Posts

San Diego Fighting Alone For $400,000 To Cover Water Testing For Lead At Schools

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

San Diego is the only city in California seeking state reimbursement for testing the toxic lead levels in water at local schools, which has cost the city’s water agency more than $400,000. The city has done tests at 256 schools since early 2017, but must test another 45 schools over the next six weeks. State legislation requires water agencies to test every public school, regardless of whether the agency gets a request, by July 1. Significantly more schools in San Diego County have been tested than in any other county in California since the state requirement began.

Full Story

Fallbrook Home Loads Up On Colors Of The Desert

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Nan Sterman

Ring the entry bell to Patrick Anderson and Les Olsen’s Fallbrook, California, garden, and the tall, redheaded Anderson is likely to greet you wearing teal-colored trousers and a melon orange shirt. His colorful persona, both inside and out, is only a hint of what’s to come. Anderson’s tour starts at the streetside garden he designed a few years ago. The gated driveway is flanked with angular planter beds stuccoed dusky sage green. The structure and geometry play off mass plantings with a limited plant palette. Still, each bed is filled with a dramatic combination of succulents and cacti.

Full Story

‘Fairy Garden’ Makeover For Drought-Ravaged Yard

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Chris Ross Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The front yard of the Point Loma home owned by Nina Ronstadt and Ken Klestinec once had a lush lawn and a cottage garden. But years of drought and limits on water use killed most of the plants. What was left, said Ronstadt via email, was “dried-up lawn and ugly dead landscaping.” She wanted to replace it with a meadow of drought-tolerant ground covers and a curving path, “but our 10-year-old daughter asked, ‘Where will I have a tea party?’ and ‘Where will our dog Cleo play ball?’” So, a circular patio area was added to the plan.

Full Story

Rain Light But It Was Most In San Diego In 6 Weeks

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

The scattered showers that slickened roads across San Diego County Wednesday morning, though light as expected, brought the most rain the region has seen since mid March. Next up is a drying and warming trend. Temperatures, well below normal Tuesday and Wednesday, on Thursday should be near normal for early May. By Saturday, building high pressure should raise the highs to around 90 degrees in the inland valleys, the mid 70s at the coast and over 100 in the desert.

Full Story