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City Approves Framework For Potential Water Transfer Agreement With SMWD

The city’s plans to annex its utilities department took another step forward Tuesday, Aug. 20, as councilmembers approved a framework that will be the basis for a potential agreement to have Santa Margarita Water District take over water and sewer services in San Juan Capistrano. With Councilmember Derek Reeve absent from the meeting, the council unanimously voted in favor of certifying the Memorandum of Understanding that outlines the major deal points of what will eventually be part of an official annexation agreement and application for approval by the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO).

California Lowers Reporting Level For Nonstick Chemicals (1)

California’s main water agency lowered the level of “forever chemicals” detected in water that would trigger notification requirements. The updated State Water Resources Control Board guidelines change notification levels for two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, fluorinated chemicals that persist in the environment and have become ubiquitous in water supplies. Water agencies will have to notify their governing board—whether it’s their own board of directors or local government legislators—if they detect concentrations of the chemicals in their water sources. The state guidelines lower the notification trigger from 14 parts per trillion for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to 5.1 parts…

Local Concerns Are Threatening San Diego’s Global Climate Priorities

Carefully chosen words, tedious negotiations, lines in the sand. At stake: the continued release of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change. But this isn’t diplomacy at the United Nations we’re talking about, it’s San Diego politicians struggling to work together to buy and sell green energy. Last fall, the city of San Diego decided to start its own utility to buy and sell power. That’s because the city’s “climate action plan” says all electricity sold to city residents must come from renewable sources within the next two decades.

State Tightens Contamination Levels; SCV Water Sets Up Testing

SCV Water Agency officials are expected to begin testing their wells for smaller amounts of a non-stick chemical suspected of being carcinogenic, after state officials announced Friday they were lowering the allowable levels set for that chemical. Over the last few months, the State Water Resources Control Board has been trying to figure out what constitutes a safe level for a chemical called PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) in drinking water, since one of its component chemicals is a suspected carcinogen. Although there are many industrial uses for PFAS, it’s perhaps most commonly known as the non-stick component that went into making Teflon useful in non-stick pans.