Plans to incorporate the Salton Sea into a proposed Southwest Pacific Water Plan are at least as old as this newspaper. WDR first mentioned such a plan in its second issue in February 1965, and three years later, noted, “The Salton Sea is getting too salty; it faces certain death or the oblivion of a great salt lake or dead sea – unless another Bureau of Reclamation study to preserve it as a live sea can reverse present orders.”
Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer is facing one of the biggest decisions in his more than four years as head of the city of San Diego — whether to approve a government-run alternative to San Diego Gas & Electric. The choice, expected in coming weeks, represents a sharp fork on the road to fulfilling the mayor’s ambitious pledge of running the city on 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. The success of the city’s Climate Action Plan largely hinges on meeting the target. Within two decades, nearly half of all annual greenhouse-gas reductions achieved by the city are expected to come from increased use of renewable energy.
The parking lot at the Sandia Creek trailhead was supposed to be 150 feet under water, if everything had gone as planned. The land was supposed to be flooded and turned into a dam. That would have made for some beautiful lakefront property in Fallbrook. But things didn’t quite turn out as planned back in the 1960s when Fallbrook Public Utility District purchased 1,384 acres of rural property there. The intent was to dam the Santa Margarita River and share the water with Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. But many things got in the way of that plan. War happened. Leadership faces changed.
he CEO and two employees of a Riverside County-based painting company were sentenced after pleading guilty to contaminating San Diego’s storm water system by power-washing painted curbs and allowing toxic lead paint chips to flow into storm drains, City Attorney Mara Elliott announced Friday. The trio were placed on probation and ordered to pay more than$12,000 in fines and restitution, Elliott said. Ochoa Striping Services Inc. was contracted to sandblast paint from curbs in a Del Cerro neighborhood, Elliott said. That method of paint removal would have allowed workers to safely clean up and dispose of hazardous material.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s board of directors has elected Jim Madaffer as chair, Gary Croucher as vice chair and Christy Guerin as secretary. They began their two-year terms Oct. 1. Madaffer, who joined the Water Authority board in November 2012, is president of the public policy firm Madaffer Enterprises. A former city councilman, Madaffer previously served as chair of the SANDAG’s transportation committee and as president of the California League of Cities. Croucher has served on the Water Authority board for more than 17 years, serving as board secretary for the past two years.
Cadiz Inc., the downtown water company with a proposed project to pump and transport water from an aquifer beneath its Mojave Desert land holdings, announced Oct. 5 that it plans to donate up to $5 million from project revenue towards efforts to improve water quality at nearby water systems and throughout Southern California. The $5 million donation would be administered over a five-year period by the Fenner Valley Water Authority, which would then distribute the money to eligible small water systems that serve disadvantaged communities. The money would be used primarily to build water treatment systems.
Last year, Downtown Los Angeles got exactly 4.72 inches of rain. That’s measly! It’s smaller than the screen on an iPhone. Less than the length of your sunglasses. Shorter than an average adult hand. And it’s 32 percent of what we normally get. That makes October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018 the third driest year since record-keeping began way back in 1877. Only 2001-2002 and 2006-2007 were worse.
Gardening has a vocabulary all its own, especially when it comes to the materials we use for planting and growing plants: dirt, soil, potting mix, planter mix, mulch, compost and many more. It can be pretty confusing, even for experienced green thumbs. To help, here’s a breakdown of some of the most common terms you’ll encounter along your gardening odysseys: Dirt is what you sweep out of your house or clean off the soles of your shoes. Soil is a complex mixture of minerals, organic matter (see definition below), water, air, living organisms including tiny insects and animals, bacteria, fungi, etc.
While the San Diego County Water Authority halts work on a pilot program for a desalination plant at Camp Pendleton, both the Claude “Bud” Lewis Desalination Plant in Carlsbad, and the North City Water Reclamation Plant in UTC are backfilling the region’s needs. For the past three years, the Water Authority has been planning a small-scale pilot facility to assess seawater intake and treatment technologies at Camp Pendleton with funding from state and federal agencies. The resulting plant would be the first in California to investigate an innovative subsurface intake technology for ocean water.
In Northern San Diego County approximately 7 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean lies the town of Vista, Calif. Vista was founded in 1882 and quickly grew as its Mediterranean climate proved to be excellent for agricultural homesteaders. During the 1920s, Vista was referred to as the avocado capital of the world. But the town faced many hurdles during its growth including severe drought, a problem that Vista, like the rest of California, faces today. As the area increased in population, the Vista Irrigation District was created in 1923 to ensure a reliable source of water for the naturally arid region.
