Imperial Valley representatives and San Diego County Water Authority Board Members and staff are pictured together atop the San Vicente Dam during the April 4 water supply diversification and facilities tour, the fourth annual tour for Imperial Valley residents sponsored by the Water Authority.

The Water Authority would like to take a moment and thank those from the Imperial Valley who participated in our fourth Water Authority tour of supply diversification and infrastructure projects so critical to the San Diego region’s water resource management. Attendees from the Valley included representatives from the agricultural community, Imperial Irrigation District, Imperial County, in addition to representatives from cities, chambers, and the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation. These attendees visited the Water Authority’s 50 million gallon per day desalination plant, the Claude “Bud” Lewis Desalination Plant, which is based in Carlsbad and provides ten percent of the region’s water supply. They also visited the San

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This map from the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center shows higher snow levels in the Colorado Basin as of Feb. 15, 2019. The purple represents areas with 300 to 500 percent of average snowfall levels.

This past week, gazing at the mountains to the west of Imperial County, the snowcapped peaks—gleaming white against a new day’s sun—were awe inspiring. But beyond the beauty of the winter snowfall is the importance of this season’s weather pattern to the struggling Colorado River Basin.
As we are still in the midst of drought, Lake Mead is tilting ever closer to a shortage declaration that would impact all states that depend on the mighty Colorado River.

While snowfall levels within the Basin are above average, it remains too early to determine what the actual benefit will be. However, it

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The All-American Canal is pictured during a recent January 2019 sunrise. The canal, which was sanctioned under the Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928 and was built between 1934 and 1939, was recently honored for its historical importance by The Native Sons of the Golden West.

On a breezy perfect day in the Imperial Valley under a patchwork of purple clouds in a stretch of the county’s western desert, with Mount Signal towering nearby, a group of Valley representatives gathered to honor the All-American Canal as a historical structure. The 80-mile canal, which harnesses the Colorado River for the fertile fields of the Valley, was dedicated for its historic significance by the Native Sons of the Golden West during a ceremony held Saturday, Feb. 9, at the tail end of the canal where it meets the Westside Main Canal. During the event, a

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