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The City Council on Tuesday eased restrictions on water use instituted in the face of the drought, allowing residents to water one more day per week.

The action follows the San Diego County Water Authority‘s certification that between the new desalination plant and stored water there is enough available to meet demand for the next three years, even if the drought continues. San Diego residents can now water their lawns three days a week.

The Metropolitan Water District Tuesday unveiled an “H2Love” campaign asking Southern Californians to embrace long-term conservation as the state’s drought enters its fifth year and Los Angeles registers record-low rainfall.

The $2.2 million advertising and outreach effort is aimed at inspiring Californians to make a lifelong commitment to saving water at home, at work and in their communities. “In the face of this historic drought, Californians have proven they can respond to calls to save water, even under challenging conditions,” said Metropolitan General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger.

As the regional water supplier, the San Diego County Water Authority is responsible for providing reliable, long-term water supplies to support the region’s 3.3 million people and its $222 billion economy, rain or shine.

The public demands it, and we have delivered using a two-fold strategy: reducing demand through conservation and water-use efficiency, and securing a diversified water supply portfolio and regional water infrastructure that meets our needs day in and day out.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) named Poseidon Water an Energy Champion for 2016. Poseidon was selected as the Water Energy Nexus Champion for their investments in, and commitment to, sustainability and energy efficiency at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant (the Plant).

To reduce energy consumption at the Plant, Poseidon employs 144 state-of-the-art energy recovery devices that are able to save an estimated 146 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year and reduce carbon emissions by 42,000 metric tons annually – a saving roughly equivalent to removing 9,000 passenger vehicles from the roads.

 

About 700 firefighters on Sunday continued to battle a brush fire in the Santa Clarita Valley that has grown to more than 1,100 acres, officials said.

The Sage fire is 49% contained, said Inspector Gustavo Medina of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

A small home caught fire in the burn area Sunday, but it was unclear whether that was the result of embers from the brush fire, Medina said.

No other structures or homes have been damaged and are no longer threatened. The fast-moving brush fire forced about 2,000 residents to evacuate when it broke out shortly after noon Saturday.