It’s hard out there for an environmentally responsible but thirsty Angeleno — someone who wants to grow a couple organic tomatoes in the backyard, take more than an occasional shower and still have enough money to repair the rain barrel after paying the various water bills, fees and taxes. Measure W, which voters passed on Nov. 6, will help. But it won’t put an end to our water problems.
Something profound happened at 3:22 p.m. on Monday afternoon, November 19, 2018, at the Valley Center Municipal Water District. After serving as a Director for Election Division 3, Board President, and San Diego County Water Authority Representative, Gary A. Broomell walked out of the board room for the last time as a water board director. As the general manager of the district for close to 30 years, i have seen a few board members come and go. What was profound about Mr. Broomell’s final exit was that it came after 48 years of continuous public service to the citizens, ratepayers and landowners of the Valley Center Municipal Water District.
A low-pressure system sweeping into Southern California will produce light rain throughout San Diego County on Wednesday evening and continue into Thanksgiving Day. The National Weather Service office in San Diego said the majority of the rainfall is expected late Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning. Escondido and Oceanside are expected to receive around a quarter-inch of rainfall, while one-tenth of an inch is expected near the coast and in the western valleys. The mountains are forecast to get between a quarter-inch and one-third inch, and the deserts less than one-tenth of an inch.
A major storm out of the North Pacific will drench parts of Northern and Central California this week. But the system will fall apart by the time it gets to Southern California, producing only minute amounts of precipitation in San Diego County on Thanksgiving Day, says the National Weather Service. “San Diego will only get about one-tenth of an inch of rain between late Wednesday night through Thanksgiving Day,” said Joe Dandrea, a weather service forecaster. “The mountains could get a little more. Then things should mostly clear up.
The federal government was back in court Monday, arguing that the lawsuits asking the U.S. government to fix cross-border sewage flows should be thrown out. The Department of Justice is trying, for the second time, to have three cross-border sewage lawsuits thrown out before they get to trial. Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and the port of San Diego filed the first lawsuit. SurfRider’s San Diego chapter filed the second. And the state of California filed the third.
In a dramatic sign of California’s changing energy market, San Diego Gas & Electric wants to stop buying and selling electricity. In recent days, the company has asked lawmakers to introduce legislation that would let SDG&E reduce its role – while also pushing the state to enter the energy market in a big way. The company’s vision could eventually require the state to buy out its long-term power contracts and possibly pay the company for several natural gas-fired power plants it owns. SDG&E is pitching this idea as the company prepares to lose about half of its power customers within the next few years.
A century ago, the Coachella Valley looked nothing like it does today. But the foundation for its future growth and success was set in place those many years ago by forward-thinking pioneers who knew that economies grow where water flows. Without water, growth in the valley would stop. The Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) was formed as a flood control Special District in 1918. Those early Coachella Valley farmers realized natural recharge of the basin was not going to provide sufficient water for the agricultural development our forefathers envisioned.
“You with the purple shirt,” said Ellen DeGeneres, pointing at Jim Madaffer in her studio audience on Tuesday’s show. “We’re going to give you some music.” His assignment, as one of only a handful of “dads” in the talk host’s audience that day, was to do the “Dad Dab” dance. Thus, the chairman of the San Diego County Water Authority Board and California Transportation Commission member squeezed out to the center aisle and gamely gyrated to the music, earning a thumb’s down from the show host.
A group of farmers could be threatening a new lawsuit against the Imperial Irrigation District over its participation in the drought contingency plan meant to bolster water supplies at Lake Mead and help restore the Colorado River, according to IID officials. At the core of the threat, district officials said Wednesday night, is what IID General Manager Kevin Kelley termed the “elephant in the room” — who holds the water in trust for all water users: the IID or the farmers/landowners? This threat, Kelley said, addresses similar points with the lawsuit grower Mike Abatti filed against the district over its Equitable Distribution Plan. That case is now being appealed by the IID.
There is a quiet campaign underway in northern L.A. County that deserves the support of people across California. lThe Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society is pushing for the site of the St. Francis Dam to be declared a national memorial. The designation would commemorate both the dam and the more than 400 lives that were lost when it collapsed, the worst man-made disaster in California history.
