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Water Department Has Backlog Of Repairs Needed

New issues continue to surface from inside San Diego’s Water Department. The latest: a backlog of broken water meter boxes citywide. NBC 7 Responds has learned that the water department needs to repair or replace 21,605 boxes holding water meters across the city. The city confirmed this number to NBC 7 Responds days before the City Auditor is expected to release its own audit looking into the backlog.

OPINION: California’s Energy Future: Are We Ready For 100?

Imagine a California powered solely by renewable energy – it may be within reach as the California Legislature considers Senate Bill 100, which would put the state on the path towards 100% fossil-fuel free electricity by 2045. On Tuesday, the bill passed the state Assembly, and it now heads to the state Senate for a final vote before reaching Gov. Brown’s desk by the end of the week. The likely passage of SB 100 has sparked a statewide debate around one question: Are we ready for 100?

In Rare Move, Federal Judge Presiding Over Tijuana Sewage Lawsuit Tours Border

Federal court judge Jeffrey T. Miller toured the Tijuana River Valley for several hours on Tuesday to observe pumps and canyon collectors along the border intended to prevent sewage from spilling into San Diego. The unusual move comes as the result of a contentious legal battle in which Miller must decide whether the Trump administration is doing enough to stop sewage that routinely pours into the United States from Mexico.

California Assembly Advances 100% Clean Energy Bill

California would set some of the nation’s strongest clean energy goals under legislation that cleared a key vote in the Assembly on Tuesday, bringing the state a step closer to ending its reliance on fossil fuels by phasing out their use to generate electricity. The bill, which would require California to obtain 100% of its power from clean sources by 2045, has been debated by lawmakers for nearly two years as it faced cost and feasibility concerns. This week, high-profile state and national politicians gave the cause a push by arguing the plan would strengthen California’s leadership on the environment.

California Committee OKs Bill On Desert Water-Pumping Plan

A last-minute effort to require more state oversight of a company’s plan to pump water from underneath the Mojave Desert passed a key committee Tuesday, advancing in the final days of the legislative session. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is running for governor, all urged lawmakers to pass it. At issue is a proposal by the Los Angeles-based Cadiz Inc. to pump water from its wells below the Mojave Desert, transfer it through a 43-mile pipeline to the Colorado River Aqueduct and distribute it to customers in Southern California.

This NASA Image Shows How California’s Wildfires Are Affecting The Atmosphere

As wildfires continue to burn in California, NASA has released a visualization that illustrates one of the ways in which the fires are affecting the atmosphere. NASA’s Earth Observatory, the arm of the space agency that shares with the public images of the Earth and its climate, created the map (embedded above, and below with captions) which shows aerosols in the atmosphere. Aerosols are the solid particles and liquid droplets in the air. “If you have ever watched smoke billowing from a wildfire, ash erupting from a volcano, or dust blowing in the wind, you have seen aerosols,” says a blog post accompanying the image.

OPINION: State Lawmakers May Ask Us To ‘Donate’ A Monthly Fee To Fund Clean Drinking Water. Bad Idea

Everyone in California — and everywhere else, for that matter — deserves clean drinking water. But relying on charity to upgrade failing water systems in low-income California communities is not the way to meet a basic human need. Yet that’s essentially what state Sen. Bill Monning is proposing in SB 845. The bill would require water purveyors throughout the state to offer their customers the “opportunity” to pay a monthly fee of 95 cents per household.

In Rare Move, Federal Judge Presiding Over Tijuana Sewage Lawsuit Tours Border

Federal court judge Jeffrey T. Miller toured the Tijuana River Valley for several hours on Tuesday to observe pumps and canyon collectors along the border intended to prevent sewage from spilling into San Diego. The unusual move comes as the result of a contentious legal battle in which Miller must decide whether the Trump administration is doing enough to stop sewage that routinely pours into the United States from Mexico. The cities of Imperial Beach and Chula Vista, as well as the Port of San Diego, sued the federal government in March, alleging violations of the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

Hundreds Of Fish Die In Malibu Lagoon; Scientists Suspect Unusually Warm Water To Blame

California officials are trying to solve a stinky mystery: A die-off has left hundreds of fish floating in a recently restored lagoon on the tony Malibu coast. Scientists believe the Malibu Lagoon die-off, which began last week, is likely caused by unusually warm water temperatures, said Craig Sap, superintendent of California State Parks’ Angeles District. “We had many days in a row of warmer-than-usual temperatures. We hadn’t had much of a breeze down there to keep the temperatures down,” Sap said Monday.

At Water-Starved Lake Mead And Lake Powell, ‘The Crisis Is Already Real,’ Scientists Say

With Lake Mead dropping to levels that could trigger water cutbacks in less than two years, there’s been a lot of talk lately about negotiating a deal to keep the reservoir from falling even further. But in a new report, scientists say the situation is just as worrisome upstream at Lake Powell. The declines there during the past 18 years, they say, also reflect the Colorado River’s worsening “structural deficit.”