Chula Vista, Calif. – The Sweetwater Authority Governing Board welcomed the Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, E. Joaquin Esquivel, at the Richard A. Reynolds Groundwater Desalination Facility today for a tour.
California’s drought regulators have lost a major lawsuit that could undermine their legal authority to stop farms and cities from pulling water from rivers and streams.
With California in its third punishing year of a historic drought, an appeals court ruled Monday that the State Water Resources Control Board lacks the power to interfere with so-called “senior” water rights holders and curtail their diversions of water from rivers.
The case stems from orders imposed by the state board in 2015, during the previous drought, when it halted farms and cities throughout the Central Valley from taking water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.
California has warned a group of farmers and ranchers near the Oregon state line to stop diverting water from an area already wracked by extreme drought and a wildfire that killed tens of thousands of fish.
The State Water Resources Control Board issued a draft cease-and-desist order Friday to the Shasta Water Assn., warning it to stop taking water from the Shasta River watershed.
Southern California water districts are grappling with what the fallout could look like if supplies from a critical source — the rapidly drying Colorado River — are cut next year.
The US Bureau of Reclamation warned at a U.S. Senate hearing in mid-June that seven western states had 60 days to voluntarily reach a deal: Cut Colorado River water use by 2 to 4 million acre-feet in 2023 or face federally-mandated cuts instead. It’s a massive amount — at least seven times more than Nevada is entitled to in a year.
New data suggest Californians are steadily reducing water usage in the face of severe drought, although cities and towns in the northern part of the state are cutting back more than those in the thirsty and more heavily populated south.
Water use in cities and towns across the state decreased 7.6% in June when compared with the same month in 2020 — significantly short of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s voluntary 15% goal last year, but a significant shift compared with the previous month, according to data released by the State Water Resources Control Board. In May, statewide savings were just 3.1%.
Californians used less water in June but are still falling short of the 15% mark set by Governor Gavin Newsom.
According to numbers released Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board, Californians cut water usage by 7.5% in June compared to June 2020. However, between July 2021 and the end of June 2022, water usage dipped by just 2.7%.
The water that comes out of the tap for more than 900,000 Californians is unsafe to drink and the state isn’t acting fast enough to help clean it up, state auditors said in a report released Tuesday.
Thousands of water systems supply the state’s 39 million people, and about 5% of them have some type of contaminant, like nitrates or arsenic, in them, according to the audit. That means people can’t safely drink the water or use it to cook or bathe. Most of the 370 failing systems are in economically disadvantaged communities, many in the Central Valley, the state’s agricultural heartland.
Coachella Valley water districts once again were among California’s top water users in May, although some are making progress on conservation.
Just two of the six water agencies serving the Coachella Valley decreased their cumulative water use from July 2021-May 2022 compared to the corresponding months in 2020, according to data released by the State Water Resources Control Board last week.
The City Council accepted nearly $4 million from the State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday night, June 5, to push Long Beach’s new stormwater treatment plant into full production.
The plant, called LB-MUST (Municipal Urban Stormwater Treatment), has been in the design phase for a few years. It is designed to take low-flow stormwater from the Los Angeles River drainage area, treat it and use it to create a new wetlands nearby. Eventually, the plant may also provide recycled water for irrigation.
The City Council Tuesday will consider instituting water conservation efforts by declaring a Stage II Moderate Water Shortage.
If the council makes the declaration, city water customers would be required to refrain from landscape watering except between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m., equip any hose with a shutoff nozzle and promptly repair all leaks in plumbing fixtures, water lines, and sprinkler systems.
Sweetwater Authority Logo 2019