California state law requires public records to be made promptly available, and allows 10 days to respond in certain siuations, plus another 14 for more limited circumstances. But in practice, the process can take a lot longer, U-T Watchdog found in a project to mark the nationwide open government event known as Sunshine Week.
A series of storms pushed California’s biggest reservoir past its historical average for mid-March this weekend and put the second largest one on track for doing the same by Monday afternoon, officials said.
Together the Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville reservoirs have the capacity to hold more than 8 million acre feet of water and after a wet weekend in Northern California, they were 79% and 70% full, respectively, by Monday morning, according to the state Department of Water Resources.
Citing potentially higher costs that would be passed on to customers, Orange County’s largest provider of water to homes and businesses is intensifying its opposition to a key supplier’s plan to buy desalinated water from a proposed $1 billion Huntington Beach plant.
It would be a ground-breaking project for Baja California, the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere, situated on the Pacific Ocean in a corner of Rosarito Beach — and could one day serve as a supply for water consumers in San Diego County as well.
But as a critical deadline approaches, two partners in the group that proposed the 100 million-gallon-a-day facility are bitterly at odds, suing each other in U.S. and Mexican courts.
The storm had gathered power for days as it crossed the Northern Pacific, and now its outer band was uppercutting the coast. By the time Eric Batman arrived at work at 7 Monday morning, a hard west wind was driving rain and hail sideways against windows. Thunder reverberated across the L.A. Basin.
Batman reveled in El Niño’s long-overdue rumbling. His job, as senior civil engineer for the county Department of Public Works, is to keep as much rain as possible from escaping to the ocean.
State officials certified the San Diego region’s billion-dollar desalination plant as a drought resilient water supply. That plant in Carlsbad turns sea water into 50 million gallons of drinking water each day.
State recognition means the region’s mandatory water cutbacks are being eased from 20 percent, to about 13 percent. “Now the regulation acknowledges that we in San Diego County have invested in a drought resilient supply that does help us in providing that reliable water supply,” said Bob Yamada of the San Diego County Water Authority.
In response to the recently launched Poseidon desalination plant in Carlsbad, state officials have agreed to dramatically ease water conservation goals in San Diego for almost all residential water users. The adjustments will nearly cut in half required water savings throughout the region, the San Diego County Water Authority announced Thursday.
Water managers have complained that state regulators failed to recognize their years-long effort to secure a more stable inventory of local water sources, including what is now the largest desalination facility of its kind in the United States.
The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has notified the Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) that they have rescinded the Conservation Order issued to RMWD on August 31, 2015.
The Conservation Order was issued after RMWD failed to meet the mandatory 36% cutback in residential water consumption in the first month that the Emergency Regulations were in place. RMWD has met or exceeded the standard in the following months, leading to the rescission of the Conservation Order.
As part of the regional effort to reduce water waste, the San Diego County Water Authority and its member agencies are again partnering with the local chapter of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association during national Fix a Leak Week, March 14-20, to make fixing water leaks less costly for residents and businesses.
Throughout Fix a Leak Week, participating contractors will offer customers a 10 percent discount, up to $100, on products and services related to fixing leaks at homes and businesses in the San Diego region.
The Surfrider Foundation‘s San Diego County Chapter is offering courses on how to design a sustainable landscape, with upcoming sessions planned for March 16 in Carlsbad and March 19 in Oceanside.
Urban run-off is the primary source of ocean pollution, and landscapes “can help soak up rainwater, reduce polluted rainwater run-off and prevent water run-off on dry days,” according to the Surfrider Foundation.
