The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) Board of Directors voted unanimously on Tuesday for Jamie Asbury, the current IID Energy Department Manager, to serve as the new General Manager.
According to IID, Asbury is the first woman in the district’s 112-year history to lead the district.
California was so dry and its water supply so precarious by May 2022 that the State Water Resources Control Board issued an emergency order: No drinkable water could be used to irrigate grass that had no function other than to look nice.
The regulation does not apply to residential lawns, although they were already turning brown due to local restrictions on sprinkler use.
It does apply to all purely ornamental lawns — “nonfunctional turf,” in regulatory parlance — at commercial, industrial and institutional sites, such as shopping centers and corporate headquarters.
That order was recently extended for another year.
It’s time for California to follow Nevada’s lead and permanently remove decorative turf.
To be clear, we’re talking only about nonfunctional turf. That means grass that no one walks on, except to mow it. It doesn’t apply to playing fields, picnic grounds, parks, meeting areas, schools, cemeteries or any place where people gather, play, loll, visit or frolic. It won’t keep anyone from feeling wet grass under their bare toes. Instead, think fenced areas with “keep off the grass” signs, plus street medians, mall landscaping and the like.
(Editor’s Note: For rebates, classes, and water-saving tips: sdcwa.org/your-water/conservation/.)
San Diego’s biggest water seller will sue the boundary referees that allowed two of its buyers to leave its business territory.
After hours of deliberation in a closed meeting last week, the board of the San Diego County Water Authority voted to sue the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO. That’s because LAFCO’s board agreed to let Rainbow Municipal Water District and the Fallbrook Public Utilities District divorce from the Water Authority last month so they could buy cheaper water from Riverside County.
On November 8, 2022, the Ramona Municipal Water District Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution renaming Improvement District No. 5 (ID-5) tank to Robinson Tank to recognize retiring Director Jim Robinson’s 20-year service to the community. Director Robinson served on the water board from 1994 to 2010 and from 2018 to 2022.
He added his foresight and timely advice to numerous RMWD committees including those to improve the District’s engineering processes, the District’s responses to future with lessons learned from the Witch Creek Fire and planning and improvements for Santa Maria Recycled Water Plant. He was instrumental in the development of Ramona Parks and Recreation Association, Wellfield Community Park, and Ramona Junior Fairgrounds.
Large trees were the driving force that led Encinitas homeowners to remove grass and create a vibrant, low-water use landscape. The waterwise transformation won the San Dieguito Water District 2023 Landscape Makeover Contest.
Rick and Melanie Cullen had a yard with grass with large shade trees. But the roots of their three large Liquidambar trees were damaging the driveway and the grass, which motivated the couple to remake their landscape.
Plants in beautiful colors that attract pollinators highlight the plant palette. Photo: San Dieguito Water District
Rip it all out, she said. Every blade of grass, frontyard and back. As soon as my wife heard the city was offering a rebate, she wanted to replace our lawns with bark mulch and bunchgrass.
Welcome to the Board: Vicki Quiram, Carlsbad Municipal Water District
Who: Vicki Quiram was seated on the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors on June 19, 2023, representing the Carlsbad Municipal Water District. Quiram serves on the Water Planning and Environmental and Imported Water committees for the Water Authority.
As the Orange County Board of Supervisors looked to submit its responses to this year’s slate of Orange County Grand Jury reports, the supervisors held an in-depth discussion on one report in particular: “Historic Rain Yet Drought Remains.”
Board members on Tuesday, Aug. 8, discussed the county’s recommendation to partially disagree with certain parts of the report, which largely found that South Orange County’s reliance on imported water will be impacted by climate change and must adapt.
The city of Poway is returning to “level 1” voluntary water shortage measures based on a report that the city has sufficient water supplies to meet its demands through June 2024, officials said.
Poway council members unanimously approved the return to less stringent water shortage measures at the Aug. 1 meeting.
