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Opinion: How ‘Cutting Green Tape’ Can Make California More Resilient

/in , /by /CalMattersby Ashley Boren

California is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots – home to more unique species of plants and animals than any other state in the U.S. This biodiversity makes up the beautiful land and seascapes of the world’s fifth-largest economy and sustains our health, cultures and quality of life.

Yet it is disappearing at alarming rates. Today’s environmental, economic and social challenges – climate change, wildfires, habitat loss and the millions of Californians facing pandemic-related unemployment – threaten our Golden State’s resilience like never before.

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County’s Updated Conservation Plan Aims to Save More San Diego Farmland

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Deborah Sullivan Brennan

More San Diego farmland will be eligible for an agricultural conservation program under new rules the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved Wednesday.

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.

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LAFCO Approves Municipal Service Review, Sphere Updates for RCDs

/in , /by /Village Newsby Joe Naiman Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission approved municipal service reviews for the county’s three resource conservation districts while also updating the sphere of influence for each RCD.

Separate 8-0 LAFCO board votes Monday, Feb. 1, approved the municipal service reviews for the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego, the Mission Resource Conservation District and the Upper San Luis Rey Resource Conservation District while approving a sphere of influence update for each RCD which does not alter the sphere boundaries. LAFCO also had a presentation and discussion on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act that morning, although no board action was taken.

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Editorial: Sexual Misconduct at the Metropolitan Water District Hints at Deeper Problems

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby The Times Editorial Board Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

What does sexual harassment have to do with our water supply? Far more than you might think.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California imports, stores and sells the drinking water used by nearly half of the people in this state. As a consequence, the MWD is at the center of the state’s battle with ongoing drought, the agricultural sector’s demands for irrigation water and the degrading natural environment’s inability to sustain iconic species such as migrating salmon.

On top of those challenges, the organization is in the midst of a rare leadership change, as a search to replace departing General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger moves closer to a conclusion and as the MWD approaches its second century.

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Opinion: San Diego’s Successful Desal Plant Should Be a Model for California Water Policy

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Kerry Jackson

Often the value of a plan or project can best be judged by its opposition. In the case of the proposed Poseidon desalination plant in Huntington Beach, the forces lined up against it are clear indicators that it’s a worthwhile enterprise.

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Opinion: Helping Water Ratepayers Stay Afloat During COVID

/in , , /by /La Prensa (San Diego)by Mona Rios Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The pandemic has brought into even more compelling focus an important societal issue in San Diego County and California: How to ensure that everyone has access to safe and reliable water supplies. State estimates show there are approximately $1 billion in uncollected water bills statewide since the start of the pandemic that are directly attributable to household economic impacts associated with the pandemic.

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$44.4 Million in MWD Overcharges Being Returned to Local Water Agencies

/in , , /by /The Desert Review (Imperial Valley) Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors in February 2021 announced a plan to distribute a rebate of $44.4 million to its 24 member agencies across the region after receiving a check for that amount from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to pay legal damages and interest, according to a SDCWA press release.

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Bill Introduced to Reduce Water Pollution at US-Mexico Border

/in , , /by /KPBS San Diegoby City News Service

A bill aimed at addressing pollution along the U.S.-Mexico border and improving water quality in the Tijuana and New rivers was introduced Wednesday.

The Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act would designate the Environmental Protection Agency as the lead agency coordinating federal, state and local agencies to build and maintain infrastructure projects aimed at reducing pollution along the border. It would also require the EPA and other agencies to identify a list of priority projects and would authorize the EPA to accept and distribute federal, state, and local funds to build, operate and maintain those projects.

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Remove Your Lawn the Healthy Way

/in , , /by /Water News Network

The day has come to replace your thirsty, water guzzling grass. Before you remove it, plan your process carefully to leave only healthy living soil as the foundation for a beautiful, thriving new landscape.

Don’t just turn off your irrigation and let your grass turn brown as it dies off. Healthy microbes in your soil will die off along with the lawn. You want to work with those microbes to help create healthy soil for your new plants.

 

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Wintry Wednesday Weather in San Diego County Will Help Rainfall Deficit

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Monica Garske

It’s been a pretty dry winter in San Diego County so the rainfall in the forecast Wednesday is important to help shrink that rainfall deficit. But much rain are we talking about here?

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