Corporate Water Users Who Saved the Most — Or Least
The City of San Diego supplied its top 10 corporate water customers with 1.6 billion gallons in the budget year that ended on June 30, 2015.
You are now in San Diego County category.
Counties Fight SoCal Water Giant’s Delta Grab
Political agencies and nonprofits in the Central Valley say the Metropolitan District of Southern California’s $175 million purchase of four islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta may cause significant environmental changes and sued to block the sale.
San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties, Central Delta Water Agency, Contra Costa County Water Agency and Food & Water Watch and the Planning and Conservation League sued the district on April 15 in San Joaquin County Superior Court, seeking a court order blocking Metropolitan District of Southern California’s purchase of 20,369 acres of property — including five delta islands and tracts — until an environmental review is satisfied.
OPINION: Actually, Fellow Headline Writers, Storms Did Dent the Drought
“Storms won’t make a dent in the drought.” I hate that headline. It is so untrue — not that we haven’t used it ourselves a few times over the five years of California drought.
But the fact is that the Friday and Saturday rains made a big dent in the drought, and not just for those of us who like our little yards. The drought is not a monolith; we all have our own locavore version of it to grapple with.
Still No Showers at San Diego State Beaches
Even though the California Department of Water Resources reports a near normal snow pack after four years of little snow, the governor’s office is not ready to turn on the rinse-off showers at local state beaches yet.
The beach showers at Silver Strand, Torrey Pines, Cardiff, and South Carlsbad, were shut down last July. Later in the year, so were some campground showers and beach restroom sinks.
Metropolitan Water District Sued
The Metropolitan Water District has been sued over the multi million-dollar purchase of five islands in the Sacramento River Delta.
Two Northern California counties, two water districts and two environmental groups filed suit on Thursday.
Creating New Sources of Water
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, while 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.
Otay Water District to Choose Winner of Eco-Friendly Landscape Contest
The Otay Water District will soon choose a winner of its 2016 landscape contest, which seeks out yards that prioritize water conservation and eco-friendly features.
The winners, chosen over the next week or so, are selected based primarily on the yard’s environmentally-conscious features and how much water the homeowner saves.
OPINION: Is the California Drought America’s Water Wake-Up Call?
The California drought is not over. The great hope for major replenishment of California’s surface and groundwater supplies — the “Godzilla” El Niño — has failed thus far to live up to its super-sized hype, delivering only average amounts of rain and snow, primarily to the northern half of the state.
Average, however, is welcome. Average means that snowpack is visible atop the Sierra, water levels are rising in many reservoirs and a drought-fatigued public is getting a little emotional relief after enduring one “hottest-ever, driest ever” winter after another.
Scientists Confirm: El Niño a Disappointment in still-too-dry Southern California
The National Weather Service has confirmed what many Southern Californians suspected during a scorching February: El Niño, and its badly needed rainstorms, are pretty much kaput.
“It’s looking pretty grim,” said Anthony Barnston, the chief climate forecaster for the International Research Institute for Climate and Society in New York. “This winter was really disappointing.” This week, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center published an El Niño advisory that not only forecast the end of the Pacific Ocean-warming phenomenon, but also warned that El Niño’s drier flip side, La Niña, would replace it by the end of the year.
FPUD One Step Closer to Changing Election Method
Senate Bill 927, which would allow the Fallbrook Public Utility District to change its method of electing directors from at-large seats to by territorial unit, passed out of the State Senate’s Governance and Finance Committee on a 7-0 vote March 30.
“We were pleased with the support of the committee and look forward to testifying if necessary before the Elections Committee,” said FPUD general manager Brian Brady. The passage out of the Governance and Finance Committee sends the legislation to the State Senate’s Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, which is expected to hold a hearing on the bill in late April.
