San Diego County is in a good place to meet water demands
through the next water year, which began Tuesday, officials
announced. The 12-month water year cycle begins Oct. 1 for
counts of snowfall and precipitation for the next year.
The San Diego County Water Authority, which brings in new
leadership Tuesday, said that two consecutive wet winters have
the area prepared for water needs, even with La Niña conditions
likely to replace wet El Niño weather this winter. … Climate
change as well as lengthy drought and overuse conditions on the
Colorado River play a part in water management, the SDCWA
leadership said. The authority has invested millions into
infrastructure in an attempt to keep the region’s supply steady
and alleviate stress from the Colorado River.
The City of Long Beach has a new weapon in the war against
trash, a remote-controlled debris-collecting device capable of
removing up to 100 pounds of garbage from waterways in one
single mission. The new “Jellyfishbot” will aid the City’s
Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine by helping clean
marina waters while simultaneously bringing awareness to the
issue of waterway pollution. The city is also asking its
youngest residents to help come up with a name and uniform for
it.
Once a meandering, transient body of water that brought
alluvium-rich soils to the Los Angeles Basin, the Los Angeles
River has been encased in concrete, severed from its
groundwater, and treated as little more than a regional storm
drain since the mid-20th century. A multidisciplinary student
team with expertise in ecology and mapping, urbanism and
access, and heritage conservation and narrative ethnography
walked the 51-mile length of the river, encountering and
documenting “what has died, survived, and thrived in this
industrial and wild landscape.”
Sen. Alex Padilla joined local elected leaders Thursday to
announce a bill intended to consolidate infrastructure projects
in two border watersheds, including the Tijuana River. The
bill, the Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act
of 2024, would place projects along the Tijuana River, as well
as the New River in Imperial County, under the purview of
the Environmental Protection Agency.
… Additionally, the bill proposed Thursday would allow
the EPA to manage the rivers through a water quality management
plan within 180 days of its passing, require creation of a
consensus list of projects and give the International
Boundary and Water Commission more authority to address
stormwater quality.
Elevated levels of tritium — a radioactive form of hydrogen —
have been found at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating
Station, but pose no risk to public health or safety, officials
from Southern California Edison said on Thursday, Sept. 5. The
Environmental Protection Agency has set a “maximum contaminant
level” of 20,000 picocuries per liter for tritium in drinking
water. Routine monitoring at San Onofre found a low
concentration of 3,430 picocuries per liter in one well, and a
higher concentration of 19,100 picocuries per liter in an
adjacent well. Neither, however, is a drinking water well,
officials said.
Conservation groups have reached an agreement with three
Southern California counties and the federal government to help
promote the recovery of the San Bernardino kangaroo rat and the
Santa Ana sucker fish. The two species are found only in
Southern California. The agreement secures 400 acres of habitat
rehabilitation for the imperiled species, who rely on federally
designated critical habitat in the Santa Ana River Wash near
the Seven Oaks Dam in San Bernardino County. Endangered plants
such as the Santa Ana woolly-star will share in the benefits.
What does it mean to do the greatest good for the greatest
number? When the Los Angeles Aqueduct opened in 1913, it
rerouted the Owens River from its natural path through an
Eastern California valley hundreds of miles south to LA,
enabling a dusty town to grow into a global city. But of
course, there was a price.
In Rancho Mirage, the Walt Disney Co. is making progress on an
ambitious development that promises to sprinkle some Disney
magic into real estate. Dubbed Cotino, the master-planned
community is the first of the entertainment giant’s
“Storyliving” projects, designed for home buyers who want to
bring Disney deeper into their everyday lives. Donald Duck
won’t be delivering your mail, but the specs offer plenty of
Disney flourishes, including an “Incredibles”-themed gathering
space and a 24-acre lagoon. … “Rancho Mirage is quiet,
peaceful and friendly,” said Mark Wolpa, who moved to Rancho
Mirage from San Francisco in 2008. “But Cotino’s bringing
pollution, commotion and chaos to an area that didn’t want
it.” Wolpa said his main concern is the water usage
required to fill and maintain a lagoon in the middle of the
desert.
The Laguna Beach County Water District Board of Directors voted
4-1 to approve the cost share agreement for Phase 1 of the
Doheny Ocean Desalination Project. The Doheny Ocean
Desalination Project aims to create a new, reliable, local, and
drought-proof water supply capable of producing up to five
million gallons per day (MGD). By providing an essential
emergency water source, the project aims to enhance South
Orange County’s resilience against natural disasters.
Leveraging existing infrastructure will significantly reduce
costs and construction impacts and facilitate desalinated water
delivery. Operation is scheduled to begin in 2028.
Officials with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control
Board are reviewing findings from RTX Corp., the owner of the
former Rocketdyne site, seeking to test soil and groundwater at
several businesses, homes and the Westfield Shopping Mall for
contamination. The vast 47-acre property in Warner Center sits
across the street from bustling Westfield Topanga Mall, and is
one of the largest undeveloped sites in Los Angeles. The former
Rocketdyne parcel has been undergoing an extensive cleanup to
address the tainted soil and groundwater at the site that trace
back to toxic chemicals produced at the site three decades ago.
Cleanup of the site has been underway since 1991. Still, its
contaminated groundwater has spread to the land beneath nearby
homes, businesses and the busy Westfield Topanga mall,
according to a report filed in June with the Los Angeles
Regional Water Quality Control Board, which is overseeing the
cleanup.
Scientists at San Diego State University have successfully
completed a study with a new early warning system to track the
levels of untreated sewage in the Tijuana River. The team, led
by SDSU biologist Trent Biggs and environmental engineer
Natalie Mladenov, used specialized fluorescence sensors to
detect and differentiate treated and untreated sewage where the
river crosses the international border and in a creek of its
estuary. “Our overall objective was to create a real-time
sewage monitoring system,” Biggs told City News Service. “We
had two main unknowns: What percentage of pollutants in the
river are raw sewage with high bacteria levels — which is
critical to monitor progress as new infrastructure is installed
— and what happens to that sewage?”
A new report has found elevated lead levels in tap water across
Watts, a south Los Angeles community that has faced decades of
environmental racism, including in the drinking water of
multiple public housing developments. Researchers working with
the Better Watts Initiative, a community environmental group,
tested tap water at sites across the neighbourhood, and found
lead, a neurotoxic metal, at or above US government limits. The
elevated concentrations were most often found in housing
developments that have been plagued for decades by toxic
contamination from lead and other pollution.
State water management officials must work more closely with
local agencies to properly prepare California for the effects
of climate change, water scientists say. Golden State
officials said in the newly revised California Water
Plan that as the nation’s most populous state, California
is too diverse and complex for a singular approach to manage a
vast water network. On Monday, they recommended expanding the
work to better manage the state’s precious water resources —
including building better partnerships with communities most at
risk during extreme drought and floods and improving critical
infrastructure for water storage, treatment and distribution
among different regions and watersheds.
It’s the most frustrating part of conservation. To save water,
you rip out your lawn, shorten your shower time, collect
rainwater for the flowers and stop washing the car. Your water
use plummets. And for all that trouble, your water supplier
raises your rates. Why? Because everyone is using so much less
that the agency is losing money. That’s the dynamic in
play with Southern California’s massive wholesaler, the
Metropolitan Water District, despite full reservoirs after two
of history’s wettest winters. … Should water users be
happy about these increases? The answer is a counterintuitive
“yes.” Costs would be higher and water scarcer in the future
without modest hikes now.
Today, Congresswoman Norma Torres and Congressman David Valadao
– members of the House Appropriations Committee – announced the
introduction of the bipartisan Removing Nitrate and Arsenic in
Drinking Water Act. This bill would amend the Safe Drinking
Water Act to provide grants for nitrate and arsenic reduction,
by providing $15 million for FY25 and every fiscal year
thereafter. The bill also directs the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to take into consideration the needs of
economically disadvantaged populations impacted by drinking
water contamination. The California State Water Resources
Control Board found the Inland Empire to have the highest
levels of contamination of nitrate throughout the state
including 82 sources in San Bernardino, 67 sources in Riverside
County, and 123 sources in Los Angeles County.
Learn the history and challenges facing the West’s most dramatic
and developed river.
The Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River Basin introduces the
1,450-mile river that sustains 40 million people and millions of
acres of farmland spanning seven states and parts of northern
Mexico.
The 28-page primer explains how the river’s water is shared and
managed as the Southwest transitions to a hotter and drier
climate.
The Topock Marsh has seen a significant drop in water levels
recently, with dry patches visible and locals concerned about
the effects on wildlife. The 4,000-acre Bureau of Reclamation
marsh is adjacent to the Colorado River in the Havasu National
Wildlife Refuge. Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
it serves as a recreation area and wildlife habitat for the
Tri-state.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River firsthand where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to some 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hilton Garden Inn Las Vegas Strip South
7830 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89123
This special Foundation water tour journeyed along the Eastern Sierra from the Truckee River to Mono Lake, through the Owens Valley and into the Mojave Desert to explore a major source of water for Southern California, this year’s snowpack and challenges for towns, farms and the environment.
Managers of California’s most
overdrawn aquifers were given a monumental task under the state’s
landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: Craft viable,
detailed plans on a 20-year timeline to bring their beleaguered
basins into balance. It was a task that required more than 250
newly formed local groundwater agencies – many of them in the
drought-stressed San Joaquin Valley – to set up shop, gather
data, hear from the public and collaborate with neighbors on
multiple complex plans, often covering just portions of a
groundwater basin.
