Hordes of people are descending on fragile Los Angeles-area
tide pools to scrape starfish, mussels and other sea life from
the rocks, city officials say. The Los Angeles city attorney’s
office announced charges Thursday against 45 people accused of
overfishing, fishing without licenses and taking restricted
species at White Point Beach in San Pedro.
A California Fair Political Practices Commission investigation
has determined Costa Mesa Sanitary District officials did not
spend ratepayer funds to actively campaign against 2016’s
Measure TT, which sought to merge the sewer and trash service
provider with Mesa Water District.
The years-long fight between the Imperial Irrigation District
and farmer Michael Abatti over control of Colorado River water
could be nearing its grand finale in the California Supreme
Court. After Abatti requested last month that the state’s
highest judicial body take up his case, the water district
filed its opposition on Monday.
Along a Huntington Beach coastline dotted with oil rigs and a
power plant, one of California’s largest remaining saltwater
marshes has been a source of pride for local environmentalists.
But the marsh, known as the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, is endangered
despite a years-long struggle to pull together sufficient
public funding for its upkeep.
The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, which was
expected to make a decision Sept. 17 on the waste discharge
permit renewal for a proposed seawater desalination facility in
Orange County, has postponed action for several weeks at the
request of the applicant. Poseidon Waters, the company that
plans to build the $1 billion plant on 12 acres of the AES
Huntington Beach Generating Station, requested additional time
to address concerns raised in three days of public hearings…
San Diego is not well endowed with many freshwater sources to
support its growing population, so some water experts are
perplexed the city’s ignoring a self-replenishing local
groundwater source that, though small in size, is safe from the
threat of natural disasters and reliably recharged by the San
Diego River.
The Monte Vista Water District Board commissioned a feasibility
study on Sept. 2 to replace hundreds of old septic tanks in the
unincorporated area of Chino with a sewer system operated by
the water district. Sewage service would be a new area for the
district, which provides water services in Montclair and small
pockets in northwest Chino.
The cuts are a plan to keep Lake Mead, a reservoir at the
Arizona-Nevada boundary, functional. Water levels have
precipitously dropped as a result of historic overallocation
and a drought that started in 2000. … ASU Now checked in with
Sarah Porter of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at the Morrison
Institute on how these new developments will impact the Copper
State and its residents.
While working at the United Water Conservation District,
Michael Booth used 19 years of records from a designated fish
trap on southern California’s Santa Clara River to identify
potential environmental drivers that spur some fish to make the
arduous trip to the Pacific Ocean. … He found that steelhead
migration was triggered by the lengthening daylight of spring
rather than factors like recent rains…
The plan, approved by the board of directors, will help serve
more customers who use recycled water for irrigation,
construction grading, fire department usage. Additionally, the
board approved temporarily closing the Recycled Water Fill
Station No. 1 to move it, upgrade it and add better security
for the grounds.
The beleaguered Oasis Mobile Home Park near Thermal, home to
about 1,900 largely Spanish-speaking residents living in poor
conditions, has once again found dangerously high levels of
arsenic in its drinking water. On Friday, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency served park management with an
emergency order compelling them to provide residents an
alternative source of water.
The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies
have taken action to protect ratepayers by implementing strong
cost-cutting strategies to limit rate increases without
sacrificing a safe and reliable water supply or the ability to
plan for the future. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for
the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California.
The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority has taken actions
recently with regards to fees that will affect customers of the
Indian Wells Valley Water District. … It is my intent to
provide context for how these fees will translate to your bill
from the district.
Dizzying in its scope, detail and complexity, the scientific
information on the Basin’s climate and hydrology has been
largely scattered in hundreds of studies and reports. Some
studies may conflict with others, or at least appear to. That’s
problematic for a river that’s a lifeline for 40 million people
and more than 4 million acres of irrigated farmland.
The Rancho California Water District agreed to authorize
its general manager to negotiate bond issuances to save the
district an estimated $1.3 million. The savings will help cover
the loss expected when the board agreed to halt rate increases
during the COVID-19 pandemic last month.
The California Natural Resources Agency announced it will be
hosting a new round of public engagement sessions in September
to get input to assist in the development of wildlife habitat
restoration and dust suppression projects for the Salton Sea
Management Program’s 10-year plan.
With the recession and the COVID-19 pandemic causing economic
havoc nationally and across Southern California, the San Diego
County Water Authority has adopted several cost-cutting
strategies to reduce rate increases and it’s asking the Los
Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California to do the same.
Nevada officials raised numerous concerns Tuesday about a
proposed project to pipe large quantities of Colorado River
water roughly 140 miles from Lake Powell to southern Utah…
Six of the seven states that use the Colorado River also sent a
letter to federal water managers Tuesday asking them to refrain
from completing project permitting…
As the beginning of the school year nears, UC San Diego is
preparing to ramp up its testing of sewage for the coronavirus.
The goal: Monitor the progress of the pandemic on campus and
catch outbreaks before it’s too late to control them.
A multimillion dollar water project in the heart of Northridge
is on the fast track to becoming a reality. The Aliso
Creek-Limekiln Creek Restoration Project at Vanalden Park is
aimed at reducing pollutants in city waters by treating
stormwater and urban runoff from Aliso and Limekiln creeks and
an open channel storm drain.
