Naturopathic Doctor in San Diego, CA

It would be impossible to overstate the complexity of water supply management in California.

Hundreds of federal, state and local agencies decree who or what is supplied with water, when and how much will be delivered, and the prices recipients must pay.

Moreover, there are policy differences within those broad categories. For instance, local agricultural water agencies and municipal providers to homes and businesses often have different priorities.

The politics of water are even more convoluted, involving not only the public agencies but seemingly countless outside stakeholders, ranging from developers who need water supply commitments for their projects to commercial fishermen who want to protect spawning salmon.

The proliferation of competing agendas explains why it is so difficult to reach the consensus needed to move policy forward. It’s not unusual for proposed projects and policies to kick around for years, if not decades, before something concrete occurs.

For example, the proposed Sites Reservoir on the west side of the Sacramento Valley now seems likely to be built, but only after 70 years of promotion by backers. The long-planned expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County collapsed recently when the East Bay Municipal Utility District pulled out, citing ever-rising costs.

More than six decades ago, state water officials proposed a canal to carry water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. After gaining legislative approval, a 1982 referendum blocked construction, and 40 years later, a proposed tunnel beneath the Delta remains stalled by a political stalemate.

Operations of existing of dams and canals are similarly fraught, particularly divvying up water among farmers, municipal users and flows to protect fish and other wildlife as supplies fluctuate due to climate change.

For years, federal and state authorities have sought to reduce diversions by agriculture — by far the largest water users — to bolster habitat flows. Farmers have resisted.

The state has sought “voluntary agreements” from farmers in the San Joaquin River watershed between Stockton and Fresno to enhance natural flows, threatening to order reductions if agreements are not reached. But unilateral action by the state would spark a legal battle over water rights whose outcome could not be predicted.

Another player in California’s high-stakes water game emerged eight years ago when Donald Trump became president for the first time. He forcefully backed farmers in their conflict with state water managers, ordering the Bureau of Reclamation and other federal agencies to adopt more agriculture-friendly policies.

Four years later, after Trump was defeated by Joe Biden, the policies were reversed. Just days before Biden’s tenure ended, federal and state water managers last month announced a new operational agreement.

Last week, when Trump once again became president, he essentially sought to cancel that agreement and reinstate his previous policies. Based on a memo to federal water agencies, he directed them to draft a plan “to route more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state for use by the people there who desperately need a reliable water supply.”

Trump not only cited farmers’ needs for a reliable water supply but reiterated his belief that a lack of water deliveries to Southern California made it more difficult to fight deadly wildfires — a contention that has no basis in fact. Los Angeles had plenty of water to fight fires, but hydrants ran dry because the system was designed for fighting individual building fires, not massive wildfires, and was overtaxed.

Despite the media splash, it’s doubtful that Trump’s decree will be anything more than a relatively brief pause in efforts to resolve California’s water conflicts simply because they are measured in decades, not any one president’s term.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters.

Math and reading test scores for students in the San Diego Unified School District either stayed the same or improved since 2022, despite national reading score declines and pre-pandemic score deficiencies, according to a federal report.

SDUSD students had top reading scores, the second highest eighth grade math scores, and the sixth highest fourth grade math scores compared to other large cities, according to Raymond C. Hart, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools.

These results align largely with districts across California, where math scores improved much more than reading scores.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress report measures the math and reading scores of fourth and eighth grade students nationwide and is widely considered as the nation’s report card.

“I couldn’t be prouder of progress we have made as a team, but there is more work to be done,” said Fabi Bagula, SDUSD interim superintendent.

Nationally, the 2024 NAEP results showed that fourth and eighth grade reading and math scores are not progressing enough to regain ground lost during the pandemic.

Fourth grade math scores improved across the nation, while eighth grade math scores stayed the same. Reading scores for both grades dropped, continuing the decline first reported before the pandemic in 2019.

In 2024, the percentage of eighth grade students reading below the NAEP Basic level was the largest in the assessment’s history, and the percentage of fourth grade students who scored below NAEP Basic was the largest in 20 years.

“Where there are signs of recovery, they are mostly in math and largely driven by higher-performing students,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics. “Lower-performing students are struggling, especially in reading.”

Absenteeism, typically defined as missing 10% or more of total school days in a year, has declined since the 2022 NAEP assessment, but not to pre-pandemic levels.

Last year, 21% of SDUSD students were chronically absent, down from about 34% during the pandemic.

As deportations continued, a new federal shelter was set up in Tijuana to provide a safe space and support. It is one of nine reception centers along the border as part of the “Mexico Embraces You” initiative.

Miguel Ángel Ramírez, deported from Bakersfield, arrived in Tijuana Tuesday morning. Ramirez was deported along with a group of Mexicans who were in immigration proceedings in the United States and showed up for one of their appointments.

"We are arranging an immigration procedure, and I went and presented myself and they detained me," Miguel Ramírez told Telemundo 20.

He assures that he did not even have time to react, since when he least expected it, he was already in Tijuana.

The same happened with Adrián, originally from Michoacán, who was deported for the third time. He was handcuffed and deported after he presented himself to ICE authorities in Madera. He said that for a year he had an ankle monitor as he was in the process of obtaining a U visa.

"We were arranging papers, and they took everything from us. I left my wife out there, she was waiting for me, they grabbed me there, they handcuffed me," he said.

The federal shelter that provides them with refuge on the border is guarded by the Mexican National Guard, which began to receive various vans from the National Institute of Migration and public transport units that transfer deportees from El Chaparral to the shelter.

On Tuesday, a group of 13 people, including Adrián and Miguel, arrived at the shelter. Later, another truck arrived with three other people.

In reception centers, deportees like Adrián hope to have contact with their families to decide their immediate future. He says that he has contemplated the possibility of trying to cross illegally again, although he does not rule out making a new life on this side of the border.

"Of course I would, I would try, but if there is work here and if it is fine, for what, it would be better for me to stay here to live with my wife," Adrián added.

They don't miss an opportunity to send a message to those in a similar situation in the United States.

"They see you as Latino and they pick you up if they ask you and you don't have papers, they deport you, not before, before they didn't just pick you up. Take care of themselves, as little as possible that they go out, is what I can say," warned Miguel Ramírez.

During the first day of operations, more than 50 nationals were attended to at the center for migrants, while small groups were received to provide them with care through the "Mexico embraces you" program.

The board voted 4-0 to convene a special meeting on the Tijuana River border pollution crisis, planned for this spring.

City News Service, News Partner

SAN DIEGO, CA — The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Wednesday to convene a special meeting on the Tijuana River border pollution crisis, planned for this spring.

According to Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, who proposed the meeting, the special session "aims to bring together federal, state and local agencies, alongside bi-national stakeholders, to assess progress, identify gaps and strengthen collaboration."

"For far too long, the Tijuana River Valley has endured unchecked pollution, jeopardizing our air, water and beaches," Lawson-Remer said in a statement. "It's time to bridge the gaps, build partnerships, and deliver the clean water, clean air, and accountability that our communities deserve."

Lawson-Remer spelled out the following goals for the upcoming meeting:

-- have agencies highlight milestones, including the $650 million expansion of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant and other infrastructure upgrades;-- enhance public oversight, as a way to ensure transparency around agency actions and ongoing efforts;-- let stakeholders evaluate remaining challenges, and seek out investment and collaboration opportunities; and-- feature updates from Mexican agencies and stakeholders on upstream wastewater repairs, including progress on the San Antonio de los Buenos Wastewater Treatment Plant near Tijuana.

Find out what's happening in San Diegofor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Panelists at the meeting will discuss updates on the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion, flood control measures and sediment capture, progress on upstream wastewater repairs and stormwater management south of the U.S. border, strategies to mitigate air and water quality risks in affected communities and pollution cleanup, hazardous substance removal and habitat restoration plans.

Over the past few years, concerns have grown about pollution in the Tijuana River Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, including sewage spills, contaminated beaches and noxious odors.

A broken wastewater treatment plant in Baja California is considered the main cause.

Lawson-Remer said her big takeaway from a recent county report is that "there's a lot of cooks in this kitchen," including "an alphabet soup" of many agencies, both U.S. and Mexican.

"There is a lot of work going on, but there is also work that isn't happening," said Lawson-Remer, who is also serving as the acting board chair following the departure of former District 1 Supervisor Nora Vargas earlier this month.

Her colleague Joel Anderson suggested that a state and federal delegation needed to be part of the county meeting, and that he be allowed to lead it. Anderson noted the county's portion of affected land is small, compared to the city of San Diego.

Supervisor Jim Desmond said he hoped to see some actionable solutions come out of the spring gathering, and "hopefully, we're not just meeting to meet but actually driving this."

Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe said the meeting needs to be a collaborative process. Along with the federal government and state regulatory agencies, it also needs voices from municipal governments, academic institutions, school districts and the community members "that have kept this at the forefront," she said.

Ryan Trabuco of Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre's office said a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control survey found that most people living in the area have "legitimate health concerns, symptoms and quality of life issues stemming directly from this crisis."

The survey results "confirm and validate what our South County neighborhoods have been saying for years: We're not doing well, we're not feeling good and we have been right from the beginning," he added.

By KAREN WEIL / City News Service

More from San Diego

San Diego officials scrambled Tuesday to grasp the impact of the Trump administration's federal funding freeze on local programs that rely on those dollars.

Yes, but: A federal judge blocked Trump's order to temporarily pause federal grant loan and assistance programs minutes before it was set to take effect.

State of play: Local officials are still determining which programs are imperiled by the order, after a Monday evening memo from the federal Office of Management and Budget indicated a broad impact.

Zoom in: In an internal email Tuesday, Lisa Jones, president and CEO of the San Diego Housing Commission, said the agency believes rental assistance, affordable housing and homelessness do not fall under the freeze.

By the numbers: About one third of California's budget — or $153 billion — comes from federal funds, according to a November report from the California Budget and Policy Center.

Between the lines: The city of San Diego received a total of $68 million from the federal government in its last budget, but one grant demonstrates the complicated question local officials are trying to answer.

What they're saying: Jessica Anderson, interim CEO at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement the freeze threatened regional stability and long-term growth.