Photo: PFAS have been detected in Sweetwater Reservoir, via Sweetwater Water Authority

By Karen Pearlman

Jan. 8, 2025 (San Diego County) -- “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” goes the line from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, describing sailors surrounded by undrinkable ocean water.

That old phrase also fits today.

Obtaining clean, fresh water is not only a challenge but also part of a global crisis where much of the water is either saline, contaminated, or polluted — or a combination of all three.

Sweetwater Water Authority (SWA), the special district providing water to 200,000 customers in the South Bay area of San Diego County, has been at the forefront of the battle to fight “forever chemicals” that refuse to break down: Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS).

By Mike Allen

Photo: Education Center at AWP plant

December 5, 2025 (Santee) -- Three years into construction, the massive East County Advanced Water Purification Program is approaching the finish line late next year when the region’s sewage now being treated at Point Loma will be pumped to a new Santee plant and converted to drinkable, purified water.

Draft proposal seeks six California lease sales despite clear legal limits and decades of bipartisan coastal protections

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  dead seabirds killed by the Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska in 1989.  Source.

November 20, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – The Trump administration today released its draft 2027 to 2032 Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing plan, the most aggressive push in decades to open all of the California coast to oil and gas drilling. The proposal includes six lease sales off  Southern California between 2027 and 2030, the first attempt to drill in these waters in more than 40 years.

Some native plants have already begun to show up in Glorietta Canyon, like this chinchweed that’s growing on the pad where the previous owner of the property had his trailer. Photo courtesy Anza Borrego Foundation

East County News Service

Nov. 18, 2025 (Borrego Springs) -- A nearly two-decade conservation effort has culminated in a major victory for the Anza-Borrego Desert.

The Anza-Borrego Foundation in late October shared that it has successfully acquired the 40-acre Glorietta Canyon property, a crucial parcel of land on the western edge of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, securing its protection from future development.

California has reduced greenhouse gas emissions 20% since 2000, while state's GDP rose 81%

By G. A. McNeeley

November 13, 2025 (Brazil) -- Heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to levels never seen in human civilization. That’s “turbocharging” the earth’s climate and causing more extreme weather, the United Nations’ weather agency said November 12, Fortune reports. 

California Governor Gavin Newsom pulled no punches at this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, on November 11, when he called President Donald Trump an “invasive species” and a “wrecking ball” during discussions about the United States’ absence from global climate action, according to CNN. 

By Gig Conaughton, County of San Diego Communications Office

November 1, 2025 (San Diego) - Agriculture values rose by just over 1% to $1.67 billion, and vegetable and vine crops thrived in San Diego County’s Annual Crop Report released today.

East County News Service

October 21, 2025 (Anza Borrego)—You’re invited to walk by the light of a full moon in Anza Borrego Desert State Park’s South Palm Canyon Wash on November 5 from 6:30 to  8:30 p.m.. The hike will be led by Mike McElhatton, education director at the Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association (ABDNHA).

“Experience the unique and serene beauty of moonlight on the canyon walls as we take a 1.5-mile walk through South Palm Wash,” the invitation states. 

 San Diego Humane Society’s Project Wildlife program helps young big cats reclaim their place in nature

Source:  San Diego Humane Society

September 29, 2025 (Ramona)  — Two mountain lion cubs who arrived at San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center as orphans in March have been returned to the wild.

The young carnivores were released into suitable habitat in San Diego County on Sept. 18, 2025, after undergoing more than five months of rehabilitation designed to limit human interaction and prepare them for life on their own.

The cubs were originally found alone and malnourished before being safely trapped by the UC Davis California Carnivores Program team in coordination with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. They were transferred to San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center on March 26, 2025.

Source: San Diego River Park Foundation

August 28, 2025 (San Diego) – Water samples collected last week at Old Mission Dam in Mission Trails Regional Park have tested positive for a cyanotoxin that can be harmful to people and pets.

The San Diego River Foundation has posted caution signs, in cooperation with the California Water Boards San Diego Region and rangers from the park owned by the city of San Diego.

This was detected at the lowest tier of the three tiered levels, but visitors should:

* avoid touching algae/scum

* do not drink the water

* do not let pets enter or drink the water

* keep children away from algae in the water and shore

* do not eat shellfish from the water

By Gig Conaughton, County of San Diego Communications Office

Photo:  El Capitan County Preserve

August 1, 2025 (Lakeside) - As summer temperatures rise, the County of San Diego has closed three parks that it shuts down every year for the month of August to protect residents during what is often the hottest time of the year.