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Few issues are more important to me than inspiring young leaders to become advocates for a clean, reliable supply of water that supports everything we do in San Diego County – from our manufacturing and biotech businesses, to our farms, to our incredible tourism industry. And there’s no better way to understand the complexities of water than the Citizens Water Academy, an award-winning, innovative program of the San Diego County Water Authority designed to educate up-and-coming professionals about our region’s most vital natural resources.

California’s Water Resources Control Board described its new Salton Sea plan as a landmark agreement, but at least one expert is questioning the modified approach, calling it “Band-Aids to a very serious environmental disaster.” With water deliveries from the Colorado River coming to a halt at the end of this year, the shrinking lake will be reduced at an even faster rate, which the state says poses a public health risk due to particulate air pollution by dust blown from the exposed lake bed.

It was raining and Judy Adler had a broken gutter. What could have been a simple repair turned into an effort to capture rain and use it for her backyard pond. Since late 2009, Adler has collected up to 11,000 gallons of rain annually at her Walnut Creek home. “This is doable,” she said. “This is Tinker Toy stuff.” More people could follow in Adler’s steps under a bill in the California Legislature. The proposal, which would encourage homeowners to collect rainwater, could make its way onto the 2018 statewide ballot.

California regulators on Tuesday approved a plan to spend nearly $400 million over 10 years to slow the shrinking of the state’s largest lake, a vital migratory stop for birds and a buffer against swirling dust in farming towns. Funding for the Salton Sea is unclear but the plan enjoyed support of major water agencies and environmental advocacy groups and preserves a fragile peace among urban and rural areas in California on distributing the state’s share of Colorado River water.

California’s top water regulators adopted an agreement that commits the state to following through on plans of building wetlands and controlling dust around the shrinking Salton Sea over the next 10 years.  The order approved Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board sets targets for state agencies in building thousands of acres of ponds, wetlands and other dust-control projects around the lake.