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Escondido officials are hopeful that the long-delayed Lake Wohlford Dam replacement project will begin next year, though nearly $45 million to $50 million job is woefully shy of being fully funded. “The last I checked,” City Manager Jeff Epp said, “(utilities director Chris McKinney) was collecting aluminum cans and bottles from Lake Wohlford Road in an attempt to raise the necessary funding for the project. He still has $27,999,996.80 left to raise.”

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer on Thursday held up his city as an example of what can be accomplished when elected leaders put aside politics and focus on the housing, workforce and water needs facing their region. “It shouldn’t matter if you’re Republican, Democrat or independent — what’s the right thing we need to be doing for our city? What’s the right thing we need to be doing for our state, for our economy?” Faulconer said at the opening session of the California Economic Summit.

After considering cutting ties with The Water Conservation Garden, the Helix Water District Board has agreed to keep supporting the venue in Rancho San Diego for the next five years but at a declining rate. Earlier this year, Helix board member Dan McMillan questioned the need for the district to continue to fund the xeriscape demonstration garden on the Cuyamaca College campus, citing budgetary concerns and accountability to ratepayers.

San Diego communities are working together to diversify their water supply, with a plan to convert the wastewater that goes down drains and toilets, into purified drinking water. The Padre Dam Municipal Water District in Santee is leading the East County Advanced Water Purification Program. The district is working with Helix Water District, the city of El Cajon, and the County of San Diego to build a full-scale water purification facility on-site at Fanita Parkway.

Long-range weather forecasters have been striking out lately. Two years ago, they whiffed on El Niño, which was supposed to be a “monster” that would drench California and end four years of drought. Instead, the El Niño of 2015-16 turned out to be a mouse, and the drought dragged on.