California’s current snowpack is the deepest it has been in five years — a modest, yet encouraging milestone in a period of prolonged drought.
Readings of the Sierra Nevada snowpack on Tuesday showed water content statewide was 18.7 inches, or 115% of the historical average for that date, according to the California Department of Water Resources.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today a $30 million loan to the city of Carlsbad to expand its water recycling facility.
The 1 percent federal loan will be coupled with $7 million from other funding sources to pay for the project, which will nearly double the plant’s capacity to generate water for non-potable uses like irrigation and industrial
uses.
Environmental Protection Agency officials were in Carlsbad on Wednesday to announce more than $182 million in federal funding that will be funneled to drinking water and wastewater infrastructure improvements throughout California.
EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld made the announcement at the Carlsbad Water Recycling Facility, which has received about $37 million in low-interest loans funded by the federal agency over the past several years to nearly double output at the plant.
The idea of turning waste water into drinking water is gaining momentum among government bodies in Southern California and across the nation, but regulators question how and when the concept will become palatable to the widespread public.
Local, state and federal officials discussed the environmental, health and financial impact of the sometimes derisively called “toilet to tap” technology, or recycled water reuse systems, during a panel session Tuesday at Renaissance Long Beach Hotel, as drought conditions and population concerns are pressing public agencies to come up with cost-effective and safe solutions to water supply problems.
Despite a recent stretch of warm weather in San Diego, climate experts say there is still a good chance for more strong El Niño storms for the next 2-3 months.
Experts from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, the Desert Research Institute and UC Santa Barbara delivered the “California Winter Status Update” on Tuesday. They said El Niño’s warmer ocean temperatures will stick around until mid- to late spring.
Power structure: If a Los Angeles city councilman gets his way, the governance structure of the Department of Water and Power could be in for a major change. Councilman Felipe Fuentes wants to replace the commission that oversees the utility with a group of paid professionals.
The proposal would also take away the mayor and City Council’s ability to select and approve the DWP’s general manager. The changes could lead to “a focused, professional management system in place,” Fuentes said.
Folsom Lake hit an important milestone over the weekend: Even though most of the slips at the marina are still mired in mud, it could be just a matter of days before hundreds of boats can come out of dry storage in the marina parking lot.
The surface of the lake rose to 400 feet above sea level Sunday morning, prompting California State Parks to lift the 5 mile-per-hour speed limit that had been in place since early summer.
Halfway through the winter, more water is stored in California’s snowpack than is usual for this time of year – signaling that maybe, just maybe, this could be the year the drought eases.
With a strong El Niño, it’s not really surprising that winter rain has arrived in California. What’s notable is the location.
If you think El Nino is done, you should think again.
Meteorologist Kurt Kaplan from the National Weather Service says that “We can see storm tracks all the way through April.”
Kaplan added that the storms are certainly brewing, they’re just in Northern California at the moment.
Experts say it’s only a matter of time until El Nino comes down South, with February expected to be the wettest month of the year.
Forecasters say El Niño hasn’t yet stood us up on a date and that the much-hyped set of storms — characterized by unusually warm temperatures in the equatorial Pacific that bring above-average rainfall — will hit Southern California hard soon, after teasing us with a few days of rain in early January.
“It’s not really gone away,” said Brett Albright, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. “It’s still out there. It’s a temperature phenomenon, and it has a progressive effect on the atmosphere.”
