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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.

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.