It was a week after L.A.’s first major rain of the season, and hundreds of volunteers had gathered to pick up trash along the beach at a monthly cleanup organized by Heal the Bay. Ying, a volunteer herself, was giving them instructions — and helping make the case for a countywide measure on the Nov. 6 ballot that would raise money from property taxes to fund stormwater capture and cleanup.
Local water districts are offering rebates to homeowners that replace their grass with sustainable landscape, as many do all year, but a local water district says fall may be the perfect season to jump on the offers. “You’ve got cooler temperatures, shorter days so it gives a chance for the plants that you plant in the fall to take root before the heat of summer kicks in,” Michelle Curtis with the Helix Water District said.
Josh Hill, a marine biology teacher at Mar Vista High School, lost count of the number of times he’s gotten sick from swimming in the ocean at Imperial Beach. “It’s just kind of sad that we have this awesome natural resource that we don’t get to use,” he said. He and a group of students are raising awareness about water pollution by taking weekly water samples of the ocean and publishing their results online. Every Thursday, Hill and his students collect water from the south end of Seacoast Drive and the Imperial Beach Pier.
Amid California’s list of contentious desalination proposals, the plant slated for Doheny Beach in Dana Point has had remarkably smooth sailing. Key environmentalist groups battling plans in Huntington Beach and El Segundo have largely taken a hands-off approach to the south Orange County project, recognizing Doheny’s innovative environmental technology and dearth of local water options there. Additionally, a draft countywide analysis earlier this month ranked Doheny well above the Huntington Beach plant proposed by the Poseidon company.
Riverside County is moving forward with a Salton Sea restoration plan that officials say could generate more than $1 billion in tax revenue, which would help fund construction of a permanent, horseshoe-shaped lake at the north end of the dying sea. The board of supervisors voted Tuesday to create an enhanced infrastructure financing district, or EIFD, that encompasses Mecca, North Shore, Oasis, Thermal and other unincorporated communities near the Salton Sea. If voters in the newly created district approve the plan, the county would issue bonds to fund construction of a so-called North Lake.
With a decision pending on whether the city of San Diego should adopt a government-run power program, San Diego Gas & Electric has notified city officials it is withdrawing from putting together a counterproposal to what is called Community Choice Aggregation. For the past two years, SDG&E has worked with city officials to create a program that would contract for increasing amounts of renewable energy to reach the city’s Climate Action Plan goal of 100 percent renewable sources by 2035.
A previous Conservation Corner article explained how to map the different types of microclimates present in your landscaping. This information can help homeowners effectively arrange plants in their sustainable landscapes. For the most efficient water use, plants should be grouped together with similar water needs in their favorite microclimate. In nature, plants that like lots of water are found along the banks of streams, or grouped together at the base of landscape depressions. Plants that need fast-draining soils so roots don’t rot might be found on hillsides. Plants that love lots of sunshine won’t grow in the shade of a tree.
Environmental justice advocates are calling on Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office to spend more money fighting climate change in low-income neighborhoods. According to a report released by the San Diego-based Environmental Health Coalition on Monday, the city has spent little on implementing its 2015 Climate Action Plan and failed to track how much of that funding has gone to disadvantaged communities.
Inside a greenhouse off Champagne Boulevard north of Escondido, lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes are being grown in an aquaponic research facility designed to teach others about sustainable farming. The ultimate goal of the center is far loftier: to save the world. The small greenhouse, dubbed the Auqaponics Innovation Center, contains a sophisticated system that uses fish, water and numerous filtration systems. It’s run by Ecolife Conservation, a nonprofit headquartered in Escondido, whose director is Bill Toone, a conservation biologist by training.
When you think about Los Angeles water, what usually comes to mind? The shady history of how the complex system came to be? Or maybe it’s the recent headlines about how certain districts in charge of providing water to local communities have been falling short. Regardless, one thing to note is that L.A.’s water system is big and convoluted and we’re going to attempt to scratch the surface. A KPCC/LAist listener asked: Why does the tap water have such high levels of calcium? Is the water like this in all of Los Angeles County? Let’s dig in.
