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Photos: See LA’s Night Sky Electrified By Phenomenal Lightning Show

/in , /by /Curbed Los Angelesby Jenna Chandler

Lightning dazzled Los Angeles last night, with nearly 6,000 lightning strikes recorded over Southern California. Earth Networks, a company that uses sensors to detect lightning, observed 5,923 lighting strikes and 14,326 lightning pulses (that’s when the lightning is in a cloud and doesn’t hit the ground) from 6 p.m. to midnight. Steve Prinzivalli, a meteorologist at Earth Networks, tells Curbed that those numbers are “pretty incredible,” and climate scientist Daniel Swain on Twitter described it as the “most spectacular winter lightning display in recent memory.”

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Poway City Council Approves Water, Sewer Service Rate Increases

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Melissa Adan

Daytime protests weren’t enough to stop the Poway City Council from approving a set of rate hikes on water and sewer services in the city. The proposal, which passed unanimously, calls for a 4.5-percent increase on the water commodity use rate, a 7.5-percent hike on the fixed water meter charge, and 3.25 percent increases on the sewer commodity rate and the sewer service charge. “What goes up never comes down in terms of taxes, or water,” Poway resident Jason Chynn said. “They just go up, up, up, and never come back down.”

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Stapleton Retires As Water Authority GM After 23 Years

/in , /by /The Daily Transcript Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Maureen A. Stapleton recently retired as general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority after 23 years in the position. Sandy Kerl, the agency’s deputy general manager, will serve as acting general manager while the Water Authority’s board of directors conducts a search for its next general manager. During Stapleton’s tenure leading the region’s water wholesale agency, she led a successful, multi-decade strategy to diversify and improve the reliability of San Diego County’s water supply, which now supports a $220 billion economy and the quality of life of 3.3 million people.

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How Has The Rain Impacted The County’s Reservoirs?

/in , /by /KPBS by Brooke Ruth and Jade Hindmon Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

It’s been a big rain year for San Diego County, and that got a Midday Edition listener wondering about the impact on the county’s reservoirs. The listener wrote in with this question: Is SD (County) doing as much as can be done to keep the varying rain amounts in, direct the rain to reservoirs? Purpose of our reservoirs? Are any reservoirs used as sources for drinking water (to be purified)? Recreation, boating & fishing, I’m guessing are the main uses. To answer those questions, Midday Edition spoke to Dana Friehauf, resource manager with the San Diego County Water Authority and Jeff Pasek, watershed manager, city of San Diego Public Utilities Department.

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Lake Hodges Good To Go At 2/3rds Capacity

/in , /by /The Escondido Grapevine

The dam has spilled and last overflowed February-to-March 2011. It also overflowed in February 2005. However, despite a small El Nino pineapple express of rains this season, while Lake Hodges has filled more rapidly lately, it looks to continue standing tall and holding firm. The lake was at 68.1 percent capacity as of this week, according to the City of San Diego’s Public Utilities Department that has owned and operated the reservoir and dam since purchased in 1925. Hodges Reservoir was created with the building of Hodges Dam on San Dieguito Creek in 1918.

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Sycuan Reservation Water Agreement Commemorated

/in , /by /KUSI Newsby Ed Lenderman

A historic water agreement was celebrated today on the grounds of the Sycuan Indian Reservation. While Sycuan’s new hotel is getting most of the public attention, a reliable water supply for the reservation is an even bigger achievement. Everyone involved in Monday morning’s commemoration of a water delivery agreement, reached last August between Sycuan and the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District, noted it was 10 years in the making.

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February Storms Wash Away Drought Conditions. Will San Diegans Continue To Conserve?

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

February storms have left California flush with water, relieving concerns the state could quickly slip back into the drought conditions that plagued it for much of the last decade. Less than 3 percent of the state is now experiencing drought, down from nearly 84 percent just three months ago, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. At the same time, the state’s frozen reservoir of mountain snowpack is already 124 percent of average for the season.

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A Massive Aquifer Lies Beneath The Mojave Desert. Could It Help Solve California’s Water Problem?

/in , /by /The Washington Postby Scott Wilson

The landscape here is more Martian than Earthly, rust and tan plains that rise in the distance to form the Old Woman Mountains to the east and the Bristols and Marbles to the north and west. Almost everything here is protected by the federal government. The opportunity or threat, depending on your point of view, lies beneath the dusty surface that, after a recent rain, blooms with sprays of yellow desert dandelion. There is water here in the Mojave Desert. A lot of it.

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OPINION: Why Are We Still Conserving Water?

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Steven P. Dinkin

The National Conflict Resolution Center handles many disputes involving minor family tensions that escalate into major sources of friction. We explore this category today with an example of a couple locked in disagreement over water conservation practices. Partner A, who grudgingly agreed to curtail water usage during the drought, believes the current onslaught of rain is a license to take long showers and run the tap while brushing teeth. Partner B, who is deeply committed to environmental sustainability, sees no reason to backslide into wasteful habits. Like most domestic standoffs, this was prompted by a “presenting issue” (an argument over water conservation), but it involves more complex challenges of handling 24/7 diverging views and clashing priorities.

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First Of Three Back-To-Back Storms Moves Into San Diego County

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

The first of three moderate rain storms spread out across San Diego County Saturday, where it dropped up to a half-inch of rain at the coast, according to the National Weather Service. As of 4 p.m., the fairly warm system from the central Pacific had soaked Solana Beach with 0.52 inches, Fallbrook with 0.72 inches and Palomar Mountain with 1.48 inches. Other areas saw much less precipitation, such as the San Diego International Airport with only 0.17 inches. A wind advisory is in effect until midnight in the mountains. Forecasters say isolated showers could last into Sunday.

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