After years of delays, California’s plans for the shrinking Salton Sea are finally starting to take shape. A $383 million plan released by the state’s Natural Resources Agency on Thursday lays out a schedule for building thousands of acres of ponds and wetlands that will cover up stretches of dusty lakebed and create habitat for birds as the lake recedes.
Badly needed fixes to Tijuana’s wastewater system — which recently leaked millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Pacific Ocean, fouling beaches as far north as Coronado — may have to wait. President Trump’s proposed budget released Thursday slashes funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by a whopping $5.7 billion dollars or 31 percent. Those cuts include dollars for the U.S.-Mexico Border Water Infrastructure Grant Program, which officials in San Diego and elsewhere hoped would help fix Tijuana’s aging sewer pipes and an ailing water treatment facility along the coast of Baja California.
San Diego gets most of its water supply from far away. About a fifth of it comes from Northern California. Gov. Jerry Brown has big ideas for making sure Southern California can continue drinking water from its northern neighbor. He wants to build two 35-mile underground tunnels 150 feet underground to keep water flowing south. The price tag would be at least $17 billion. Once a big supporter of the plan, the San Diego County Water Authority is now among its biggest skeptic.
California Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration on Thursday proposed spending nearly $400 million over 10 years to slow the shrinking of the state’s largest lake just as it is expected to evaporate an accelerated pace. The plan involves building ponds on the northern and southern ends of the Salton Sea, a salty, desert lake that has suffered a string of environmental setbacks since the late 1970s. During its heyday of international speed boat races, it drew more visitors than Yosemite National Park and celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and the Beach Boys.
California Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration on Thursday proposed spending nearly $400 million over 10 years to slow the shrinking of the state’s largest lake just as it is expected to evaporate an accelerated pace. The plan involves building ponds on the northern and southern ends of the Salton Sea, a salty, desert lake that has suffered a string of environmental setbacks since the late 1970s. During its heyday of international speed boat races, it drew more visitors than Yosemite National Park and celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and the Beach Boys.
San Diego’s top water quality official worries that a new desalination plant in Mexico could worsen the decades-long problem of sewage spilling across the border into the United States. The connection between that plant and sewage spills may not be obvious. But there are three connections: wastewater management, money and politics. For years, Mexican officials have been working to build a desalination plant in Rosarito Beach that would eventually make 100 million gallons a day of Pacific Ocean water drinkable.
Some climate models are suggesting that El Niño may return later this year, but for now, the Pacific Ocean lingers in a neutral “La Nada” state, according to climatologist Bill Patzert of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The latest map of sea level height data from the U.S./European Jason-3 satellite mission shows most of the ocean at neutral heights (green), except for a bulge of high sea level (red) centered along 20 degrees north latitude in the central and eastern Northern Hemisphere tropics, around Hawaii. This high sea level is caused by warm water.
What a difference one year and one wet winter makes. Last year, 100 percent of the imported water needed to run the North County economy came from the Colorado River. These days, not a drop is coming from the Colorado. Instead, all of the imported water coming out of your tap is from Northern California. Both sources come from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and meet the highest health standards. But there is a big difference for the North County, particularly if you are a farmer or happen to make a little beer (or a lot).
Locked in mortal combat with a group seeking to dismantle its longstanding San Diego power monopoly, giant Sempra Energy and its subsidiary San Diego Gas & Electric have been busy lining up the services of local lobbyists. One member of the utilities’ influence-peddling corral is Lani Lutar, onetime chief of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. According to a March 3 disclosure filing, Lutar’s Responsible Solutions was paid $975 by Sempra Services Corp, approved by state utility regulators to lobby against so-called community choice aggregations.
Golden State Water Company (Golden State Water) Vice President of Environmental Quality William C. Gedney has been appointed to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s (Metropolitan) Board of Directors, representing the 46 water providers and nearly 2 million customers served by the Central Basin Municipal Water District (Central Basin). Gedney began a two-year term on the Central Basin Board of Directors in February 2017. Metropolitan’s 38-member Board of Directors represents the District’s 26 member agencies and is responsible for establishing and administering Metropolitan’s policies and upholding the articles in the MWD Act.
