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Valley Center Has Grown With its Water District

/in , , /by /Valley Roadrunner by David Ross Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Making the desert bloom. That’s what our local water district has accomplished in the nearly 70 years of its existence.

Although settlers first came to Valley Center in the 1860s, the town’s population stayed at just a few hundred people throughout the first part of the 20th Century. On the eve of the formation of the district, the population was about 900, according to the Valley Center History Museum. But in 1954 the voters of the community voted overwhelmingly to create the Valley Center Municipal Water District (VCMWD). From then on, the town has grown with the water district, which made it possible to grow to the population it is today, around 22,000 (VCMWD’s total service area population is 29,700.)

What made that all possible was the creation of the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) in 1944 and the completion of the 1st San Diego Aqueduct in the later 1940s’s. The Aqueduct’s purpose was to bring water from the Colorado River to San Diego County, from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (the “Met”) to provide something more than the area’s limited groundwater and streams that flowed during rainy seasons like we have had this year, but otherwise not so much.

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Every Drop Counts: Water-Wise Landscaping and Design Takes Creativity

/in , , /by /Pasadena Weekly by Morgan Owen

Having an eco-friendly yard doesn’t have to mean replacing a lawn with sand and succulents. Ann-Marie Benz, California Native Plant Society’s horticulture program manager, says creating a drought-resilient landscape has a bad reputation. Creating a native, water-wise yard can be rewarding — and done with a personal flair.

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Six Student Artists Win 2023 Otay Poster Contest

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Six students from schools in the Otay Water District are the winners of the annual Student Poster Contest. More than 53 students submitted entries from schools in Chula Vista, El Cajon, and Spring Valley. The poster art depicts the value of water and using water wisely.

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He Wanted a ‘Low-Water, Colorful, Smell-Good Garden.’ But First, the Lawn Had to Go

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Lisa Boone

On a closely packed street in Inglewood, where single-family home after single-family home overlooks a manicured lawn, a spectacular garden filled with California native plants reaches to the sky and spills onto the sidewalk.

In Brian Bautista’s yard, upright showy penstemon, aromatic hummingbird sage, hardy toyon trees, and two types of milkweed — dramatic plants requiring little water — attract birds, butterflies and bees and flourish amid the Bermuda grass lawns.

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Lake Levels Rise Across Region

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

Winter storms that have dented the drought across much of California have also boosted reservoir levels in several San Diego County lakes — especially those fed by storm runoff.

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Low-Income LADWP Customers’ Bills Are About to Rise. What Help is Available?

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jon Healey

As Angelenos wither under another hot summer, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is shrinking a discount program that helped low-income families pay their bills.

The utility has no choice; the subsidies that funded the DWP’s discounted water rates were declared illegal by a Superior Court judge in May. That discount will disappear Thursday, although others will remain in place, the DWP said in a letter to customers.

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Sweetwater Authority Welcomes Roberto Yano as Assistant General Manager

/in , , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Sweetwater Authority has brought on Roberto Yano as the agency’s new Assistant General Manager. With 30 years of experience in public works, engineering and leadership at the City of Chula Vista and the City of National City, Yano brings a wealth of relevant knowledge and expertise to the Authority.

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Opinion: Michael Smolens: Poll Says San Diegans Less Concerned about Extreme Weather than Rest of State

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union Tribuneby Michael Smolens

Residents of San Diego and Orange counties say they are less affected by extreme weather than other parts of the state. Still, a strong majority says extreme weather is a big problem or somewhat of a problem for the region. People in the two counties also have less confidence than residents elsewhere in government’s ability to respond to weather-related problems.

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El Cajon Grandma’s Garden Wins Water Wise Accolades

/in , , /by /The Californianby Staff

The Otay Water District announced the winner of this year’s WaterSmart Landscape Contest, and “Nana’s Garden,” created by El Cajon resident Lois Scott, earned the title. Scott was recognized by the Otay Water District on July 5 with a certificate of recognition, a gift certificate to a local nursery of her choice, a yard sign, and other promotional items.

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San Diego County Water Authority to Negotiate with Fallbrook, Rainbow Over ‘Divorce’

/in , , /by /KPBS-FM/TVby Alexander Nguyen and Roland Lizarondo Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors held a special meeting Thursday to determine whether to file a lawsuit to keep the water districts in Fallbrook and Rainbow from leaving to join a district in Riverside County.

In the end, the board voted to enter into settlement negotiations with the Fallbrook Public Utility District and Rainbow Municipal Water District.

“We’re going to try to meet with Fallbrook and Rainbow to better understand some of the challenges they have presented through this process,” said Nick Serrano, vice chair of the Water Authority Board of Directors.

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