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Local water agencies are planning to offer rebates or professional help to customers during Fix a Leak Week March 18-24. Photo: Traphitho - Cesar Augusto Ramirez Vallejo/Pixabay CC

Save Water During Fix a Leak Week

Local water agencies are planning to offer rebates or professional help to customers who find and repair water leaks as part of national Fix a Leak Week activities March 18-24.

Fix a Leak Week is a reminder every March to check indoor and outdoor plumbing systems for leaks.

The Water Authority offers tips on how to identify and fix leaks around your home. Check WaterSmartSD.org for tips and for more information about Fix a Leak Week.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that household leaks can waste nearly 1 trillion gallons of water annually nationwide. Average household leaks can account for nearly 10,000 gallons of water wasted every year – the amount of water needed to wash 270 loads of laundry, according to the EPA. Repairing a leaky toilet can save up to 500 gallons of water a day. That’s enough to fill a backyard swimming pool.

Common types of leaks found in the home are worn toilet flappers, dripping faucets, and other leaking valves. By fixing easily corrected household leaks, homeowners can save up to 10 percent on their water bills.

Sweetwater Authority offers rebates

During March, the Sweetwater Authority offers its customers rebates of up to $75 for leak repairs. Residential and business customers in the district may also schedule a free water audit to evaluate the water efficiency of their property.

Fix a leak during Earth Month in Oceanside

The City of Oceanside offers a Fix a Leak Workshop in conjunction with its Earth Month celebration in April.

A free three-hour workshop “Common Leaks and How to Fix Them” is scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, April 26, in the Oceanside Civic Center Community Rooms.

A plumbing professional will describe how to identify and fix leaks.

Residents are encouraged to bring their questions. Attendees will receive a home water audit and leak detection kit. Attendance is free, but seating is limited. Email  to reserve a spot.

 

Reclamation Drought Plan Would Nix Environmental Reviews

As the Trump administration moves toward a drought contingency plan for the Colorado River, the Bureau of Reclamation is pushing legislation that would exempt its work from environmental reviews. That includes potential impacts on what has emerged as a major sticking point in the drought negotiations: Southern California’s Salton Sea, a public health and ecological disaster. Draft legislation obtained by E&E News would authorize the Interior secretary to implement the drought plan “notwithstanding any other provision of law” and “without delay.”

Hundreds Wade Into Complex, Challenging World Of California Water

Hundreds of Bakersfield agriculture, oil and political leaders came together March 7 to examine the challenges and opportunities associated with providing California residents and businesses with a secure, reliable supply of clean water. Lest the wet winter create a sense of complacency around one of the state’s most vital needs, specialists from various fields urged collective attention to the costly and increasingly complex problems that surround sourcing, storing and conveying water across the Golden State.

Pipeline Rehab Project Coming To La Jolla Shores And La Jolla Heights

By the beginning of May, areas of La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Heights will undergo a pipeline replacement project — in piecemeal segments — to replace or rehabilitate more than seven collective miles of underground sewer lines. Arterial streets east of La Jolla Shores Drive, portions of Torrey Pines Road, some of La Jolla Scenic Drive North, and other smaller streets are slated for work.

Garcetti’s Hyperion Hyperbole

On February 21, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the City of Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power, and the Bureau of Sanitation would embark on an $8 billion plan to recycle 100% of its wastewater by 2035.  This ambitious sixteen-year plan will involve recycling over 200 million gallons a day of wastewater into around 195,000 acre feet of potable water a year. This new source of water represents about one-third of the City’s annual consumption.  It will allow to City to reduce its dependence on expensive water from the Southern California Metropolitan Water District that is pumped in from the Bay Delta in Northern California via the energy intensive California Aqueduct.

Salton Sea Management Effort Lags As Water Continues To Recede

Imperial Valley officials are reportedly close to finishing an important habitat restoration project at the Salton Sea. The remake of Red Hill Bay was supposed to be a model for a management plan around the shrinking lake, but the effort is two years overdue and still months away from completion. The Salton Sea needs a management plan because water is evaporating faster than it’s being replaced, and that’s leaving large swaths of lakebed exposed to the elements. “You got the Salton Sea probably a mile out there. Along the shoreline. You see the playa here,” said Bruce Wilcox, California Resources Agency Assistant Secretary of Salton Sea Policy.

Historic Pipeline Project Boosts Long-Term Water Reliability

San Diego County Water Authority crews successfully completed the first of three coordinated shutdowns of the First Aqueduct in early March to launch a major renovation of dozens of structures on two pipelines, including the historic Pipeline 1 that first delivered imported water to the region in 1947. The series of shutdowns was carefully planned for nearly four years to minimize impacts on the community and retail water agencies during retrofits of Pipelines 1 and 2, which comprise the First Aqueduct.

California Is Now Drought-Free, Monitor Says. Wait, Didn’t That Happen 2 Years Ago?

Thanks to a wet winter across the state, the entirety of California is free of drought for the first time since 2011, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s Thursday update. Don’t confuse that with former Gov. Jerry Brown’s April 2017 announcement that the statewide drought had officially ended. The drought officially began with Brown’s declaration of a state of emergency in January 2014.

Two California Water Agencies Battling Over Colorado River Drought Plan

A major Southern California water agency is trying to push the state through a final hurdle in joining a larger plan to preserve a key river in the U.S. West that serves 40 million people. Most of the seven states that get water from the Colorado River have signed off on plans to keep the waterway from crashing amid a prolonged drought, climate change and increased demands. But California and Arizona have not, missing deadlines from the federal government.

California Is Drought-Free For The First Time In Nearly A Decade

It’s official: California is 100% drought-free. For the first time since 2011, the state shows no areas suffering from prolonged drought and illustrates almost entirely normal conditions, according to a map released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Former Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order in 2017 that lifted the drought emergency in most of the state, leaving some breathing a sigh of relief. But he cautioned Californians to keep saving water as some parts of the state were still suffering from extreme drought.