Even after last week’s atmospheric river storm, San Diego’s water year has a dryness problem.
For a start, the water year runs from October 1 to September 30 of the following year. It’s different from the calendar year, but provides a way to keep track of rainfall without breaking up the winter.
The Santa Fe Irrigation District board unanimously approved a 2% water rate increase at a special meeting on Feb. 12. Customers in Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch will see the new rate go into effect on March 1 and in combination with wholesale water rate increases from the San Diego County Water Authority, the average bi-monthly bill will increase by about 9% depending on meter size and water usage levels.
It’s been a slow start to the rainy season. The first major storm of the season is bringing much needed rain as San Diego County deals with the driest start to any winter in more than 170 years.
While the storm offers a boost to drought conditions, officials warn the rainfall is not enough to fully replenish local reservoirs.
President Donald Trump’s recent order to release water from reservoirs into California’s Central Valley had no direct impact on San Diego. But the new administration will be overseeing negotiations that will determine the future of a main source of the county’s water: the Colorado River.
It’s anybody’s guess whether Trump’s unpredictable nature and penchant for unorthodox power moves — as he just exhibited — will be a factor.
Sweetwater Authority, which supplies drinking water to roughly 200,000 customers in Chula Vista and surrounding communities, learned last month that its main reservoir contains levels of a toxic industrial chemical that could require expensive treatment or necessitate decommissioning the reservoir entirely.
A new, more powerful storm is heading toward San Diego County this week and has the potential to bring multiple inches of rain and flash floods to communities throughout the region. The storm is projected to begin Wednesday morning and stay through Friday, with the heaviest rainfall occurring over the last two days, Stefanie Sullivan, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said Monday. The storm that arrived in North County last week, but largely missed South County communities, brought between 0.2 and 0.5 inches of rain.
A new, more powerful storm is heading toward San Diego County this week and has the potential to bring multiple inches of rain and flash floods to communities throughout the region.
East County’s biggest infrastructure project, Advanced Water Purification, is officially costing more than $1 billion after the Joint Powers Authority that oversees it approved about $80 million in changes to its construction contract. AWP, planned since 2015 to provide water reliability to the region, was initially estimated to cost about $500 million to build, but by 2021, its former CEO Alan Carlisle told the Santee City Council the new estimate for the program was “north of $600 million.”
The wettest storm of the year, so far, is expected to bring showers and some snow to San Diego this week. The atmospheric river storm will bring significant rainfall to Northern California and break down as it approaches San Diego County as early as Tuesday night. Despite a weakening storm, San Diego County is still expected to get several inches of rain by the time the storm is through. Rain chances will be off-and-on through Friday with rounds of rain bringing anywhere from 2-3 inches of rain at the coast and in the valleys and up to 4 inches of rain — and possible snow — to the mountains.
Periods of light rain can be expected across San Diego County for early Thursday and Friday mornings. The scattered showers will come along with a steady increase in clouds and overcast conditions with temperatures at their coolest this week. The heaviest accumulations of rain are favored for North County with totals dwindling as you move south.
