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Otay Water District Board Elects New Officers

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Spring Valley, Calif. – At its Jan. 2, 2019 meeting, the Otay Water District Board of Directors elected new Board officers to lead the District’s Board for 2019. The Board elected board member Mitch Thompson, who represents division 2, as president. The Board also elected board member Mark Robak, serving division 5, as vice president.

Thompson’s election as president follows one year of Board leadership under past president Tim Smith. In 2018, Thompson served as vice president of the Board. He has served on the District’s Board since May 2012. Thompson will serve as president through January 2020 when officer elections will again occur.

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California Water Board Outlines $606M Bill Assistance Program

/in , /by /Circle of Blueby Brett Walton

To subsidize drinking water bills for poor households, California regulators recommend new taxes on bottled water and incomes above $1 million a year, according to a draft proposal released by the State Water Resources Control Board. If the $606 million proposal, or an alternate version, is accepted by the Legislature, California would be the first state in the country to run a water bill assistance program. With the affordability of water and sewer service a hot topic nationally and utility aid programs either underfunded, non-existent, or handcuffed by state laws, other states will be watching the outcome.

 

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OPINION: In California, The Demise Of The Grassy Lawn

/in , /by /Undark (Cambridge, Mass.)by Aleksandra Appleton

On the first Saturday of December in a northeast neighborhood of Fresno, California, Jeff Collins and his neighbors were putting up their Christmas decorations: strings of lights along identical gable roofs, animated reindeer, and inflatable snowmen. But for Collins, the task involved an extra step — laying down tarps to help the inflatables stay upright in his grass-free yard. Collins had had the lawn ripped out in 2015, at the peak of one of the worst recorded droughts in state history.

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Storm Poised To Slam Sierra, Dump Another 2 Feet Of Snow

/in , /by /SFGate.com (San Francisco)by Amy Graff

Get ready for round two. After a fierce storm blasted the northern Sierra Nevada over the weekend, another system is slated to batter the mountain range straddling California and Nevada late Tuesday night into Wednesday. The National Weather Service reports, “This storm will not be as potent as the system that moved through Sunday,” but travelers should still be prepared for winter driving conditions with chain control in effect on Highways 80 and 5o. The NWS issued a winter weather advisory warning of slippery roads, reduced visibility and travel delays between midnight Tuesday and midnight Wednesday.

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Newsom Inherits A ‘Whole Bunch Of Headaches’ Despite Last-Minute Water Deals By Brown

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

As his term as governor drew to a close last month, Jerry Brown brokered a historic agreement among farms and cities to surrender billions of gallons of water to help ailing fish species. He also made two big water deals with the Trump administration — one to shore up support for his struggling Delta tunnels project, the other to transfer some of urban California’s water to Central Valley farmers whom the White House supports. It added up to a dizzying display of deal-making over an issue that confounded Brown during much of his four terms in Sacramento.

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These $2,000 Solar Panels Pull Clean Drinking Water Out Of The Air, And They Might Be A Solution To The Global Water Crisis

/in , /by /Business Insiderby Aria Bendix

The global water crisis has wreaked havoc on communities around the world, from homes in Flint, Michigan, to megacities like Tokyo and São Paulo. The United Nations estimated that 2.1 billion people live without safe drinking water in their homes — a situation with severe health implications that can also limit economic prosperity. Citizens with access to clean water have a better chance of escaping poverty, fending off disease, and pursuing an education.

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Women’s Future Careers In Water Topic Of Cuyamaca Event

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Karen Pearlman Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Mount Helix resident Kathleen Coates Hedberg is a registered civil engineer, a grade 4 water treatment operator and cross connection specialist. On the board of directors of the Helix Water District and San Diego County Water Authority, Hedberg knows what it is like to be in a male-dominated field. “There’s only six of us on the county water board out of about 36 members,” Hedberg said. She’d like to see a shift in those numbers, and is an advocate for women seeking — and succeeding — in careers in the water and wastewater industries.

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New Round Of Complaints On High Water Bills

/in , /by /10 Newsby Jonathan Horn

A group of Allied Gardens residents say they are receiving outrageously high water bills from the city of San Diego. It’s the latest flare up in an issue that has already caused major changes at City Hall. A 2018 audit found that nearly 3,000 families were sent incorrect bills, largely due to human error reading the meters. The city says it is working to create more meter-reader oversight and improve the customer service experience. Jim Montana got a nearly $600 water bill in December, which was triple the norm.

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San Diego Water Authority Gets $500K In Grants For Water Projects

/in , /by /Patch (New York)

Three San Diego County projects to improve water supply reliability received a total of $500,000 in grant funding from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the San Diego County Water Authority announced Monday. The county received funding for new seawater intake screens at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, brackish water optimization and integrated planning in the San Dieguito River watershed and new water treatment technology at the East County Advanced Water Treatment Project.

 

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