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Proactive Partnerships Keep Pipelines In Top Shape

/in , , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

This summer, the Water Authority is partnering with three technology companies to test the condition of the agency’s oldest pipelines forming the First Aqueduct in Valley Center. Technology providers test their new and improved tools on Water Authority and member agency pipes. The tools are then used to assess the condition of those same pipes. This efficient strategy ensures maximum condition assessment accuracy. The strategy also allows for technology to keep up with what water agencies need and minimizes costs. Targeted repairs and maintenance activities maximize the life expectancy of some of the region’s most critical infrastructure.

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Farm Bureau Says Goodbye To Longtime Executive Director

/in , , /by /Valley Roadrunner (Valley Center, Calif.)

The San Diego County Farm Bureau’s longtime executive director Eric Larson retired recently after leading the Bureau for 23 years. He told the newspaper two weeks ago, “I decided 70 was a good age to exit. I will be working through the end of September. My replacement will begin July 22 giving us a good transition.” His replacement is Hannah Gbeh (pronounced bay). Gbeh is an environmental impact report preparer, organic farmer, environmental science teacher and researcher who has served for several years on the board of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.  She is also a commissioner on the County’s Fish and Wildfire Advisory Commission and serves on the Jamul-Dulzura Community Planning Group.

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SANDAG Housing Needs Methodology Questioned By County Leaders

/in , /by /The Coast Newsby Steve Horn

At the July 26 San Diego Association of Governments board of directors meeting, city and county officials voted to advance the proposed draft methodology that it must send to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for approval. If approved, it could mean tens of thousands of additional housing units built in North County in the next decade. Called the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), SANDAG’s version of it calls for the building for 171,685 new housing units during the 2021-2028 time period. Yet, not only do some board members see the number as high, some said they viewed the city-by-city allocation of housing requirements as flawed.

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San Diego Explained: An Earthquake Could Impact San Diego’s Water Supply

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Adriana Heldiz

Earthquakes could have a major impact on San Diego’s water supply, even if they happen far away. That’s because San Diego’s water comes from hundreds of miles away, through threads of metal and concrete that connect us to distant rivers and reservoirs. Our biggest source of water is the Colorado River, which is diverted into Southern California from the Arizona border through a 242-mile water system that includes 92 miles of tunnels. On this week’s San Diego Explained, Voice of San Diego’s Ry Rivard and NBC 7’s Catherine Garcia lay out three worst-case scenarios that could affect San Diego’s water when an earthquake hits.

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New Delta Tunnel Project Begins Taking Shape

/in , , /by /The Press (Brentwood, Calif.)by Tony Kukulich

Opponents of the twin tunnels breathed a collective sigh of relief in April when Gov. Gavin Newsom put a formal end to the California WaterFix project, but that action also called for the assessment of a single-tunnel project in the Delta. The first major step in that direction took place last week when the Department of Water Resources (DWR) initiated a series of negotiations with public water agencies that participate in the State Water Project (SWP), to amend SWP contracts to accommodate the construction and operation of a single Delta tunnel, referred to as the Delta Conveyance Project. Of the 29 state contractors, five agencies that operate north of the Delta are expected to opt out of participation in the project.

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How PFAS Poses An Emerging Problem For Wastewater

/in , /by /Water Online

The intrusion of PFAS into source water supplies has grabbed the regulatory spotlight. As more scientists and health professionals raise concerns about the compounds — technically known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — federal and state environmental agencies are under increasing pressure to impose limits for public protection. Now, it seems that municipalities have another looming headache as PFAS is finding its way into wastewater.

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Input Sought On The Future Of California’s Water Use

/in , /by /Red Bluff Daily News (Red Bluff, Calif.)

The California State Board of Food and Agriculture is hosting a series of public forums to allow farmers, ranchers and other stakeholders opportunities to provide input on the California’s Water Future. A meeting is set for 1-3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6 at the Sheraton Redding Hotel at the Sundial Bridge, 820 Sundial Bridge Drive in Redding. State agencies are asking Californians to help shape a road map for meeting future water needs and ensuring environmental and economic resilience through the 21st century.

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The Rapid Maturation Of The U.S. Energy Storage Market

/in , /by /PV Magazineby Amish Shah, Madeleine Tan, Kyle Hayes and Alyssa Walker

The U.S. energy storage market is primed to grow at a rapid pace. A study by IHS Markit forecasts that the U.S. grid-tied energy storage market will nearly double in 2019 – from 367 MW in 2018 to 712 MW this year – which does not include behind-the-meter energy storage that would add several hundred MW of deployed energy storage to the forecast for 2019. This significant expansion is poised to occur against a backdrop of regulatory changes in federal and state incentive programs, cost improvements and advances in monetization of energy storage. These current and anticipated trends affecting the U.S. energy storage market will have a significant influence on how industry participants choose when, where and how to invest in and develop energy storage technology.

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Is Hetch Hetchy Worth $100 billion?

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Gregory Thomas

Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley was dammed and flooded nearly 100 years ago, but the prospect of draining the reservoir continues to inspire romantic imaginings about unlocking a brand-new outdoor-recreation mecca in one of the country’s most popular national parks. If we could return Hetch Hetchy to a more natural state — of the variety that stirred John Muir’s soul a century ago — would we be clearing a path for the emergence of Yosemite Valley 2.0?

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Dam Spillway Near SLO County Has Significant Cracks, Is ‘Unsafe For Use,’ State Says

/in , , /by /The Tribune by Monica Vaughan

Remember when the concrete spillway of the nation’s tallest dam developed a giant hole, and downstream communities were evacuated out of fear that a wall of water would charge down the river?

It turns out that the same structural problems that caused the failure at Oroville Dam in February 2017 also exist at the spillway of San Antonio Dam, just two miles north of Lake Nacimiento and above the community of Bradley.

Those problems have been known “for quite sometime,” according to the current manager of the dam operator. But the state didn’t take notice or downgrade the dam’s safety condition until after it revamped its oversight process following the massive failure in Northern California.

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