Weekly Drought Map
Posted on | June 11, 2009 | No Comments
Every Thursday, this site links to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weekly Drought Map. The bad news for Southern California, we’re not only on it, the tan shading indicates severe drought. The good news: There are a number of efforts being made to conserve water. To find them for California, go to Dry Gardening Resources and Dry Gardening Events or a new LA Times column The Dry Garden.
Metropolitan Water District’s rebate budget $24m in the red as member agency LADWP announces cash for grass program
Posted on | June 10, 2009 | No Comments
From Aquafornia via the Riverside Press Enterprise: “Metropolitan Water District’s board (yesterday) ordered an audit after questioning the management of a regional rebate program for water-saving appliances that is $24 million in the red.
The board of directors, meeting in Los Angeles on Tuesday, rejected a committee recommendation to pull money out of reserves to pay for a flurry of outstanding rebate claims incurred in the past few months, when the program had run out of money.
“This program has not been managed or monitored properly,” said board member James Blake, who represents the city of Fullerton. “We said when the money was gone, it was gone. We have not only used up the money, we are proposing to double or triple the money.”
Directors voted to have MWD’s auditor validate all pending claims to come up with an exact dollar figure, and to evaluate the best use of conservation dollars. No money will be spent until the audit is complete, according to the vote. A report is expected at the next board meeting, July 14.”
Meanwhile on June 2nd, the Metropolitan member agency, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, launched a new cash-for-grass program.
UPDATE JUNE 10, 2009, 1:41PM PST — A MWD spokesperson said today that of the $24m outstanding rebate payments for water-saving appliances, $2m concern home-owner claims. As a result of the debt and funding freeze, the MWD program will be on “hiatus” until the board decides how to act. More will be known about the fate of the program after the July 14 board meeting. Meanwhile, the cash-for-grass program recently unveiled by the Met member agency the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which is funded by the City of Los Angeles, will be unaffected other than the tortuous wait on the rebate telephone line shared with Metropolitan.
Category: Landscape reform
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > Metropolitan Water District of Southern California > rebates
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > Metropolitan Water District of Southern California > rebates
Babbitt aide choice for Bureau of Land Management
Posted on | June 9, 2009 | No Comments
THE Salt Lake Tribune reports, “Bob Abbey, who helped former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt complete a Utah wilderness inventory 10 years ago, is President Barack Obama’s nominee to head up the US Bureau of Land Management. Full story here and June 10 follow up here. Background on Federal West here.
Via Great Basin Water Network.
From the Las Vegas Sun, June 10, “Abbey was the choice of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who personally recommended him to Interior Secretary Ken Salzar for the job.”
Category: US Department of Interior
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > US Bureau of Land Management > US Department of Interior
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > US Bureau of Land Management > US Department of Interior
Dry gardening column begins in LA Times
Posted on | June 9, 2009 | 5 Comments
No, it wasn’t Saturday’s chorus of boos over the interview with the landscapers of the new Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters. It is the beginning of a weekly column, The Dry Garden, dedicated to ways to conserve water in the garden, whether that garden has lawn or a saintly collection of Mediterranean and native plants.
Solar power plants may drain Western deserts
Posted on | June 9, 2009 | No Comments
“CONGRESS’S rush to embrace solar power is having some unintended consequences. It will turn over a large chunk of federal land to private energy companies, and it may involve withdrawing billions of gallons of water from sensitive desert habitat,” writes Robert Glennon, author of “Unquenchable” and “Water Follies” in the Washington Post. Via the Great Basin Water Network
Category: Energy
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > Great Basin Desert > Mojave Desert > solar > Sonoran Desert
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Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > Great Basin Desert > Mojave Desert > solar > Sonoran Desert
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