“I don’t want a dam failure to wipe us out,” said one
businessperson near the Lake Perris Fairgrounds who quickly
added that “the construction is killing us.” The dam,
which sits near the fairgrounds, has been undergoing much
needed seismic retrofitting that was supposed to end in 2018.
The agency overseeing the project, California’s Department of
Water Resources, said the delays have been caused by the
complexity of the project, which involves the City of Perris,
the County of Riverside, several landowners and seven utility
providers.
The odds that the drought-enhancing La Nina will fade by the
end of California’s rainy season are rising, offering some hope
of an easing of parched conditions across the US West. The
Pacific Ocean has a 71% chance of returning to normal
temperatures between February and April, bringing an end the La
Nina weather pattern that has persisted for three years, the
Climate Prediction Center said in a Thursday forecast. La Nina
has dominated global weather, prompting mild winters across the
US South, drought in the West and parched crops in parts of
Argentina and Brazil. More than 99% of California’s land
is gripped in drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. The
state gets almost all its annual rain and snow from November to
April …
A new analysis says San Diego must raise water rates 17.6
percent over the next two years to fund the city’s Pure Water
sewage recycling system and cover rising costs to buy imported
water and replace aging pipes. The average monthly bill for a
customer in a single-family home would increase from $81.07 to
$95.03 in November 2023, and then to $103.06 in January 2025.
Bills for high-volume water users would likely climb even more.
Water rates in San Diego would jump from just below the current
median for local water agencies to what is currently the top
tier. The only water agencies in the county whose current rates
are higher than that planned level are Rincon del Diablo,
Fallbrook, Padre Dam, Rainbow and Del Mar.
As they seek to reduce their reliance on imported water
supplies, the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and
other local governments in the area are looking to increase the
extent to which they engage in water reuse, a proven tactic for
extending existing supplies in water-stressed regions. As
a means of improving water quality, some local agencies also
plan to divert dry weather urban runoff from storm sewers to
best management practices, such as detention ponds,
infiltration basins, or rain gardens, or treatment facilities.
Significant increases in reuse and dry weather diversions would
decrease the volume of treated effluent and untreated runoff
entering the heavily managed LA River, raising questions about
potential effects on water quantity and quality.
Catastrophic flooding prompted civic leaders and engineers a
century ago to begin taming the Los Angeles Basin’s
rambunctious rivers with dams, storm drains and concrete. Now,
scientists warn that, in a warming world, the region can expect
an increase in epic downpours that could rapidly overwhelm its
aging flood control system, unleashing floodwaters across
low-lying working-class communities. On Tuesday, the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion calling
on the Department of Public Works to prepare a report on the
viability of existing flood control infrastructure, as well as
plans for reducing flood risks and making disadvantaged
communities more resilient.
An expanded Atmospheric River Reconnaissance program began last
month as a result of the unexpected “bomb cyclone” in October
2021 that hit North America’s West Coast, followed by another
atmospheric river less than a month later that caused severe
flooding in Washington. … Atmospheric rivers are streams
of water vapor that carry 25 times the water equivalent of the
Mississippi River. Flowing at an altitude of about 10,000 feet,
atmospheric rivers average between 100 and 500 miles wide and
2,000 miles long. Where they hit the West Coast determines
where heavy rain, snow, and flooding occurs. They are also
critical to water supply, and improved forecasts of where
atmospheric rivers will make landfall are vital for more
effective management of reservoirs.
On the surface, these would appear to be challenging times for
investors in San Dimas-based water utility holding company
American States Water Co. Its water utility subsidiary, Golden
State Water, has several systems along California’s Central
Coast, one of the regions hardest hit by the ongoing drought,
which in turn has forced the utility to pay more for imported
water. Even more challenging is a year-long delay in Golden
State Water’s rate case before the California Public Utilities
Commission. The case is supposed to set water rates for this
year through 2024. Yet as 2022 draws to a close, the case is
still lingering before the commission, and a decision is not
expected until the first quarter of next year.
Colorado River water was virtually free in the early 20th
Century when pioneers dug the valley’s first canals that would
later transform this desert landscape into a $2 billion
agricultural industry. Imperial Valley farmers now pay about
$20 an acre foot to transport Colorado River water to their
fields, a price unchanged since 2011. … Farmers next door in
San Diego County pay between $799 and $1,109 per acre foot.
Even the Coachella Valley Water District, just north of
Imperial Valley, charges farmers about $37 per acre foot,
nearly twice what the Imperial Irrigation District charges its
farmers…. Because water is so cheap, Imperial Irrigation
District doesn’t make enough selling it to cover expenses on
water revenues alone….
As water in the Western U.S. becomes an increasingly rare
commodity, the driest states are grasping at solutions for an
even drier future — investing heavily in technologies to
maximize the conservation, and creation, of the region’s most
precious resource. … With more than a thousand miles of
Pacific Ocean coastline, California appears to have access to a
wellspring that other arid states lack. The technology to
transform that unlimited sea supply into potable drinking water
has existed for decades, through a process called desalination.
Yet while two new desalination plants have received approvals
in the past couple months, California’s coast isn’t exactly
teeming with such facilities.
The Colorado River Compact is 100 years old. A University of
Arizona conference and the upcoming Colorado River Water Users
Association will mark the anniversary. But there’s no reason to
celebrate. Twenty-two years into a drought and with reservoirs
at all-time lows, the federal government may soon intervene in
the states’ management of the river. The Compact has failed.
Don’t blame the river. We need a new system that manages with
the river and provides all users with fair shares. In 1922, the
seven Colorado Basin states used an optimistic estimate of the
river’s annual flow to allocate the waters. The states chose
the biggest estimate because that made it easy to agree.
Everyone could pretend the river could satisfy all anticipated
demands. That was the first mistake. -Written by Karl Flessa, an Arizona resident since
1977 and an emeritus professor of geosciences at the
University of Arizona.
I know a lot of people think of deserts as big, empty, lifeless
wastelands — that’s one of the reasons it can be tough to get
folks to care about protecting them. But when I moved to
Southern California from New England, my desert enchantment was
immediate and deep. One of the things that struck me most about
exploring the deserts here was that the slower I went, the more
I saw. … Take the Amargosa River, which flows for 185
miles and drains a 5,500-square-mile basin in Nevada and
California before feeding the aquifer remnants of ancient Lake
Manly in Death Valley. It’s the seventh-longest river in
California, but you could be forgiven for not noticing it,
since it spends almost all its time underground. Its water
provides habitat for the improbable Devil’s Hole pupfish
… -Written by Casey Schreiner, a writer, producer,
presenter and author who has taken over The Wild newsletter for
the next few months.
Things are popping in Baja’s emerging wine scene. Earlier this
century, there were only a dozen or so wineries. Now, there are
almost 200. By all indications, Valle de Guadalupe is ready to
take its place among the world-class gastronomic
destinations. But, under the surface, there’s something
larger lurking. “The big problem today is lack of water,”
says Camillo Magoni, the 82-year-old winemaker of Casa
Magoni, who’s worked 58 harvests in Baja. … San Diego
County’s own winegrowers are also facing a water crisis.
… With all the crises facing the world, some might
dismiss the issue of growing grapes for premium wine to be a
minor, bougie, first-world problem. But wine has always been a
window into much larger farming issues.
California water agencies that serve 27 million people will get
just 5% of what they requested from the state to start 2023,
water officials announced Thursday. The news of limited
water comes as California concludes its driest three-year
stretch on record and as water managers brace for a fourth
year with below-average precipitation. But if the winter is
wetter than expected, the state could boost how much supply it
plans to give out — as it did last year when allocations
started at 0% and ended the winter at 5%. Absent an end to
the drought, water-saving measures are poised to continue,
including calls for people to rip up decorative grass, limit
outdoor watering, take shorter showers and run dishwashers only
when full.
For researchers seeking to understand the effects of climate
change on the weather of the North American Southwest, the
answer lies in traveling millions of years back in time on
wings of wax—leaf wax. … When the plant dies, those waxes
turn into dust that floats on the wind, then drifts down to
form layers preserved in marine and terrestrial sediments.
Trapped within those sediments is a timeline tracing pictures
from prehistoric times: which vegetation flourished, or the
intensity of the rainfall. … Monsoons today will likely
follow the Pliocene pattern and intensify, but also expand
their range in Southern California. … Monsoons will help
with drought as the Southwest dries. But they will be stronger,
dropping inches of rain in a short time and causing more
frequent flooding.
Four years ago, when the San Diego City Council approved paying
tens of millions of dollars to relocate utility pipes and other
equipment to make room for the ambitious Pure Water project,
city officials insisted they would recover the money from San
Diego Gas & Electric. That didn’t happen. The city sued San
Diego Gas & Electric in 2020, saying that the company violated
its franchise agreement by refusing to pay to move its
equipment. Now a Superior Court judge has ruled that San Diego
taxpayers are responsible for those costs, which already total
more than $35 million and could add $65 million or more to the
price tag.
On this edition of Your Call, we’ll discuss the California
Coastal Commission’s recent approval of a controversial
desalination plant in Monterey County. The plan was approved 9
years after it was first proposed, following 13 hours of debate
at a public hearing. Proponents of the plan view desalination
as a critical source of drinking water in a drought-starved
region. Environmental justice advocates argue the plant could
raise costs for low income residents and harm marine life and
other wildlife habitats. What is the future for desalination in
the west, during an era of climate-induced mega-droughts?
Following recent rains, the city of San Diego started releasing
water from Lake Hodges this week. The move, mandated by state
safety officials, is part of ongoing maintenance at the
reservoir’s deteriorating century-old dam. About 250 million
gallons of water will flow into the San Dieguito River using
valves in the dam, according to city officials. Residents
living along the banks of the river should be aware of the
situation, although officials said they don’t expect flooding.
Most of California’s urban water agencies believe they have
enough supplies to last through another seven months of
drought, but nearly 20% of them — including many in Southern
California — say they could be facing significant shortages,
according to a new state report. The California Department of
Water Resource’s first annual water supply and demand
assessment surveyed the state’s urban water agencies to see how
they are managing tight supplies through conservation efforts
and improved drought planning. … [Metropolitan Water District
of Southern California] spokeswoman Rebecca Kimitch added
that deteriorating conditions on the Colorado
River mean the rest of Southern California could also see
calls for increased conservation in the coming months.
The California Coastal Commission recently approved the
construction of two more desalination plants, one near
Monterey, and one by Dana Point. This adds to the four already
providing drinking water in the state. But in 2020, this same
commission advised not to build the Monterey plant. What
changed? The state has faced its driest three years on
record, and it needs more potable water for its almost 40
million residents, especially the ones living on the coast.
… Many countries in the Middle East, and even parts of
the United States, rely almost exclusively on desalinated
water, which is ocean water with the salt and other impurities
removed. Nevertheless, there are significant costs in terms of
energy needed for the desalination process and environmental
damage. In the case of the plant near Monterey, local residents
complained about other factors too.
Without any regard to impacts on wildlife, fire danger, rural
residents or recreational users at Loveland Reservoir near
Alpine in San Diego’s East County, the Sweetwater Water
Authority (SWA) on November 16 began draining down the lake
with an intent to reduce it to “dead pool” level – less than
one-half of one percent of the reservoir’s capacity, once
draining is completed over the next couple of weeks or so. The
water is being piped to Sweetwater Reservoir in Otay Mesa. From
there, it will be used to provide drinking water and other
water needs to residents in the South Bay communities of Chula
Vista, National City and Bonita. -Written by Miriam Raftery.
