Tag Archive for: Drought

Sweetwater Authority-Landscape Makeover-Native Plants-Drought

Native Plants Highlight Sweetwater Landscape Contest Winner

/in , /by

Chula Vista resident Paul Rodriguez gave up struggling to maintain his thirsty green lawn in favor of a new landscape design featuring California native plants and shrubs. The Sweetwater Authority Board of Directors selected Rodriguez’s makeover as its 2021 Landscape Makeover winner.

The Rodriguez home before its landscaping makeover. Photo: Sweetwater Authority

The Rodriguez home before the landscaping makeover. Photo: Sweetwater Authority

The WaterSmart Landscape Contest is an opportunity for homeowners to showcase landscape designs focusing on beautiful alternatives to traditional turf-oriented designs. Entries in the makeover competition are judged on five qualities:

  • Overall attractiveness
  • Appropriate plant selection
  • Design
  • Appropriate maintenance
  • Efficient irrigation methods

Native plants and a natural habitat

A trail lets visitors stroll through the property. Photo: Sweetwater Authority

A trail lets visitors stroll through the property. Photo: Sweetwater Authority

Rodriguez and his wife participated in a free Water Authority WaterSmart Landscape Makeover Series course. It provided the foundation allowing them to embrace a design replacing the lawn. They also attended several native plant workshops hosted by the San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. The family were attracted to gardening with native plants due to their low water and no fertilization needs. They also liked the added benefit of creating a natural habitat for pollinators and birds.

Winning entry a pollinator paradise

Milkweed provides food for endangered Monarch butterfly caterpillars. Photo: Sweetwater Authority

Milkweed provides food for endangered Monarch butterfly caterpillars. Photo: Sweetwater Authority

The transformed landscape now includes several manzanitas and large Ceanothus shrubs in the back yard, which reminds Paul Rodriguez of hikes in Mission Trails Regional Park. The front yard adopted a California Coastal Sage scrub garden habitat. It only requires hand watering twice a month during the dry season.

It is a pollinator’s paradise with sages, buckwheats, and verbenas that attract birds and bees. Milkweed provides a food source for endangered Monarch butterflies. Milkweed leaves are the only food monarchs will eat. They also lay eggs on the undersides of the leaves. Striped caterpillars feed on the leaves as they develop.

The new landscaping features native plants. Photo: Sweetwater Authority

The new landscaping features native plants. Photo: Sweetwater Authority

As the winner of the 2021 WaterSmart Landscape Contest, Sweetwater Authority presented the Rodriguez family with a certificate of recognition and gift card as a thank you for setting a waterwise example for other residents.

(Editor’s note: The Sweetwater Authority is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the metropolitan San Diego region.)

Wildfires Threaten Urban Water Supplies, Long After the Flames Are Out

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Henry Fountain

Wrangling a 25-foot-long tube of straw up a steep hillside studded with charred pine trees, three volunteer workers placed it in a shallow trench that had been dug along the slope.

Locked in place with wooden stakes, the sausage-like tube was part of an effort to avoid a potentially large and long-term problem with the drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people to the east. The tube, with others above and below it, should help prevent the hillside, made unstable last fall by a large wildfire, from choking the water supply with sediment when the thunderstorms known as monsoon rains arrive as expected this summer.

Full Story

San Jose: New Drought Rules Limit Lawn Watering to Two Days a Week

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

San Jose’s largest retail water provider on Tuesday announced new rules aimed at increasing water conservation as the state’s drought worsens and reservoir levels drop — chief among them a limit on watering lawns and landscaping to no more than two days a week.

San Jose Water Company, which serves 1 million people who live in San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga, parts of Cupertino and Redwood Estates, said the new rules take effect immediately.

Full Story

Less Water May Mean Less Power for California

/in , , /by /NBC7 San Diego by Joe Little Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The summer of 2021 could go down as one of the hottest and driest summers in California’s history.

“In Northern California, where we get a lot of our water supply, it has been one of the driest 18 months on record in 120 years,” said Goldy Herbon, a Senior Water Resources Specialist for the San Diego County Water Authority.

Herbon said there is no snowpack in Northern California and the Colorado River is almost down to 60% of its normal water levels.

That’s usually very bad for counties that import a lot of their water. However, Herbon said the San Diego County Water Authority and its member agencies like the city of San Diego have invested billions of dollars in infrastructure improvements over the last 30 years that have given San Diego County enough to withstand any potential water restrictions brought on by drought.

Full Story

Water Shortages: Why Some Californians are Running Out in 2021 and Others Aren’t

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

In Los Angeles, people have been hearing about the dangers of drought for decades. But in this land of infinity pools and backyard putting greens — better suited for rattlesnakes and scrub — water never seems to run out.

Yet little Redwood Valley in Mendocino County, which gets a bountiful 38 inches of rain in an average year and sits near the headwaters of the Russian River, has been devastated by this year’s drought. Each resident has been told to use no more than 55 gallons per day — enough to fill a bathtub and flush a toilet six times.

And in San Jose, where less than half of its usual rain has fallen this year, people have been asked to cut water use by 15% — a target that could become mandatory if locals fail to comply.

When it comes to the impact of drought, location is key. Rain and snow vary greatly across California’s myriad microclimates, leaving some towns, mostly in the north, accustomed to yearly refills of their rivers, reservoirs and aquifers. Others farther south have fewer natural supplies of their own, and in parts of the Central Valley, the drought never really left.

Full Story

NASA Images Show Effects of Drought on California’s Largest Reservoirs

/in , , /by /The Press Democratby Elissa Chudwin

Satellite images recently released by NASA show how drought has affected Northern California’s Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville, the largest reservoirs in the state. NASA compared images taken earlier in June with images taken in the summer of 2019 to illustrate how water levels have declined over the two-year period.

Full Story

Where Did Sierra Snow Go this Spring? Not Into California Rivers and Water Supplies

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

California’s severe drought was made worse this year by a shocking surprise.

Every year, much of the drinking water that flows through the taps of millions of Californians begins in the Sierra Nevada. Snow and rain fall on the vast mountain range during the winter months, and the water moves downhill into streams, rivers and reservoirs in the spring and summer.

But this year, in a trend that startled water managers, much of that runoff simply vanished.

Full Story

These Parts of California are Most Vulnerable to Drought

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Yoohyun Jung

As California’s drought continues to intensify, thousands of water agencies across the state are now facing restrictions. For many large water districts, like those serving San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, this isn’t a huge problem, as they have ample water reserves. But many rural areas of the state and smaller water systems are more vulnerable, and the drought could have devastating consequences.

California’s last drought, which lasted from 2011 to 2017, was particularly hard on rural communities and small water suppliers, state officials say. In 2016, the California legislature passed a law tasking the state’s Department of Water Resources to identify the most vulnerable communities and make recommendations to help them plan for emergencies.

Full Story

Against Expectations, Southwestern Summers Are Getting Even Drier

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Henry Fountain

The Southwest, already the driest region in the United States, has become even drier since the mid-20th century, particularly on the hottest days, according to new research. Humidity has declined in summers over the past seven decades, the research showed, and the declines have accelerated since 2000, a period of persistent drought in the region. Extreme heat coupled with lower humidity increases wildfire risk, said Karen McKinnon, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and lead author of a paper in Nature Climate Change describing the research and findings.

Full Story

City Approves Purchase of Desalination Unit

/in , /by /Fort Bragg Advocate-Newsby Robin Epley

The Fort Bragg City Council’s special meeting on Monday went fairly quickly — all of 10 minutes — and unanimously approved the purchase of a desalination and reverse osmosis machine for no more than $335,818.50.

At the last city council meeting, city staff requested the council set aside $600,000 to pursue various options during this summer’s expected drought, including hurdles with sourcing and permitting.

The flow in the Noyo River, which is the city’s primary water source in summer and fall months, is at levels below the worst drought year on record, 1977.

Full Story