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Southern California Water Agencies Urge Approval Of Huntington Beach Desalination Project

/in /by /Orange County Breeze Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant
The proposed Huntington Beach Desalination Project got a major boost this week with prominent Southern California water agencies calling on the State Lands Commission to approve the Project’s Supplemental Environmental Impact Report at their October 19th hearing. The Project will produce 56,000 acre feet per year (50 million gallons per day or enough for 400,000 residents) of drinking water that is locally controlled and resilient to climate change.  
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Water Board Reports Highlighted Health Risk Before Hepatitis Outbreak

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diego officials were informed repeatedly of the dangers of disease-carrying runoff from homeless encampments into area waterways, as far as a decade before the current hepatitis A crisis spurred action. Typical of the volumes of reports is a 2015 city plan for Mission Bay, which cited hepatitis research in setting priorities for officials regarding environmental quality. “The issues raised by transient encampments are socio-economic by nature,” the city Transportation and Storm Water report said. “Addressing the sources of homelessness requires coordination with law enforcement, social services, and the legal community. Therefore, it has been designated as an uncontrollable source.”

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The Cadiz Desert Water Project is Facing a New Hurdle

/in /by /Los Angeles Times

A state commission is throwing a new hurdle in front of Cadiz Inc.’s plans to turn a remote desert valley into a lucrative water source for Southern California. In a Sept. 20 letter to Cadiz, the State Lands Commission informed the company that its proposed water pipeline crosses a strip of state-owned land and therefore requires a state lease. The letter is the latest twist in the long, convoluted history of the politically connected company’s attempts to pump groundwater from its desert holdings 200 miles east of Los Angeles and sell it to Southern California cities.

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OPINION: Southern California Needs Water. Stop Waffling Over the Delta Tunnels and Dig

/in /by /Los Angeles Times

Twentieth century Southern California quenched its thirst with a series of ingenious projects, from the aqueducts that bring snowmelt from the Eastern Sierra to Los Angeles, and the dams along the Colorado River that impound water from the Rockies, to the State Water Project that directs the flow of the distant Feather River through the Sacramento River, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, down the California Aqueduct and over the Tehachapis.

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Increasing Chance of La Niña and Meteorologists Don’t Know What That Means for NorCal Winter

/in /by /SF Gate

The chances of a weak La Niña are increasing for the rainy season, and scientists are trying to figure out what that means, especially after a year when the meteorology profession was thrown for a loop by unexpected monsoon-like conditions. La Niña, the inverse of better-known El Niño, is a cooling of equatorial waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean and can impact atmospheric conditions worldwide.

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Western Municipal Boosts Water Rates for Riverside, Murrieta Customers

/in /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside)

The nearly 24,000 Western Municipal Water District customers can expect to see their water bills rise on average about $15 to $20 a month after this week’s approval of phased rate increases. Residential customers in the Riverside area should see bills climb an average of $14.63 per month by early 2020, with a first incremental bump of $4.64 in January, a district report states. Customers in Murrieta are in for a hike of $19.24 over that period, starting with a $5.98 increase in January.

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Why Gov. Brown’s Water Tunnels Plan May Be Doomed

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

Gov. Jerry Brown’s bold $17 billion plan to build two gigantic 35-mile, 40-foot-wide tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to make it easier to move water from Northern California to Southern California and to stabilize the state’s water distribution system always seemed like a tough sell. Critics were far more energized than supporters. Then last month, a huge new obstacle emerged. That’s when the Central Valley’s Westlands Water District — the nation’s biggest irrigation district — came out against the project. It had been expected to pay nearly a quarter of the $17 billion cost.

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OPINION: Implement California WaterFix in the Delta for the San Gabriel Valley

/in /by /San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Precarious environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, coupled with the aging delivery infrastructure of the State Water Project, along with restrictive pumping regulations, threaten our ability to replenish the San Gabriel Valley’s vital groundwater basin. A declining Delta ecosystem and non-secure levees vulnerable to earthquakes, saltwater intrusion and climate change pose serious challenges for us all.

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Padre Dam’s East County Water Purification Program Moving Forward

/in /by /WaterWorld Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Padre Dam Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a contract for the next phase of work on the East County Advanced Water Purification Program. The project, which is expected to produce up to 30% of East County’s water by 2023, is a collaboration between Padre Dam, Helix Water District, the City of El Cajon and the County of San Diego.

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L.A. City Councilman Wants Water Board to Call Off Delta Tunnels Vote

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

A Los Angeles city councilman is calling on the council and Mayor Eric Garcetti to oppose a crucial vote by a Southern California water board on a $17-billion project that would be funded in part by Los Angeles ratepayers. Councilman Paul Koretz introduced a resolution Friday that asks the city and Garcetti to formally object to a vote by the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on the project, known as California WaterFix. The 38-member board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to commit $4.3 billion in MWD funds to the project.

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