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Padre Dam Holding Hearing on Proposed Water, Sewer Rate Hike

Water and sewer rates for Padre Dam Municipal Water District customers are about to go up.

The board of directors of the Santee-based district is holding a public hearing June 21 to vote on proposed increases and adjustments to water and sewer rates, and service charges.

The rate hikes, if approved, would take effect in November. The average residential Padre Dam customer would pay $154.75 a month for water and sewer services, up from $151.

Homeowners Who Let Grass Go Brown to Save Water During California Drought Could Face Fines

Homeowners who let their grass go brown to save money during the drought may have to turn the sprinklers back on, or else their HOA can fine them. In April, Gov. Jerry Brown declared the drought over for most parts of California, lifting restrictions that kept homeowners associations from disciplining residents who stopped watering their grass to help save money and water. However, those days are over, and HOAs are starting to require families to make all their grass green again.

PG&E Urges Planning For National Dam Safety Awareness Day

In recognition of National Dam Safety Awareness Day on May 31, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) urges those living or working below dams to recognize the signs of a potential dam breach and to have or update an evacuation plan. PG&E’s  97 storage reservoirs are used primarily for generating hydropower and are generally far smaller than state and federal multi-year water storage reservoirs like Lake Oroville and Shasta Lake. In February, damage to the Oroville Dam spillway led to evacuations in Butte, Yuba and Sutter counties.

DWR: Spillway Construction Ahead Of Schedule, Workers Seen On Spillway

For the first time since the reconstruction process began on the Oroville Dam spillway, workers could be seen on the damaged spillway. Construction of the new spillway is approximately one week ahead of schedule, according to Jagdeep Sidhu, an engineer with the Department of Water Resources Program Control Section.  The first area of work on the spillway itself is focusing on the lower chute where the water flows into the Feather river.

Irrigation Enhancement Project Helps Farmers Regulate Water Usage

A new irrigation enhancement project has seen positive results for farmers in the San Joaquin Valley. The project, which took three years to be designed and funded, and only months to be built, cuts down on water usage from the South San Joaquin Valley Irrigation District that backs up in the Stanislaus River. “This grew out of an idea I had,” said Sam Bologna, Engineering Department manager of the South San Joaquin Valley Irrigation District and developer of the project, who was recently in Monterey attending an Association of California Water Agencies conference. “We needed to find a way to serve farmers and also conserve water.”

Rapid Snowmelt Causes Floods, Impacts Recreation

Memorial Day weekend is usually the start of summer for most of the country. For Lake Tahoe, it’s really the end of winter. This coming weekend won’t be any different. While the forecast is for sunny skies and highs in the mid- to high 60s, the remnants of winter will likely be felt by people who are near any body of water and on hiking-biking trails. The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a flood watch that is in effect through 11pm May 24 for South Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Bridgeport, Mammoth Lakes, Stateline, Incline Village, Carson City, Reno and Gardnerville.

Rancho Santa Fe Water District Plans Double-Digit Rate Hike

Customers of the Santa Fe Irrigation District (SFID) are looking at double-digit increases in their water bills next year, based on a proposed spending plan that will be considered for adoption by the district’s board of directors in June. The rate hike, which is planned for Jan. 1, 2018, will total between 11 and 13 percent, said Jeanne Deaver, the district’s administrative service manager. This includes a 9 percent rate hike imposed by the district, plus a “pass-through” of between 2 and 4 percent based on expected rate increases by the district’s wholesale water supplier, the San Diego County Water Authority.