Rainstorms Ring in New Year; Conservation Requirements
Remain in Place
El Niņo-powered storms roared into California to start 2016, fueling hope that sustained rain and snowfall will make a significant dent in the five-year drought. One result of those storms is that San Diego has received about 150 percent of normal rainfall since Oct. 1.While that's a positive sign, it's too early to say how El Niņo conditions will impact water supplies this year. Some winters start wet and end dry, so the full impact of the rainy season won't come into focus until April. 
In late December, reservoirs in San Diego County were about 40 percent full, providing significant capacity to capture stormwater runoff. However, it's worth remembering that during the last strong El Niņo event in 1998, local surface water only met about 20 percent of region's water demands. California needs Sierra Nevada snowpack levels to recover substantially to improve statewide supply conditions.
Despite the rain, state conservation mandates remain in place, and it's important for residents and businesses to continue conserving. One easy way is to turn off irrigation systems for weeks at a time during and after a series of rainstorms.
For more water conservation tips, rebates, classes and other resources, go to watersmartsd.org. For El Niņo-related tips and tools, including emergency preparedness information, go to the County of San Diego's website readysandiego.org/el-nino/.
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Learn About Sustainable Landscaping During Jan. 13 Twitter #landscapechat
Join the Water Authority on Twitter from 11 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Jan. 13, for a #landscapechat about a watershed approach to landscapes. Carlos Michelon, principal water resource specialist for the Water Authority, will answer questions about watersheds, climate zones, soil, mulch, removing turf, best times for planting, and more. He also will discuss the new handbook "San Diego Sustainable Landscape Guidelines." Made possible by a grant  from the California Department of Water Resources, the guide was created by the Water Authority, City of San Diego, County of San Diego, Surfrider Foundation, California American Water and the Association of Compost Producers. The guide and more information is available at WaterSmartSD.org.
To participate in the conversation on Jan. 13, follow @sdcwa on Twitter and enter #landscapechat in the search bar. Participants must have Twitter accounts to submit tweets, but anyone can follow the conversation by searching for #landscapechat on Twitter.com.
#landscapechat is a long-running program on Twitter about sustainable landscaping and water management practices hosted by Corona Tools and Jain Irrigation.
A watershed approach considers every landscape as a mini-watershed, with the goal of holding onto or cleaning all the water that falls on it and nurturing a diverse habitat of plants and insects. Each mini-watershed can be improved by the people who steward it, resulting in collective actions that restore the San Diego region's major watersheds.
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Transform Your Yard into a Beautiful,
Water-Saving Landscape
Sign up for a free WaterSmart
Landscape Design for Homeowners Workshop
WaterSmart Landscape Design for Homeowners is a three-hour workshop that focuses on the basics of how to design a landscape that saves water and enhances curb appeal. This free class is for homeowners planning to remove turf and upgrade their landscaping. Highlighted topics include landscape design, turf removal, plant selection, irrigation and project implementation.
 The next class will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 30 at the Montgomery-Waller Recreation Center in Imperial Beach. More classes will be scheduled in coming months around the county.
To learn more and register, click here.
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