A controversial Mojave Desert water project, which has emerged as a major environmental flashpoint between California and the Trump administration, cannot go forward without approval by the State Lands Commission under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday.
The restriction places a major obstacle to Cadiz Inc.’s long-standing plans to pump desert groundwater and sell it to urban Southern California.
Three talented fourth grade students in north San Diego County will have their winning drawings featured in the 2020 “Be Water Smart” calendar produced by the Vallecitos Water District. The students were honored by the District’s Board of Directors at its July meeting.
To develop and promote water conservation awareness from an early age, the District holds a calendar contest available to all fourth graders in its service area. The top three drawings go on to represent the District in the regional North County Water Agency calendar for the following year.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors last week approved a contract to study the viability of a new regional water conveyance system that would deliver water from the Colorado River to San Diego County and provide multiple benefits across the Southwest. The $1.9 million contract was awarded to Black & Veatch Corporation for a two-phase study. The engineering firm conducted similar studies for the Water Authority dating back to 1996 but looked at “single use” in those studies.
The impact of an earthquake will not respect borders. Much less, a quake that will be registered in the fault of the Rose Canyon. For the past five years, researchers and authorities on both sides of the border have been preparing a seismic and damage scenario for the San Diego-Tijuana region, the findings of which will be presented to the population next March. The purpose is to know what would happen if there is an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 in this fault that passes through the center of the city of San Diego and is projected to Tijuana.
Like money in the bank, local groundwater aquifers have seen record-breaking deposits this year with a staggering 20 billion gallons saved so far and another two months still left in the water year, the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District announced today. More than 61,000 acre-feet of snowmelt and rainfall has been diverted from Mill Creek and the Santa Ana River by the District and recharged into the groundwater basin for future use by those who pump water from the basin. Imported water was also used to help supplement the amount of water stored.
Water managers on the Colorado River are facing a unique moment. With a temporary fix to the river’s scarcity problem recently completed, talk has begun to turn toward future agreements to manage the water source for 40 million people in the southwestern U.S.
Climate change, growing urban populations and fragile rural economies are top of mind. Some within the basin see a window of opportunity to argue for big, bold actions to find balance in the watershed. Others say the best path forward is to take small, incremental steps toward lofty goals, a method Colorado River managers say has worked well for them for decades.
San Diego County, like the rest of California, is facing an affordable housing crisis of unprecedented proportions. But in the push to build more housing, officials should be careful not to throw out laws that have long served the state and our region. Developers and polluters have for years pointed to the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, as an impediment to development and industry. Instead of cleaning up their act to serve the people of California, they continue to push the same misinformation intended to weaken one of California’s most successful environmental laws.
The city of San Diego reminded water customers this month that rates are increasing 4.82% beginning Sept. 1 to help pay for water reliability and infrastructure improvements.
Combined with the 1.46% increase in water rates from the San Diego County Water Authority, the total increase is 6.28%. This is less than the 7% increase originally approved by the City Council for fiscal year 2020.
Vista resident Deborah Brandt showed how attractive water-wise landscaping can be when low-water use plants are combined with other landscape components in winning the Vista Irrigation District’s 2019 WaterSmart Landscape Contest. District officials selected Brandt’s entry this month among many quality entries received.
The Vista Irrigation District is among 13 San Diego member agencies with landscape contests in 2019 with the goal of showcasing beautiful residential water-wise landscapes throughout the region.
San Diego plans to boost the city’s already thriving biotech and craft beer industries by reducing their costs for sewer and water service, which are typically high because those businesses are water-dependent. The city plans to create California’s first “capacity bank” for water and sewer, which would allow breweries and biotech firms to cheaply buy excess capacity from former factories that have transitioned to other commercial uses. A companion proposal would geographically expand and soften the qualifying requirements for the city’s “guaranteed water” program, which ensures local firms access to water during droughts or other kinds of shortages.
