The San Diego Board of Supervisors will consider on Tuesday whether or not to support a new multi-billion dollar plan by the San Diego Association of Governments that would dramatically shift that group’s regional transportation plan toward prioritizing public transit expansion over building highways and roads. The proposal, which SANDAG unveiled Friday at a special meeting, would better position the region to meet state mandates related to greenhouse gas emissions and would add hundreds of miles of high-speed transit lines throughout the county, as far east as Poway and as far north as Oceanside, supporters say.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2019-04-29 10:19:502019-04-30 10:23:23County Supervisors To Weigh In Tuesday On SANDAG Transit Expansion Proposal
Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled a sweeping plan for a more sustainable Los Angeles on Monday, calling for dramatic changes to the car culture, buildings and air quality of America’s second-largest city.
The mayor’s sustainability plan imagines a city where, by the mid-2030s, 80% of the cars run on electricity or zero-emission fuel, 80% of the electricity comes from renewable sources and Angelenos drive 2,000 fewer miles each year than they do now. It’s a far cry from today’s L.A., where gridlock, tailpipe pollution and smoggy air have come to define a way of life.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2019-04-29 10:17:062019-04-30 10:19:46L.A. Mayor Garcetti’s ‘Green New Deal’ Would Phase Out Gas-Fueled Cars
California’s IRP decision Friday is a major step for the state, but regulators stressed that the review process will be more robust going forward as increasing amounts of capacity are procured by aggregators rather than distribution utilities. The targets the commission approved “are not hard procurement targets for the load-serving entities, but they do point to the scale of what we need to procure, and they indicate the attributes of resources that we need to achieve the emissions, reliability, and cost goals,” Commissioner Liane Randolph wrote in a blog post. The order sets out “the optimal 2030 portfolio of supply- and demand-side resources needed to achieve our state’s ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.”
Water agencies across San Diego County are saving time and money while improving employee safety with drones. Industry analysts say drone use by water agencies worldwide is growing. The Helix Water District, Otay Water District and the San Diego County Water Authority have embraced the technology, using drones to inspect and monitor facilities, and to map and survey inaccessible areas. Helix used a drone in February to check rooftop air vents on a water storage tank in El Cajon, rather than send employees high in the sky to do it. The agency determined it was too risky for employees – even with safety equipment – and too costly to have staff inspect the vents outside the 120-foot-high Fletcher Hills Combined Tank.
Water agencies across San Diego County are saving time and money while improving employee safety with drones.
Industry analysts say drone use by water agencies worldwide is growing. The Helix Water District, Otay Water District and the San Diego County Water Authority have embraced the technology, using drones to inspect and monitor facilities, and to map and survey inaccessible areas.
Helix used a drone in February to check rooftop air vents on a water storage tank in El Cajon, rather than send employees high in the sky to do it. The agency determined it was too risky for employees – even with safety equipment – and too costly to have staff inspect the vents outside the 120-foot-high Fletcher Hills Combined Tank.
“We continually look for ways to utilize technologies where appropriate to minimize facility down time and to keep staff safe,” said Carlos Lugo, general manager at Helix. “Drone technology is proving to be a useful and cost-efficient way to survey and keep the district’s facilities properly maintained.”
Drones provide a safe and cost-effective alternative for inspecting the condition of storage tank vents without placing employees at risk or taking the storage tank offline. Photo: Helix Water District
Helix uses drones to inspect interior roof supports of its water storage tanks. The supports are especially vulnerable to corrosion because they are constantly exposed to humidity and heat.
Drone image of a roof bracket inspection. Photo: Helix Water District
Inspecting the storage tank roof supports requires moving 30-foot-high scaffolding from one support to the next, a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. To cut down that time, Helix used a drone to get high-resolution images of the supports. The drone images showed which ones needed repair without moving the scaffolding to each support.
A drone helps reduce the need to move scaffolding to each bracket during inspections. Photo: Helix Water District
“Using drones for this type of inspection work is a simple, elegant and safe solution,” said Jim Tomasulo, Helix’s director of engineering. “We anticipate using drones for this and other purposes.”
Drone inspections of reservoirs, treatment plant
The Otay Water District also is finding drones useful to save money and improve employee safety.
After a two-year study and evaluation period, the district is now using two camera-equipped drones to assist with preliminary inspections of its water facilities in eastern and southern San Diego County, including 40 potable water reservoirs, four recycled water reservoirs, 20 pump stations and a recycled water treatment plant.
Drones Reduce Risk
Countywide, the Water Authority uses drones to monitor rights of way and to survey inaccessible landscapes.
When a drone was used to get images and video of steep terrain on the Second Aqueduct west of Interstate 15 and south of the San Luis Rey River, the images were 10 times higher resolution than stock aerial images. Using the drone also kept staff from being exposed to potentially dangerous conditions.
The Water Authority is also exploring using drones for future surveys and potentially at water transportation, treatment, and storage facilities, where cutting-edge technology is used to save ratepayers money.
Drones are helping the Water Authority monitor rights of way, particularly in areas of rugged terrain.
But the potential of drone use is not limited to visual photography of elevated water tanks and surveying remote areas. Water quality monitoring is another potential application.
Water agencies can use drones with infrared cameras “to monitor water areas remotely at higher spatial resolution than ever before, at low cost and at any time,” Michal Mazur, with Drone Powered Solutions, told Waterworld.com in a recent article about the advances in drone use.
Colorado River states cheered this month when President Trump signed swiftly passed legislation ratifying a drought plan for the waterway. But they could be in for a legal fight. Some lawyers say the Drought Contingency Plan, or DCP, may be built on shaky legal ground and could be vulnerable to litigation — depending on how the Bureau of Reclamation implements it.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2019-04-29 06:41:472019-05-01 10:46:44NEPA looms over drought plan enthusiasm
On April 25, the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors honored the latest group of water-related award winners from the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair as part of the agency’s effort to inspire young people to pursue water industry careers. This year’s middle school and high school science and engineering projects displayed a wide range of innovative ways to solve a variety of water issues people face today. In the senior division, Alfred and Audrey Vargas won the first place award with the design of a new device to treat wastewater and generate electricity simultaneously using hydrogen fuel cell technology.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2019-04-28 10:24:422019-05-01 10:47:45San Diego County Students Shape The Future of Water
Authorities reminded residents Sunday shelter from lightning as showers and scattered thunderstorms were forecast for Southern California. The storm was expected to move through the region Sunday night and all Monday, and bring dry and wet thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service. Weather officials warned of dangerous lightning over land and water and reminded residents that conditions can change quickly, especially in the mountains.
The city of Escondido thought it had finally figured out how to raise the $35 million to $50 million it needs to replace the Lake Wohlford Dam. But then a complicated and prohibitively expensive problem arose. In 2007, studies determined that the top portion of the 124-year-old dam could collapse in a major earthquake, flooding eastern Escondido. So the city, under orders from a federal agency, immediately reduced the amount of water in the lake by more than half.
The City of San Diego recently awarded a $2.5 million grant through the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), allowing four local nonprofits to conduct sustainability-focused home repairs for low-income homeowners in the region. GRID Alternatives San Diego, the lead agency on the application, along with Habitat for Humanity San Diego, Rebuilding Together San Diego, and Urban Corps of San Diego County, bring nearly 90 combined years of experience providing services to low-income households. Their experience is diverse, ranging from installing solar on rooftops and job training for youth to building affordable housing and performing minor and major home rehabilitation.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2019-04-28 09:30:262019-04-29 09:34:37$2.5 Million Awarded To Help Nonprofits Administer Sustainability-Focused Home Repairs
