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The Colorado River — which supplies about two-thirds of San Diego County’s drinkable water — on Tuesday was named the most endangered river in the U.S. by a leading conservation group. American Rivers’ annual report, published since 1984, ranks the 10 most threatened rivers nationwide. The group said it tries to spotlight rivers that are subject to influential policy decisions, not necessarily the most polluted. This year, it chose the lower portion of the Colorado River for greatest attention based on ongoing concerns about dwindling flows due to increasing water consumption and adverse impacts from global warming.

Local State Park officials are looking for further guidance from the governor on how to proceed with “rinse-off” showers at state beaches, which have been turned off since 2015. The showers were first turned off two summers ago when the State of California was in a period of severe drought. The showers were shut off to conserve water. In April, Gov. Jerry Brown’s office announced the state would lift its drought emergency for most of the state after a winter of record rain and snowfall that followed a five-year dry spell.

At the San Diego County Water Authority, we scrutinize every dollar to make sure ratepayers get a good return on their investments in safe and reliable water supplies. But that isn’t the case everywhere – and it’s certainly not the case at the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Several steps removed form nearly 20 million residents it serves, MWD overcharged ratepayers $847 million more than the agency’s budgets said was needed from 2012-2015.

The March 14 board meeting of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California included the approval of three infrastructure rehabilitation projects at Lake Mathews. One project will rehabilitate the electrical distribution system at Lake Mathews, a second project will repair the Lake Mathews forebay and the third project will repair portions of the hydroelectric plant’s concrete structure. The projects are intended to address the aging infrastructure of Lake Mathews and to maintain reliable deliveries into MWD’s Central Pool.

Oceanside homeowner Richard Jaross had two motivations for rethinking his front yard’s landscaping. It was mostly lawn that was not thriving, because of water restrictions. And, to make matters worse, a family of rabbits was eating and digging up the turf. So, when Jaross, who lives in the Vista San Luis Rey neighborhood of north Oceanside, read in the U-T about free WaterSmart landscaping courses offered by the San Diego County Water Authority, he decided to educate himself about drought-tolerant gardens.