About El Paso – Debbi Hester https://debbihester.com El Paso Real Estate Thu, 29 Feb 2024 18:00:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 https://debbihester.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/cropped-favicon-32x32.png About El Paso – Debbi Hester https://debbihester.com 32 32 EPWater ready to welcome full river season https://debbihester.com/epwater-ready-to-welcome-full-river-season/ Thu, 29 Feb 2024 17:37:37 +0000 https://debbihester.com/?p=8729 For the first time in years, El Paso Water will welcome a full river season beginning March 8 when Elephant Butte Reservoir opens its gates.
Not since 2009, have we been close to the 60,000 acre feet of water expected this year. The scheduled allotment this year dwarfs 2023’s 38,500 acre feet.
With Elephant Butte at 25% capacity, we are expecting the river season to flow through October – a full 30 weeks. This is welcome news after enduring years of severely reduced river water supply and drought cycles – such as 2021’s short 10-week season and 2013’s 12 weeks.
Our water supply
When it’s plentiful, river water can account for nearly half our water supply. During an abundant season like this one, our community’s river water supply is dependent on bountiful snowpack from Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. The snowmelt flows downstream into Elephant Butte Reservoir, where it is held in storage.
Compared to previous recent February volumes when Elephant Butte capacity was about 6%, current conditions are favorable, showing the benefits of a strong El Niño weather pattern over the winter.
Because of EPWater’s diverse water supply, we have weathered many brief river water seasons, choked off by severe drought cycles. For many years, water reuse has been an effective water management strategy. Reclaimed water is a valuable resource for industry and the irrigation of parks, golf courses and a cemetery. Additionally, we treat reclaimed water to drinking water standards to replenish the Hueco Bolson aquifer.
We count on our world-renowned Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant, which has helped us meet our city’s water needs in times of drought or freeze. With an expansion underway, the world’s largest inland desalination plant will increase production from 27.5 million gallons of fresh water per day to 33.5 MGD.
Conservation continues to be an important tool to reduce demand. We rely on our attentive customers to be prudent as temperatures climb. We encourage watering smarter and sticking to our time-of-day watering schedule.
At our plants
As water slowly trickles into dry riverbeds, we anticipate that river water will flow into our system for treatment around March 14. Our two plants that take in river water – the Robertson/Umbenhauer and Jonathan Rogers – are ready for the season, as well as their hard-working teams. Both plants will benefit from recent maintenance projects. System improvements, such as large valve replacements in waterlines – will also help us move water around the city more efficiently from our plants.
Right in time for river season, our plant teams will also benefit from a recent partnership with the Success Through Technology Education Foundation, Western Tech and the non-profit Trust for the Americas to prepare candidates with introductory skills for jobs in water and wastewater plants.
Select students who graduate from the program March 4 may advance to apprenticeships as Utility Plant Technician Trainees and eventually may secure a plant operator position. Graduates from the first cohort focusing on wastewater have begun their careers at all four of our wastewater plants.
We are ready for the 2024 river season but will meet it with cautious optimism. Because the next drought is always around the corner, we take nothing for granted in the Chihuahuan Desert and have learned to go with the ebb and flow of drought.
Our water supply planning process extends decade after decade into our city’s future. EPWater is well prepared to take on drought with sustainable options that will enable our community to thrive.
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El Paso Named One of the ‘8 Places With Always Perfect Weather’ https://debbihester.com/el-paso-named-one-8-places-always-perfect-weather/ Tue, 17 Jan 2017 22:35:31 +0000 http://debbihester.com/?p=3402

8 Places With Always-Perfect Weather

02/04/2015 06:39 pm ET | Updated Apr 06, 2015
Think of all the things you’d talk about if you went to a place where weather was never the topic of conversation.

SanDiego beach_shutterstock_150031349
San Diego

Let’s get this one out of the way. San Diego is the textbook example of beautiful year-round climate. It’s never too hot and never too cold, with a very minimal amount of that pesky California fog to get in the way—when it does roll in, it burns off pretty quickly in the morning. Winters average at 57° F, summers at 72° F—72° F, people! If ever there was a perfect temperature, that’s the magic number. The people of San Diego have adopted a sunny attitude to match, as well as a fierce affinity for being active. Isn’t it crazy what a little good weather can do to a person?

Not a lot of people know about this little Spanish doubloon, and isn’t that awesome? Nothing spoils beautiful weather faster than a flock of tourists. It sits right on the Mediterranean coast and it’s got one of the warmest winters of any European city. With such whimsical weather, think of all the tapas you could eat, think of the gardens you could stroll, think of the open-air markets you could peruse! Oh, the possibilities.

Málaga, Spain
Málaga, Spain

Spain really has this whole weather thing figured out. The Spanish-owned archipelago off the coast of Morocco is one sweet slice of sunshine. The Canary Islands are close enough to the equator to always be warm, but have the benefit of the sea and trade winds to keep things moderate. The natural scenery is something prehistoric. You’ll half expect a wrestling T-rex and King Kong to come tumbling out of the giant peaks, lush woodlands, and deserty Mars-like scape. Oh, they also have amazing beaches.

Canary Islands
Canary Islands

This little sheila gets an average of 340 days of sunshine per year. If you live in the Midwest or Northeast, that sentence probably made you sad. Cheer up, mate. Sydney will make you forget all your troubles. March through November (spring, winter and fall to them) are the best months to be Down Under. A Sydney summer will run you the risk of experiencing a drought or heat wave, but as long as you hang by the beach or another form of watering hole, you’ll be in good shape. Luckily their climate is mostly dry, so even if it’s hot, there’s no humidity.

Sydney

Sydney

Ecuador is a magical place where there’s no such thing as daylight savings time. It’s literally named after the equator, which is the sunniest latitude on the planet. Loja temperature averages in the 70s all year round, and it’s also considered the music capital of Ecuador. What better muse than the sun?

Loja, Ecuador
Loja, Ecuador

You probably know it because of the salsa, and how do you think they get such high quality salsa vegetables? Sunshine! El Paso has dry heat and just enough rainfall to keep the plants happy. Much like San Diego, El Paso is an outdoor playground. You can climb rocks in Hueco Tanks State Park or cycle through Franklin Mountains State Park—the largest urban state park.

ElPaso_shutterstock_103316324
El Paso

Hawaii is the United State’s own little slice of paradise, but many a honeymooner has been met with rain instead of sunshine. Hawaii has a wet season and a lot of different microclimates that can play a part in the weather fluxes. Oahu, also called “The Gathering Place,” has the most reliably clear and sunny weather of all the Hawaiian Islands.

Oahu
Oahu

It’s nice. Really nice. A distant coastline neighbor of Málaga, this Mediterranean sea star is just as sunny. Walk or bike along the palm-peppered promenade des Anglais during a sunset and you’ll think you’re in California. The smell of French bread and wine will bring you right back, though.

Nice, France
Nice, France

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