The update of the Rainbow Water District capacity charges included allowing for smaller meters. The Rainbow board voted 4-0, with Hayden Hamilton absent, July 27, to approve the revisions in the district’s capacity fee ordinance which also changes the wastewater capacity fee variable for single-family homes from number of bedrooms to square footage of the house. Capacity fees are one-time charges to developers who purchase system capacity for water and sewer services. “It’s primarily a buy-in charge,” Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy said.

Ten years after learning of the need to replace or repair the dam at Lake Wohlford, officials at the city of Escondido are still trying to raise the money. It’s a substantial sum — $45 million to $50 million — and they’re about halfway to it. Completion of the project would enable the city to store about twice as much water as it now can in the man-made reservoir and still prevent flooding from the structure in the event of a big earthquake.

Severe drought, dwindling local water supplies and the high costs associated with imported water have many utilities looking for new ways to increase their local drinking water supplies to fill future needs. In Southern California, several public and private utilities have chosen water reuse as the answer to these problems. “In California, these treatment processes are called AWT’s, or advanced water treatment plants,” said Mehul V. Patel, P.E., Orange County Water District’s (OCWD) director of water production.