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Water Board Proposes Fining San Diego $4.6 Million

/in /by /City News Services (As Published by KPBS)

A $4.6 million penalty against the city of San Diego was proposed Tuesday by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board for the city’s alleged failure to make sure construction sites did not prevent the pollution of local waterways.

The allegations cover the time period from 2010 to 2015 and affected water bodies stretching across city limits from the Los Peñasquitos Lagoon to the north, down to the Tijuana River Estuary to the south, according to water board officials.

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Imperial County Agency Opposes Regionalizing Grid

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Jeff McDonald

The Imperial Irrigation District, which could lose its authority over transmission lines across its service area, has adopted a resolution formally opposing the state’s plan to regionalize the California power grid.

The board of directors said the California Independent System Operator’s proposal to expand the power grid to six other Western states is not in the best interest of the public and should be scrapped.

 

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BLOG: MWD boss on being a ‘good neighbor’

/in /by /eSan Joaquin Blog by Alex Breitler

Now that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California officially owns 20,000 acres of Delta farmland, a question asked of General Manager Jeff Kightlinger at a public forum last week becomes even more relevant.

The question: As an absentee landowner in the Delta, what does it mean to Metropolitan to be a “good neighbor?”

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Southern California water district finalizes land purchase

/in /by /The Associated Press (As Published by The Washington Times)

Southern California’s largest water supplier has bought sprawling farmland that could be used to help build twin tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The Sacramento Bee reports (http://bit.ly/2a3qYUm) the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California said Monday it has completed its purchase of five islands at the hub of California’s water system east of San Francisco.

The newspaper reports Metropolitan announced the completion of the purchase in a two-paragraph memo to board members from the agency’s general counsel.

 

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Unlocking the West’s Weather Maker

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

One thing the drought has brought to wider attention is the role of so-called atmospheric rivers in the state’s weather and water supply.

An atmospheric river is a narrow band of high-speed wind that sweeps across the Pacific Ocean, often dragging vast amounts of tropical moisture with it. Sometimes dubbed a “horizontal hurricane,” just a handful of these storms can bring California half of its annual rainfall every year. Indeed, an absence of very wet atmospheric rivers over the past few years is one reason California has experienced such a severe drought.

Atmospheric rivers are also responsible for the state’s worst flooding events.

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Southern California water district completes $175-million purchase of delta islands

/in /by /The Los Angeles Timesby Matt Hamilton Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Southern California’s powerful water supplier has completed the $175-million purchase of five islands in the heart of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the ecologically sensitive region that’s a key source of water for the Southland.

The top attorney for the Metropolitan Water District said in a memo Monday that the agency had finalized the purchase of the islands from Delta Wetlands Properties. The purchase comes less than a week after the state Supreme Court lifted an order that had barred the water agency from buying the islands.

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Southern California water agency completes Delta islands purchase

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

A portion of the Delta is now owned by a powerful water agency from Los Angeles.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California said Monday that it has completed its purchase of five islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a $175-million deal that has aroused suspicion about a “water grab.”

Metropolitan announced the completion of the purchase in a two-paragraph memo to board members from the agency’s general counsel. The deal was finalized three days after the state Supreme Court turned aside legal efforts by San Joaquin County officials and others to block the acquisition.

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Metropolitan Water District CEO claims Delta tunnels are not a done deal

/in /by /Central Valley Business Times (Stockton)by Gene Beley

Gov. Edmund Brown Jr.’s biggest legacy – an underground Peripheral Canal – is not really a done deal, claims one of the most powerful executives in California water.

Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said that the massive twin water tunnels project the governor envisions to pipe fresh water away from the Delta to buyers in Southern California and the western San Joaquin Valley is not yet final. “Our Board has not voted and said, ‘We’re ready, willing and able to spend money to build these tunnels,’” Mr. Kightlinger told a forum sponsored by the Sacramento Bee.

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Huntington Beach desalination plant a matter of environmental justice

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby DAVE RODRIGUEZ Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

California is in the midst of its worst drought in history. Across Southern California, this year’s El Nino provided no relief. Climate scientists believe that drought conditions may simply be the “new normal” for our region. How can our local communities meet their own needs and responsibilities without simply taking limited water supplies from each other?

Semi-arid and drought-prone Southern California can no longer rely on overdrawn ground water sources for more than a small fraction of local needs. Meanwhile, the region’s two main sources of imported water have become increasingly less reliable.

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How revenue losses played into decision to relax conservation rules in California

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

It wasn’t just generous spring rains filling north-state reservoirs that had California’s urban water districts pushing back so hard against mandatory water cuts this year.

All those brown lawns and shorter showers have cost them millions in customer revenue.

As water use plummeted because of the statewide conservation orders implemented last summer, many water agencies found themselves struggling to cover operating costs. Less water use has meant lower monthly utility bills, and for most utilities, there has been no correlating decline in basic operating costs, such as payroll, debt obligations and maintenance of pipes and treatment plants.

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