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2 San Diego-Area Water Projects Win International Recognition

/in /by /Times of San Diegoby By Chris Jennewein Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The $1 billion desalination plant in Carlsbad and San Diego’s innovative water recycling program both received international recognition earlier this week at a global water summit in Abu Dhabi.

The Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant was honored as the desalination plant of the year, and the City of San Diego’s Pure Water program was recognized as the water reuse project of the year. The awards came at the 2016 Global Water Summit in the capital of the United Arab Emirates on the Arabian Gulf.

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Optimistic “Beyond Drought” Report From Water Authority

/in /by /San Diego Reader Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Despite an ongoing drought, the San Diego County Water Authority is boasting in its annual report — released April 21 and titled “Beyond Drought” — that the region’s water supply is stable and in excess of current demand, despite mandatory conservation measures remaining in place.

“While some areas of the state suffered serious water supply shortages after four years of drought, the Water Authority and its member agencies had enough water to meet demands,” reads a statement from the authority’s board of directors accompanying the report.

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OPINION: Creating new sources of water

/in /by /Valley Road Runner (Valley Center)by Marie Waldron

Since agriculture in our region depends largely on imported water, I have long supported initiatives to increase local supplies, including the use of recycled water.

As many of you know, as a member of the Escondido City Council, I was an early supporter of a plan to use treated wastewater to irrigate citrus and avocado groves on the city’s outskirts.

This year I introduced Assembly Bill 2438 to help speed construction of recycled water pipelines along existing rights of way by streamlining costly, time consuming regulations that have delayed or prevented these projects statewide.

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VC and region dodge a bullet: MWD doesn’t adopt huge change

/in /by /Valley Road Runner (Valley Center) Quoted: Mark Weston

Last week the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) board did not take the action that many local water agencies, including Valley Center Municipal Water District (VCMWD) had feared, i.e. adopting a Fixed Treatment Charge.

On April 12 the MWD board voted not to implement the fixed treatment charge at least for a 2-year period. MWD rates are going up, effective January 1, 2017, but not to the degree that had been discussed as recently as a week ago.

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Lawmakers Seek Vote on $15B Calif. Water Plan

/in /by /Courthouse News Service (Pasadena)by By Nick Cahill

California lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a bill that would put on hold Gov. Jerry Brown’s contentious $15 billion water plan unless it gets approval from voters. The bill is one of several challenges to the California WaterFix. Along with voter approval, it would require the state to perform and release a cost-benefit analysis.

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan would build massive, 30-mile-long twin tunnels underneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The state released a 48,000-page environmental impact report on the giant Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Peripheral Canal last year.

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Global warming has made the weather better for most in U.S. — but don’t get used to it, study says

/in /by /The Los Angeles Timesby Sean Greene

Since Americans first heard the term global warming in the 1970s, the weather has actually improved for most people living in the U.S. But it won’t always be that way, according to a new study.

Research shows Americans typically — and perhaps unsurprisingly — like warmer winters and dislike hot, humid summers. And they reveal their weather preferences by moving to areas with conditions they like best.

A new study in the journal Nature has found that 80% of the U.S. population lives in counties experiencing more pleasant weather than they did 40 years ago.

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Garden-Friendly Plant Sale Returns to Encinitas Home Depot

/in /by /Encinitas Patchby Jamie Wilkins Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Olivenhain Municipal Water District and Home Depot have once again teamed up to kick off the spring season with the semi-annual Garden-Friendly Plant Sale and Fair on Saturday, April 30 at the Encinitas Home Depot. All area residents are invited to attend this popular event, which runs from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

With California’s historic drought in its fifth year, adjusting landscapes to reduce water consumption is important as ever.

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WEATHER: Who’s to Blame for Faulty Local El Niño Predictions?

/in /by /The Press Enterprise (Riverside)by By David Downey

A rainy season that began with much El Niño-fueled promise is speeding to a dry and disappointing end. And now the blame game is beginning as weather experts try to figure out what went wrong — at least in Southern California.

This week, the National Weather Service posted a 17-minute video addressing the question of why the mysterious climate phenomenon marked by unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean didn’t deliver drenching rain to the region, as expected.

 

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Garden-Friendly Plant Sale Returns to Encinitas Home Depot

/in /by /Carlsbad Patch by By Jamie Wilkins Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Olivenhain Municipal Water District and Home Depot have once again teamed up to kick off the spring season with the semi-annual Garden-Friendly Plant Sale and Fair on Saturday, April 30 at the Encinitas Home Depot. All area residents are invited to attend this popular event, which runs from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

With California’s historic drought in its fifth year, adjusting landscapes to reduce water consumption is important as ever. Fair attendees can find tremendous value in consulting landscape industry experts who will be on hand to offer free advice on water-efficient landscape design and irrigation.

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You Could Vote on Controversial Delta Water Tunnels Plan in 2018

/in /by /Los Angeles Times by By John Myers

An Assembly committee gave its approval Tuesday to legislation that would require California voters approve of Gov. Jerry Brown’s $15-billion water plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

“In times of crisis, we shouldn’t reach for the easiest thing,” Assemblywoman Susan Eggman (D-Stockton), the bill’s author, said during the hearing. Eggman’s AB 1713 would set new criteria for the long-debated water plan when it comes to the impact on the delta community. Most notably, though, it would also subject the project to an up-or-down vote at the next statewide election.

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