watering Beginning September

/in , , /by /Pasadena Nowby Keith Calayag

Pasadena Water and Power is planning to step up water conservation efforts beginning this September as California slips deeper into drought.

Speaking to members of the Municipal Services Committee on Tuesday, July 13, PWP Interim General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said the agency will soon propose the implementation of a level 3 Water Supply Shortage Plan, which would limit watering days to one day per week.

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Castaic Lake Water Level Lowers to 34 Percent Total Capacity

/in , , /by /KHTSby Marc Monroy

As of Monday, Castaic Lake held only 34 percent of its total water capacity, and state officials expect to see that number dwindle even further as the long hot summer continues, according to information from the California Department of Water Resources.

“SCV Water and the rest of California is facing a serious multi-year drought, and there is no end in sight,” said Santa Clarita Valley Water Sustainability Manager Matt Dickens in an April statement. “Our current water-saving efforts are falling short of our conservation goals.”

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San Diego City Council Unanimously Approves Water Rate Hike to Start 2023

/in , , /by /NBC 7 San Diego Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego City Council unanimously approved the city’s second water rate hike in two years on Tuesday.

In May, the San Diego County Water Authority proposed increasing its rates by about 5% for treated water and nearly 4% for untreated water, citing inflation, increased energy costs and rate hikes set by the Southern California Metropolitan Water District.

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Tearing Out Her Lawn Was Like Therapy After a Year of Illness and Grief

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Lisa Boone

Even here, in the scorching summer heat of Altadena, Seriina Covarrubias’ front yard feels cool and inviting under the dappled shade of a magnificent elm tree.

“I thought it was going to take longer for a natural habitat to materialize,” Covarrubias says of her two-year-old garden, which is filled with fragrant coastal scrub.

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