A steward of the Bolsa Chica wetlands, Kim Kolpin describes her
panic earlier this month when she heard that oil was spilling
off the shore of the habitat-rich park she has worked at since
1996. The 1,400-acre Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in
Huntington Beach is home to 23 species that are endangered,
threatened or of special concern. It’s treasured by
birdwatchers for the nearly 300 feathered resident and
migratory species, many of which lay their eggs there.
In many parts of California, reminders abound that the American
West is running out of water. “Bathtub rings” mark the
shrinking of the state’s biggest reservoirs to some of their
lowest recorded levels. Fields lie fallow, as farmers grapple
with an uncertain future. A bed-and-breakfast owner spends $5
whenever a tourist showers. But not in San Diego County. In
this coastal desert metropolis, life has stayed mostly the same
for residents already accustomed to conserving what they have
long treated as a precious resource.
El Segundo residents may be startled by smoke and flames
periodically coming from the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant
the rest of the month — but there’s no need for concern,
officials say. It’s all part of scheduled maintenance work that
begins Sunday, Oct. 17, according to an alert from El Segundo
this week. The plant’s Bioenergy Facility will undergo
maintenance to preserve critical equipment such as pumps,
breakers and compressors, the alert said.
Sweetwater Authority has selected its new general manager to
manage the water agency responsible for about 200,000 customers
in the South Bay. Following a months-long vacancy, Carlos
Quintero started his role on Sept. 27 following the Sweetwater
governing board’s approval last month of a three-year
employment contract with him. He has worked in the water
industry for the past 24 years.
Carrie Oliphant, a 20-year veteran of the Coachella Valley
Water District, is the agency’s first female director of
engineering, and working her way up, she says, has been “a
really good experience” in a “very supportive environment.” Her
job is a huge undertaking, as the century-old public agency
covers more than 1,000 square miles and services 110,000 homes
and businesses.
[O]ur drought is indeed affecting bees — but not the urban
garden variety, where people still water their yards. It’s the
feral colonies that live outside the city that are
struggling. … Feral bees are colonies that aren’t being
taken care of. They’re wild and make their hives anywhere and
everywhere, though we often don’t notice them. Without rain or
watering, bees scale back on producing honey to conserve energy
and struggle to keep their hives at the right temperature.
Colonies that are too dehydrated could experience
die-off.
Light rain started falling Sunday evening in the Bay Area, as a
week of much-needed precipitation was forecast for the parched
Northern California landscape. One to 2 inches of rain is
expected to fall across the Bay Area over the next week, and
even more could fall across the North Bay as a series of storms
dives in from the northwest, said Rick Canepa, meteorologist
with the National Weather Service. To the east, parts of the
Sierra Nevada could see more than a half-foot of snow by Monday
morning.
On a dusty hilltop in San Diego, the drinking water of the
future courses through a wildly complicated and very loud
jumble of tanks, pipes, and cylinders. Here at the North City
Water Reclamation Plant, very not-drinkable wastewater is
turned into a liquid so pure it would actually wreak havoc on
your body if you imbibed it without further treatment.
Jean Yang, a senior associate at the Los Angeles design firm
Studio-MLA, is a self-described recovering “metrics-aholic.”
… As Studio-MLA’s project manager for the Upper Los Angeles
River and Tributaries plan, Yang is helping apply both
qualitative and quantitative insights to ensure equity in a
massive revitalization plan.
A celebration event held Wednesday commemorated the recent
completion of a $37 million, three-year construction project at
the Santa Rosa Water Reclamation Facility on Washington Avenue
in Murrieta. Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, Rancho
California Water District, and Western Municipal Water District
hosted the event. The three agencies are partners with the
Santa Rosa Regional Resources Authority, which owns and manages
the reclamation facility that serves portions of Murrieta,
Temecula, Wildomar, and surrounding communities.
Drinking water from this tap makes San Diego County Water
Authority’s General Manager Sandy Kerl smile — and for
good reason. Back in the drought of the ’90s, 95% of San
Diego’s water came from one source, and they faced 30% cuts for
13 months. … Fast-forward 30 years later, and the
San Diego County Water Authority has multiple streams of water
sources in its portfolio, including the groundbreaking Carlsbad
Desalination Plant that utilizes ocean water to provide the
region with about 10% of its drinking water.
The Northern Hemisphere looks ready to transition into a La
Niña winter in the next month, according to the latest outlook
from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s
Climate Prediction Center, KTLA sister station WUTR reported.
… Southern California, the southwestern states, Texas,
and the Gulf Coast states through to Florida … are plagued by
drought, and a La Niña year could make that worse. The
opposite is actually true for Northern California and the
Pacific Northwest, where La Nina winters tend to bring more
precipitation, not less.
The West’s historic, multi-year drought is threatening water
supply, food production and electricity generation. It has
drained reservoirs at incredible rates and fueled one of the
most extreme wildfire seasons the region has ever experienced.
In California, drought conditions this summer were the most
extreme in the entire 126-year record — a clear sign of the
role climate change plays in the perilous decline of the
state’s water resources. Data from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration shows that drought months are
becoming the new normal, with rainy months becoming fewer and
farther between.
We need a dramatic shift in our efforts to curb wildfires in
California. Instead of reacting to wildfires, we need to
utilize the knowledge of Indigenous people on managing the
land. When it comes to fire prevention, the wisdom of
Indigenous tribes like the Yurok, Karuk, Hoopa and Wintun is
unparalleled. … Thoughtful prescribed burns with
low-intensity fire were carried out on the land for thousands
of years to keep fire, food and water resources in
harmony. -Written by Chelsi Sparti, a member of the
Winnemem, Nomtipom and Nomsus bands of the Northern Wintu
People; and Chris Villarruel, a member of the Ajumawi band
of the Pit River Nation.
With the population of the United States doubling over the past
50 years, at least 40 states are now anticipating water
shortages by 2024. … Consider the Colorado River basin.
Located in the southwestern U.S. and stretching almost 1,500
miles from the Continental Divide to the Gulf of California,
the Colorado River is a critical municipal water resource for
nearly 40 million people throughout seven states.
Technicolor USA Inc. must contribute to the cost of cleaning up
contamination at a former film processing business in
Hollywood, according to a new lawsuit filed in a California
federal court. Film processing labs like Technicolor’s used
chlorinated solvents in the printing and cleaning process,
according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for
the Central District of California. Those chemicals and their
breakdown products, such as trichloroethylene and vinyl
chloride, have been found in the soil and groundwater under the
property in Los Angeles, the lawsuit says.
A wetter than average forecast for late October could dampen
wildfires burning in Northern California and help ease drought
conditions, according to the National Weather Service. The
latest weather outlook for the latter part of this month calls
for above-normal precipitation in California, with possible
high-elevation heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada and the
Cascades. There is also potential for an atmospheric river
between Oct. 21 to Oct. 27, forecasters said.
The Metropolitan Water District, which provides water to six
counties in Southern California, announced a partnership on
Wednesday, Oct. 13 with Arizona water agencies to collaborate
on planning for what could become one of the nation’s largest
water recycling plants, producing up to 150 million gallons
daily to serve more than 500,000 homes. Central Arizona Project
will provide $5 million and the Arizona Department of Water
Resources will provide $1 million for environmental planning of
the Regional Recycled Water Program, which will purify treated
wastewater to produce a new, drought-proof water supply for
Southern California.
English sole fish and other marine life have been collected in
the vicinity of the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant to
determine whether the 17 million gallons of raw sewage
discharged in July — and the subsequent release of partially
treated wastewater in the months after — will have any
long-term impacts on the ocean environment. However, officials
with Los Angeles Sanitation’s Environmental Monitoring Division
say it could take a year or more to get the full results back.
The 1,657 sloping acres of dry scrub and boulders in Highland
that had been slated for 3,600 houses as part of the Harmony
development is one step closer to being sold. The Orange County
Board of Supervisors on Oct. 5 accepted a high bid of
$31,815,000 from the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water
District. The supervisors made the move on behalf of the Orange
County Flood Control District, which owns the land.
