Twelve students have won the 2023 City of Escondido Student Poster Contest by illustrating the theme, “Love Water, Save Water.”
Winners have the opportunity to have their work featured in a regional North San Diego County water agencies calendar. First, second, and third-place winners will be featured in next year’s regional calendar.
Hot on the heels of a short-term agreement to cut back on Colorado River water use, states are looking ahead to talks about more permanent cuts. The Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency which manages the West’s water, announced that those negotiations will formally begin next week with a notice in the Federal Register.
The announcement came at an environmental law conference in Boulder, Colorado on Thursday, where scientists, state and federal governments, and tribes met at the University of Colorado’s law school.
Long Beach Utilities commissioners met again Thursday to discuss a potential rate hike for water, which could be as high as 10% next year as the department deals with declining sales due to customer conservation, increasing costs and an expanding capital investment plan that could, in the long term, increase the city’s supply of less expensive groundwater.
A staff-recommended hike of 10% for water rates next year would amount to a $5.69 monthly increase for the average customer, according to the department. However, an alternate increase of 9% that was requested at the commission’s last meeting would add about $5.13 to the monthly bill.
Twelve students have won the 2023 City of Escondido Student Poster Contest by illustrating the theme, “Love Water, Save Water.”
Winners have the opportunity to have their work featured in a regional North San Diego County water agencies calendar. First, second, and third-place winners will be featured in next year’s regional calendar.
Fourth-grade students in the City of Escondido water district have participated in its annual poster contest for decades. Students were asked to illustrate the value of water resources.
The 12 finalists were recently recognized at an Escondido City Council meeting.
First Place: Andrea Garcia, Heritage Elementary School
Second Place: Amelia Scroggy, Heritage Elementary School
Third Place: Avery Salazar, Grace Christian School
Annabelle Trecha
Aysha Navarrete
Belen Rios Perez
Lincoln Steele
Aria Manoocheri
Avery Smith
Cassie Goodwin
Isaac Holsclaw
Wyatt Hada
Winning students and their teachers receive prizes. The top 12 2023 Escondido Student Poster Contest winners are currently displayed on the City of Escondido website.
The Escondido City Council recognizes student artists for their winning poster entries. Photo: City of Escondido
The City of Escondido supports local public and private schools by providing the Water Science Education Program to elementary and afterschool programs. The program teaches water science to raise awareness of the earth’s resources through interactive and collaborative activities supplementing each school’s science curriculum and helping meet Next Generation Science Standards. The annual poster contest is part of the program.
(Editor’s note: The City of Escondido is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the San Diego County region.)
The Sweetwater Authority selected 10 elementary school students as the winners of its “Being Water Wise Is…” 2023 Student Art Poster Contest. The annual contest is open to kindergarten through sixth-grade students in the Authority’s service area. The contest encourages students to think about the importance of water in their everyday lives, and how they can help protect and conserve water in their homes and community.
As millions of newcomers have flocked to the Las Vegas Valley over the past 50 years, every level of government in the nation’s driest state has worked to ensure that water shortages don’t stop the growth.
Since 1999, southern Nevada has ripped out thousands of acres of turf from lawns, sports fields and roadway medians under the West’s most ambitious grass-removal program. These efforts helped halve the amount of water each resident consumed and freed up enough for Clark County to add nearly 1 million people.
The Sweetwater Authority selected 10 elementary school students as the winners of its “Being Water Wise Is…” 2023 Student Art Poster Contest. The annual contest is open to kindergarten through sixth-grade students in the Authority’s service area. The contest encourages students to think about the importance of water in their everyday lives, and how they can help protect and conserve water in their homes and community.
“We are thrilled to have received so many incredible posters this year from so many talented students,” said Sweetwater Authority Board Chair Hector Martinez. “The Authority runs this contest every year with the goal of helping students think critically about the importance of water. This year students did a fantastic job illustrating what being water-wise means to them.”
Oliver Bucud, Fourth Grade
Alandra Contreras Olvera, Third Grade
Sabrina Dacanay, Third Grade
Lee Ann Davis, Fourth Grade
Amara Drosi, Fourth Grade
Vanya Herroz, Fourth Grade
Audrey Manaig, Fourth Grade
Ryann Moody, Fourth Grade
Aaron Ramirez, Fourth Grade
Caleb Zacharzuk, Fourth Grade
More than 60 students in the Authority’s service area submitted artwork for this year’s contest. Of the ten winners, five students will have their artwork submitted to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s regional contest:
If selected, their art work will be featured in MWD’s 2024 art calendar. In 2023, second-grade student Melanie Garcia’s artwork was selected to represent Sweetwater Authority in the MWD student art calendar.
Second grader Melanie Garcia represents Sweetwater Authority with her winning artwork. Photo: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Winners received art supplies kits, sketchpads and gift cards. See all the winning posters: www.sweetwater.org/postercontest23.
(Editor’s note: The Sweetwater Authority is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the San Diego County region.)
Sustainable landscape demonstration gardens inspire homeowners to create and maintain their own beautiful, water-efficient landscapes. In California, where more than half of urban water usage goes towards landscape irrigation, any reduction in water consumption contributes to successful conservation efforts.
The San Diego County Water Authority and several member agencies host demonstration gardens that residents can visit and gather ideas for their own landscape makeovers and water-efficient upgrades. With gardens flourishing in late spring, it’s the perfect time for a self-guided garden tour.
Legislation introduced by Sen. Steve Padilla of San Diego to create the Salton Sea Conservancy moved forward this week with a unanimous vote in the state Senate.
Senate Bill 583 would create a new state agency to unify California’s efforts to expedite preservation, protect residents’ health, and foster ecological recovery of the shrinking sea.
“The environmental calamity at the Salton Sea is decades in the making,” said Padilla. “It is going to take unprecedented collaboration at all levels of governmental to adequately address this challenge.”
A pair of California bills aimed at curbing water use for landscaping has cleared the California State Assembly.
On Wednesday, AB 1573, which requires the use of California native plants, and AB 1572, banning the use of potable water for irrigation on non-functional turf, passed onto the Senate.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
