No matter whether their landscaping is just a few square feet alongside a front porch or estate acreage, thousands of San Diego County residents have learned to embrace sustainability as a central principle for creating and renovating their landscapes. The San Diego County Water Authority offers financial incentives and educational resources to customers in Fallbrook and Rainbow to improve their landscaping.
This year’s Women in Water Symposium conference theme “Flow With The Change” is fitting. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 event is online with a new virtual format. The online format generated just as much enthusiasm from participants as prior in-person meetings. And, the virtual conference also meant people from throughout the United States could Zoom in too.
A late-winter storm doused the San Diego area with rain and mountain snow for second day Thursday, but a dry spell lies ahead.
Though the showers generated by the unsettled atmospheric system out of the Gulf of Alaska were more scattered and short-lived than Wednesday’s storms, they added to some significant moisture amounts across the county, according to the National Weather Service.
Today marks the anniversary of the deadliest man-made disaster in California history. It’s a largely forgotten event which killed hundreds of people in Ventura County. On March 12th, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed, sending a wall of water more than 50 miles from the Santa Clarita area through the Santa Clara River Valley. More than 400 people died.
Hearings have been scheduled to resume in April for Poseidon Water’s controversial proposed Huntington Beach desalination plant. Last April the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Santa Ana Region was expected to vote on renewing a permit for the proposed $1 billion project but the workshop was canceled due to COVID-19. A hearing scheduled for September was also delayed so Poseidon could have more time to address water board concerns.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has awarded a $1 million grant for the first phase of construction of the Loma Alta Slough wetlands enhancement project. The work, which could begin in late 2022, will restore and enhance six acres of coastal wetland and upland habitat along the Loma Alta Creek near Buccaneer Beach in south Oceanside. Plans include more than 1,500 feet of nature trails with educational signs and connections to nearby facilities such as Buccaneer Park.
More San Diego farmland will be eligible for an agricultural conservation program under new rules the San Diego County Board of Supervisors has approved. San Diego has lost much of its farmland over the past decade. Since 2009, about 60,000 acres — 20 percent of San Diego County’s agricultural land — has been converted to other uses. The county has tried to stem that decline through the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement, which is called the PACE program.
Healthy, living soil is full of oxygen, water, and life to support your plants. This is the food your plants need to consume for good health. Creating healthy soil in layers is referred to as soil sheet mulching, or “soil lasagna.” It isn’t too much different than cooking a pan of lasagna in your kitchen.
The Fallbrook Public Utility District board approved a change order to the contract with Filanc Alberici JV to construct the Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project. A 5-0 FPUD board vote Feb. 22 approved a change order which will add $3,389,801 to the price of the contract.
The Fallbrook Public Utility District will be acquiring a boom truck crane.
A 5-0 FPUD board vote Feb. 22 approved the purchase of a boom truck crane from Velocity Truck Centers for the amount of $314,627.03.
“The crane is critical to our work replacing valves throughout the district,” said FPUD General Manager Jack Bebee.
