The Imperial Irrigation District in California, which uses more Colorado River water than any other farm district or city in the West, has agreed to conserve 100,000 acre-feet in 2023 in exchange for payments from the federal government. It’s less than half the amount of water the district originally proposed saving last spring.
In the wake of the arrival of a history-making year in weather, the San Diego County Water Authority is working with two other agencies and the federal government to implement lasting changes to regional water management.
The Biden Administration will pay the Imperial Irrigation District an estimated $77.6 million for conserving 100,000 acre-feet of water in the Colorado River this year, setting the stage for more than half a billion dollars in federal funds to be paid to the agency, the river’s largest user, to conserve far more through 2026.
For local breweries in San Diego, it’s becoming increasingly complex to brew beer due to a recent surge in water rates.
As part of the historic Lower Basin Plan between Arizona, California and Nevada to conserve 3 million acre-feet of water by 2026 to protect the Colorado River system from extended drought, the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors on Friday, Dec. 1 unanimously approved the 2023 System Conservation Implementation Agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
In recent decades, as water has grown increasingly precious, Californians have tried countless ways to find more of it and make it last longer, including covering agricultural canals with solar panels to prevent evaporation, building costly desalination plants and pulling out tracts of water-hungry grass.
When it comes to creating weather forecasts, one might picture thermometers, barometers, maps or charts. But a team led by the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla is using hurricane-hunting aircraft.
Recently, the San Diego County Taxpayers Association honored Helix Water District with a Golden Watchdog Award in Municipal and Educational Services for the district’s Tunnel Hill tanks project that resulted in a $6.3 million cost savings for its customers. The association’s annual Golden Watchdog and Fleece Awards recognize the best and worst in local government decision-making, spending and efficiency.
The United Nations Climate Conference, called COP28, begins on Thursday in Dubai and students and faculty from UC San Diego (UCSD) will be there.
The UN climate conference is a global meeting of politicians and scientists that have a strong bearing on the fight against global warming. It’s where the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015.
Thousands of South Bay residents could see their water rates begin to increase at the start of 2024.
The Sweetwater Authority, which supplies water to 200,000 people in parts of Chula Vista, National City and Bonita, will be voting on the hike next week. This would be the first time the Sweetwater Authority has raised their water rates in five years. If ultimately approved, this series of rate hikes would begin on January first.
