At this month’s Montecito Association Board meeting, Montecito Water District (MWD) General Manager Nick Turner presented an overview of drought conditions and a summary of the District’s 5-year Strategic Plan, which was adopted earlier this year. The District has been in existence for the last 100 years, and its mission statement is to provide an […]
Israel is located in one of the driest regions of the world and has traditionally suffered from a scarcity of freshwater resources. Despite that challenge, it is now considered “the best nation in the world for water efficiency” according to Global Water Intelligence, an international water industry publisher. In fewer than 20 years, this parched […]
Recently Trending
More from Montecito
The removal of salt from seawater (desalination) is bitterly opposed by the California environmental community and its supporters in academia, government, and the press. Los Angeles Times editorial columnist Steve Lopez, a four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, grudgingly acknowledges that “Desalination may have a role to play in addressing California’s long-running water shortage; after all we […]
As of mid-September, 50 out of the 58 California counties are reporting either “extreme” or “exceptional” drought status. Montecito falls into the “extreme drought” category. While Montecito’s water supply appears secure for the next three years, all bets are off if continued drought becomes the new norm, or if Montecito Water District (MWD) customers are […]
Lack of potable water is a more serious problem than COVID-19. Without water the average person dies within three days. A horse can go five days without water; a camel 10 days; plants can survive two to three weeks. Without water, all life perishes. Water makes up more than 70% of the Earth’s surface; the […]
At a Montecito Association Board of Directors meeting earlier this week, Montecito Water District general manager Nick Turner reported that intensifying drought conditions and increased water usage by district customers has prompted a request from the district that all residents reduce their water usage. “Over the last five years the board has been dedicated to […]
I came to the Montecito Association in September of 2018, brought over from the Coast Village Association by then-president Charlene Nagel. The Montecito community was hard hit by the first giga-fire in California – Thomas — and resultant Debris Flow. I had disaster recovery experience, from finding my missing parents in the aftermath of Hurricane […]
If you’re new to Montecito and California, you’ll want to pay extra attention right now. Wildfires are burning presently in Greece, Italy, Turkey, British Columbia, and of course, here in California. The Dixie Fire has now burned 249,000 acres. It ranks No. 11, as of today, in largest California wildfires in history. The Thomas Fire, […]
The Community Voices article in the April 15 edition of the Montecito Journal by Charles C. Read and Eileen White Read attempted to identify the motive for suggesting that the Montecito Water District (MWD) and Montecito Sanitary District (MSD) should merge. However, it reminded me of what someone told me several years ago. That person […]
Read more...
Last Thursday, the Montecito Water District and Montecito Sanitary District held a joint strategic planning meeting to discuss options for a joint effort to recycle most of the 500,000 gallons a day of treated Montecito wastewater, now being dumped into 35 feet of ocean water, 1,500 feet off Butterfly Beach in Montecito, a practice whose […]
Six years ago, former California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law landmark water management legislation consisting of several bills which bundled together were called the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The law made history by finally mandating a statewide campaign to protect and preserve the groundwater basins that collectively make up the reserves of California’s […]
Last week was the candidate filing period deadline for many local elections, including the Montecito Fire Protection District and Montecito Water District boards of directors. This week marks the deadline period for both public schools in Montecito (Cold Spring School and Montecito Union), as well as for the Montecito Sanitary District board. At Montecito Fire […]
The story of desalination in Santa Barbara dates back 32 years. Its plot, with all its twists and turns, rivals the movie, Chinatown, a tale of manipulation of water in Los Angeles in the 1930s. Faced with the threat of drought in the late 1980s, the City of Santa Barbara, the Montecito Water District and […]
The San Francisco Bay Delta, the State Water Project, and Why Montecito Should Care Less than a year after being elected, the new board of the Montecito Water District is proposing changes to its rate structure and water source portfolio. Definitely a good thing to be considering, but there’s a lot we all need to […]
