Once the water bills started piling up, Shara Sin and her children switched to eating off paper plates to avoid the cost of washing.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the 53-year-old mother of four’s finances were already precariously balanced. She doesn’t work anymore because mental health complications cause her short-term memory loss and pain.
Greater San Diego could get 1.5 inches of rain from an “atmospheric river” weather system that will flow ashore Thursday night and last through Friday, when it also will leave a few inches of snow on the county’s highest mountain peaks, says the National Weather Service.
One of the first steps in your landscape makeover project involves preparing the soil to allow efficient use of irrigation. San Diego County soil quality needs a lot of help. The area is defined by impermeable soils with poor infiltration areas. Water doesn’t flow through the soil to replenish the groundwater, because it is made primarily of clay which is too dense.
San Diego County water managers are lobbying state officials to help get financial relief for customers and water agencies struggling with water debt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The region’s water wholesaler was surprised by the amount of debt looming over water customers and the agencies that sell it.
State water officials estimate 1.6 million customers are behind on their water bills. The debt is worth more than $1 billion.
Glenn Farrel, San Diego County Water Authority director of Government Relations, said there are long-term issues that need consideration.
Driven by the rapidly growing demands for skilled career professionals in the water and wastewater industry, National University and Cuyamaca College will launch a new degree pathway program starting in February 2021.
Developed in collaboration with regional employers, the new Bachelor of Public Administration degree with a concentration in Waterworks Management provides a seamless pathway for graduates of the Cuyamaca College Center for Water Studies to transfer into the bachelor’s program after earning their associate’s degree. Transfers are also available to graduates of other community colleges.
The coronavirus pandemic shook the economy of the United States and San Diego.
More than 100,000 people in San Diego County lost their jobs last year, and many have made tough choices financially. That’s led, in part, to nearly a billion dollars in statewide water-bill debt, according to a new report from the state water board.
“Folks are trying to scrape by and make ends meet,” said Allen Carlisle, the CEO & general manager of Padre Dam Municipal Water District. “The first things on our minds are those families who are struggling and how do we try to help them?”
Even though temperatures rarely drop below freezing in most parts of Southern California, many people overlook winter when it comes to caring for their native plants and traditional landscapes. There are many things that can help keep landscapes healthy and water-efficient, especially during the winter months when there is more natural rainfall. One of these things is to use a layer of mulch to prevent water loss and insulate landscapes during colder times.
One of the biggest coastal wind storms in years walloped San Diego County Monday and ushered in heavy snow that blanketed the region’s mountains and driving rain that nudged wildland areas away from the precipice of drought.
It’s been raining in the Tijuana-San Diego region since Friday and as it always happens, much of the runoff flows from south of the border through canyons into the U.S. bringing with it tons of trash, debris and plastics.
Only this time, not as much is making its way north thanks to a trash collecting boom system that was set up in Tijuana last week.
A constant agenda item for the Imperial Irrigation District and local growers and landowners has been the payment of conserved water, the On Farm Efficiency Conservation Program. Part of the Quantitative Settlement Agreement of 2003 is the Valley’s commitment to conserve water to send to urban cities on the coast, which the beneficiaries pay. The conserved water was first done by fallowing, which was never a popular direction, but it was unknown how much of the agreed upon water transfer could be done by growers’ efforts.
