Tim and Brianna Montgomery of La Mesa transformed a thirsty lawn to a welcoming, water-efficient English inspired cottage landscaping, winning the Helix Water District 2020 WaterSmart Landscape Contest. The contest is an annual competition recognizing outstanding water-wise residential landscapes based on overall attractiveness, design, efficient irrigation, and appropriate plant selection and maintenance.
Water is essential to life. Yet running water is becoming unaffordable across the US, in cities large and small. Water bills weigh heavily on many Americans as utilities hike up prices to pay for environmental clean-ups, infrastructure upgrades and climate emergency defenses to deal with floods and droughts. Federal funding for America’s ageing water system has plummeted, and as a result a growing number of households are unable to afford to pay their bills; millions of homes are being disconnected or put into foreclosure every year.
Arizona is getting a jump start on what will be a yearslong process to address a dwindling but key water source in the U.S. West.
Several states and Mexico rely on the Colorado River for drinking water and growing crops. But climate change, drought and demand have taken a toll on the river that no longer can deliver what was promised in the 1920s.
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, California, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada have been operating under a set of guidelines approved in 2007. Those guidelines and an overlapping drought contingency plan will expire in 2026.
Researchers at Stanford are working on a technology that may be needed more than ever over the next decade, especially if new predictions are accurate. Researchers have recently warned of a potential mega-drought in the western United States – conditions so dry that our drinking water supplies could be facing historic pressures. Experts say keeping the taps flowing could require a patchwork of solutions, including potentially increasing the use of desalination, turning saltwater into drinking water.
Panelists from several water districts will give updates on new laws affecting water consumption in California during an American Liberty Forum of Ramona event set for Saturday, June 27.
The free forum on Water Regulations Today and Tomorrow will be held at Ramona Mainstage, 626 Main St. Doors open at 11 a.m. and a video program starts at 11:30 a.m.
The focus will be on Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668.
SB 606 is in response to mandates that California achieve a 20 percent reduction in urban per capita water use by Dec. 31, 2020. Existing law requires each urban retail water supplier to develop urban water use targets and an interim urban water use target.
AB 1668 would require the state Water Resources Control Board to adopt long-term standards for the efficient use of water and would establish specified standards for per capita daily indoor residential water use.
Planning efforts with farmers and preliminary designs are underway for what is expected to be one of the largest water recycling projects in California.
The Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District is constructing the $375 million South Sacramento County Agriculture & Habitat Lands Recycled Water Program, or the South County Ag Program. As part of the wastewater provider’s $2 billion treatment plant upgrade, the district—known as Regional San—will construct new transmission and distribution pipelines to deliver recycled water from its treatment facility in Elk Grove to irrigation systems in southern Sacramento County.
As California confronts increasing water challenges, the most equitable statewide solution from a social justice perspective is the single-tunnel project proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, known as the Delta Conveyance Project.
More than 27 million Californians rely on imported drinking water conveyed through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This imported water also serves millions of acres of local agricultural lands and vital wildlife refuges.
Desalination can be expensive and time consuming due to the complexity of the treatment process, which is why sustainable, energy-efficient desalination is at the forefront of research into developing clean water technologies.
Most people take it for granted. You turn the faucet on, and water comes out.
But it isn’t that simple. In fact, it’s far more complicated to fill a glass with clean drinking water.
That’s one of the reasons why the City of San Diego’s Public Utilities Department is mailing residents the annual Drinking Water Quality Report this week.
“A lot of people just think that when you turn the tap water on, it’s just coming from the lakes and the streams,” said Michael Simpson, the Senior Water Operations Supervisor at the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant near Lake Murray.
Rural communities are grappling with the challenge other parts of Arizona faced in the past: the need to conserve groundwater for future generations.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
