Barely any rain and it’s already mid-December? Malibu is experiencing drought conditions—but a drought it is not. That’s a key difference: a “drought” can actually only be declared by the Governor of California; his declaration releases key relief funding for several agencies. “Drought conditions,” on the other hand, is a classification that marks a series of factors that could lead to a drought down the line.
Marlene Martinez, Senior Geographical Information System Analyst, is the Valley Center Municipal Water District Manager’s Award winner for 2020. Martinez, a 13-year district employee, was recognized for her outstanding work in developing and expanding the District’s GIS program capabilities.
The Helix Water District board of directors has agreed to supply water over the next 20 years for a controversial sand-mining project in the El Monte Valley in Lakeside. The board will now send a letter to county planners confirming they can meet the needs of the project should it win approval.
San Diego Gas & Electric will utilize 600 additional radios as part of the Regional Communications System.
A 5-0 San Diego County Board of Supervisors vote December 8 authorized the execution of an agreement to add the radios for SDG&E, which will pay the county an estimated $5,086,620 for the additional participation, and authorized the county Sheriff to execute amendments, extensions, or revisions which do not materially impact the program or funding level.
Six talented San Diego County artists from the region’s schools are among the 36 Southern California students whose artwork will appear in the 2021 “Water Is Life” Student Art Calendar.
Produced by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the calendar showcases student artwork with imaginative water conservation and water resource stewardship messages. This year, the six regional winners, their families, and member agency representatives participated in a virtual award ceremony to honor their achievements.
The Fallbrook Public Utility District Board of Directors unanimously elected Jennifer DeMeo to serve as president, making her the first woman in the district’s history to lead the board. DeMeo was officially seated at the Dec. 7 meeting.
Santa Clarita Valley residents are now receiving water from one of California’s first facilities that restore groundwater affected by a suspected manmade carcinogen, SCV Water Agency officials announced Monday. The move comes after the agency received the final permit to serve water from its first water treatment plant that combats per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, from groundwater.
As it enters its 20th year of planning and preparation, a desalination plant proposed near Doheny State Beach continues to be met with delays and uncertainty.
In mid-2018, officials were predicting that the operation could be turning ocean water into drinking water as soon as 2021. Now, the project will be doing well to simply win all required permits by the end of next year.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District recently took a key step in setting wide-ranging goals to address air pollution in the eastern Coachella Valley, leaving local residents and politicians cautiously optimistic for the health of communities that have suffered from poor air quality for years.
The new benchmarks, adopted on Dec. 4, come as part of the area’s draft community emissions reduction plan, which is the result of AB617, passed in 2017. In the eastern Coachella Valley, the program will look to reduce nitrogen oxides by 45%, diesel particulate matter by 77% and PM10 — particulate matter that is 10 micrometers or smaller — by 2.4 tons per year, all by 2030.
San Diego has largely escaped the conflagrations seen in other parts of California over the last several years. Experts have started to wonder: Is San Diego just lucky? Or is it doing something right?
