More than 100 members of Congress, including 15 senators, are pressing the House and Senate leadership to include language in the next COVID-19 funding package prohibiting utilities from disconnecting customers who may not be able to pay their bills now or immediately after the crisis that has closed businesses and thrown millions out of work.
This week, crews are installing a carbon fiber lining inside Pipeline 5 in North San Diego County between Fallbrook and Escondido. The work is essential to maintain the 96-inch pipeline that delivers untreated water from Lake Skinner in southwest Riverside County to the Lower Otay Water Treatment Plant in southern San Diego County.
The work began at the end of March when Pipeline 5 was shut down for the installation of two internal steel bulkheads. The bulkheads allow the rest of the pipeline to stay in service while work is performed in an isolated section.
“Ensuring that water supplies continue to be reliable for all of the region’s 3.3 million residents and businesses is our priority,” said Jim Fisher, director of operations and maintenance at the Water Authority. “We are performing this essential repair to one of our largest pipelines to make sure that there are no interruptions in service to our member agencies.”
The carbon fiber installation is anticipated to be complete by the end of next week. Carbon fiber is a highly effective solution to reinforce the stressed areas of the pipe and extend its lifespan.
Pipeline 5 was built in 1982 and is a part of the Water Authority’s Second Aqueduct, which includes Pipelines 3, 4 and 5.
In August of last year, Water Authority staff detected a leak in nearby Pipeline 4 at Moosa Creek and inspected the other two pipelines at that location. During that inspection, Pipeline 5 showed signs of stress, where the operating pressure within the pipe exceeds 400 pounds per square inch. A failure of the large-diameter pipeline would cause significant damage to the environment and nearby pipelines.
The proactive and timely repair to Pipeline 5 is part of the asset management program, which is a key element of the Water Authority’s commitment to providing a safe and reliable water supply to San Diego County. Making preventative repairs to large-scale infrastructure ensures that regional water service will continue uninterrupted.
After installation of the carbon fiber is complete, a second shutdown to remove the isolation bulkheads is anticipated to take place in May, after which the pipeline will return to normal service.
To ensure safety and health, most Water Authority employees have been working from their homes since mid-March. For those employees who need to be at work sites, strict precautions are being taken by limiting the number of people present, maintaining physical distance, requiring all employees to wear protective gear and providing hand washing stations where possible.
It seems like the thing to do. You use a disinfectant wet wipe, and you toss it in the toilet. Right? That’s actually wrong. It’s an issue causing problems for wastewater treatment systems on the Central and South Coasts. People are using wet wipes in record numbers because of coronavirus. But, they can create problems for your sewer system, and for wastewater treatment facilities.
A heavy week-long storm April 5-10 resulted in flooding and water damage for many homes and businesses. If your property or small business sustained damage from the rain, the County would like your help to estimate rain damages in our region.
Facing objections from water districts throughout Orange County, the agency that sells imported water to those districts has backed off — at least temporarily — on two proposals that critics said overstepped its mission and the appropriate bounds of its authority.
In San Diego County and across California, it’s been an awesome April for precipitation.
The Sierra snow pack, although still much smaller than normal for this point in spring, has partially made up what had been a huge shortfall just a few weeks ago. And just about every place from the desert to the coast has benefited from a substantial soaking.
Last week’s record-breaking storm lifted San Diego County well above normal precipitation for the rainfall season. The city of San Diego has had its wettest spring in decades, and it has already recorded 3 more inches of rain since Oct. 1 than it normally gets in an entire year.
A rising number of water utilities expect that the coronavirus pandemic will result in financial repercussions. Two-thirds of water utilities say that changes in water demand and customer payments during the coronavirus pandemic will cause cash flow problems within the next two months or more.
Californians reuse treated wastewater as a water supply, to irrigate crops, and to support freshwater ecosystems. To get answers to questions about managing the new coronavirus in the “sewershed,” we talked to two experts: Kara Nelson, an expert in waterborne pathogens at UC Berkeley; and Adam Link, executive director of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies.
A powerful California water distributor plans to take the state to court over a permit it received last month to manage water delivery. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on Tuesday voted to sue the state of California over a permit one state agency granted to another at the end of March.
The mighty Rio Grande is looking less mighty as U.S. forecasters predict spring flows will be less than half of average — or worse — and that signals potential trouble for the already stressed waterway.
