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OPINION: Huntington Beach Desalination Project Would Help Meet Region’s Water Needs

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Dr. Allan Bernstein

As the price of imported water continues to rise, and technological advances for seawater desalination improve efficiencies, California’s time to turn ocean water into drinking water has come. Orange County is poised to integrate purified ocean water into its drinking water portfolio, just as San Diego has successfully done by producing 35 billion gallons of drinking water from the Pacific Ocean in just three short years. The ocean is the world’s largest reservoir; it’s always full and sits on our front doorstep. At the cost of a half-penny per gallon, seawater desalination is cost-competitive with the development of other new water supplies.

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Water Deal Provides Less Costly, More Reliable Supplies

/in , /by /The Daily Transcriptby Mark Muir Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A historic achievement for San Diego County passed mostly under the radar this summer when the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors approved wholesale rates for 2019. The rate increases were among the lowest in 15 years — but that’s just part of the story. The critical long-term accomplishment highlighted by the rate-setting process was that the Water Authority’s independent water supplies from the Colorado River are now both less expensive and more reliable than supplies from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. That’s a goal the region’s water officials started working towards two decades ago, and one that will bear fruit for decades to come.

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One Year Anniversary Of City Of Riverside-Western Municipal Water District’s Successful Partnership

/in , /by /California Water News Daily

It’s been one year since the City of Riverside and Western Municipal Water District (WMWD) executed a Regional Water Partnership deal that allowing WMWD to purchase surplus Riverside groundwater supplies that are part of the City’s Court-adjudicated water right in the San Bernardino Basin Area. In its first calendar year, the partnership has resulted in a $2.6 million savings for Western and $4.5 million in revenue for the City. It has also brought an additional 2.4 billion gallons of local groundwater to WMWD’s customers, which is enough annual water supply for about 15,000 single-family homes. The deal will also help keep water rates as low as possible in the years to come for both agencies.

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New Desalination Plant On Hold

/in , /by /Voice Of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

Plans to build a new plant at Camp Pendleton to make ocean water drinkable are on hold, in part due to falling demand for water, thanks to state-urged conservation efforts. The San Diego County Water Authority had spent $5.4 million on the now-abandoned plan, though it says technical studies it’s already done could be used in the future.

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Los Angeles Reduces Eastern Sierra Water Deliveries Because Of Climate Change. At Risk, Ranchers Say, Is A Way Of Life

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

The lush plains east of Yosemite National Park offer a window into a bygone California — a place where sage grouse welcome the arrival of spring with theatrical mating rituals and cattle graze on verdant pastures. For nearly a century, these lands have been made green thanks to annual flooding by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, helping maintain cattle forage and keeping alive a culture of ranching in southern Mono County. But those days may have come to an end in August.

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OPINION: San Diego’s Summer Tourism Boom Was Brought To You By Water

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Joe Terzi and Kerri Kapich Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Three months ago, we predicted then that this would be one of the most successful summers for tourism in our county — and the season didn’t disappoint. More than 11 million people visited the county over the past three months, spending $3.5 billion and boosting our local economy. While it may not seem obvious, record-breaking tourist activity is only possible with access to a safe and reliable water supply. Every hotel stay, beach day and theme park visit bolsters the tourism industry’s annual economic impact of $17.9 billion. Take Comic-Con: 130,000 pop-culture fans attended the convention in July, generating a regional economic impact of $147.1 million.

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A Guide To Drought-Friendly Aloes

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Karen Dardick

Debilitating droughts, fierce fires, water shortages — all are contributing to some people getting rid of their gardens. However, people can enjoy colorful plants while conserving water by changing their plant choices. Consider succulent plants. Succulents are defined as any plant storing water in leaves, stems or roots to withstand drought. (Cactuses are succulents, but botanists set them apart in their own category of Cactaceae.) Botanists have categorized succulent plants into many different genera. The most widely used in home gardens are aloes, agaves, aeoniums, kalanchoe, sedums, echeveria, euphorbia and crassula.

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The Salton Sea Is Shrinking Even Faster, And California Still Hasn’t Done Much To Fix It

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Sammy Roth

In November 2015, there was a rare celebration at the Salton Sea. More than 100 people gathered on a dry stretch of dirt at Red Hill Bay, where the lake’s shoreline was receding quickly. They were there to break ground on the Salton Sea’s first major restoration project, which would create hundreds of acres of habitat for migratory birds and help keep lung-damaging dust out of the air. Several public officials  — including state lawmakers Eduardo Garcia and Ben Hueso — grabbed shovels and posed for a photo scooping dirt out of the ground, with a bulldozer in the background.

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Local Water Officials Discuss 50-Year Extension Of State Water Project Contract

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sara Cardine

Water officials discussed Monday extending the supply contract for the State Water Project, a program that provides water for 25 million people and irrigates more than 750,000 acres of California farmland, for a 50-year period. Members of the Board of Directors for Foothill Municipal Water District — which distributes water imported from Metropolitan Water District to customers of the La Cañada Irrigation District, Valley Water Co. and the Crescenta Valley and Mesa Crest water districts, among others — considered the matter in a regular board meeting.

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Waterwise Landscaping Blooms In San Marcos

/in , /by /Water News Network

San Marcos, Calif. – A beautiful native garden low on water use but not on style won first place in the Vallecitos Water District’s 2018 “WaterSmart Landscape Contest. To encourage customers to reduce outdoor water use, Vallecitos recognizes customers whose yards best exhibit the beauty of California-friendly, low-water gardening. The Vallecitos Board of Directors honored the 2018 winners of the annual WaterSmart Landscape Contest at its August board meeting.

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