Every day Hyperion Water Treatment Plant discharges enough treated wastewater into the ocean to fill the Rose Bowl 2.5 times over. Now a court has instructed state water officials to analyze whether it is “wasteful” and “unreasonable” to dump billions of gallons of wastewater into the sea.
The replacement of the Fallbrook Public Utility District’s Martin Tank will be complemented by additional landscaping.
A 5-0 FPUD board vote, July 27, approved an additional $45,000 for landscaping expenses. The full amount allows the planned landscaping to proceed if expenses exceed the estimated $38,974 for 19 trees and irrigation infrastructure.
“The board felt it was a reasonable step to invest in the landscaping,” Jack Bebee, general manager of FPUD, said.
On New Year’s Day in 2018, Paul Kehmeier and his father drove up Grand Mesa until they got to the county line, 10,000 feet above sea level. Instead of the three to five feet of snow that should have been on the ground, there wasn’t enough of a dusting to even cover the grass.
The men marveled at the sight, and Kehmeier snapped a photo of his dad, “standing on the bare pavement, next to bare ground.”
Rebates for WaterSmart irrigation devices are available in San Diego County to help property owners reduce expenses by improving water efficiency.
The rebates, offered for a limited time by the San Diego County Water Authority, provide significant savings on devices for outdoor landscapes.
The WaterSmart Contractor Incentive Program, or WSCIP, helps commercial, public and agricultural property owners improve water-use efficiency in large landscapes through rebates for irrigation hardware upgrades. School districts, universities, and other organizations are also eligible.
“This incentive program is designed to be business-friendly as part of the Water Authority’s focus on long-term water-use efficiency,” said Efren Lopez, a water resources specialist with the Water Authority, who manages the program.
The rebate program started a few months before the coronavirus pandemic, and recently was extended to ensure that property owners and landscape contractors have a full opportunity to take advantage of the savings. Rebates are available on a first-come, first-served basis to qualified landscape contractors and property owners at self-managed sites in San Diego County.
Project sites must include at least one acre of irrigated landscape to qualify.
The program offers a range of innovative irrigation devices. Bundling these four items leads to the greatest water efficiency.
The WaterSmart Contractor Incentive Program is a large landscape and technology-focused program, which targets qualified landscape contractors and self-managed sites.
Enrollment is a paperless process. To participate, create an account to enroll and verify your qualifications. To enroll, or for more information, go to: https://www.sdwatersmartcip.com/ or call (888) 521-9763.
There is also a list of contractors enrolled in the program that can work with property owners who want to install eligible irrigation efficiency devices: https://www.sdwatersmartcip.com/enrolled-contractors
A win for state water rights came earlier this month after the Marion County Circuit Court ruled that the Bureau of Reclamation cannot release water from Upper Klamath Lake for flows down the Klamath River.
If California lawmakers set aside climate concerns like sea level rise, and focus only on the pandemic, the state could be setting itself up for an even worse economic hardship, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office cautioned in a report Monday.
San Diego homes and businesses have been improperly charged for a program that keeps toxic sewer water from being discharged into the Pacific Ocean.
A new report from Interim City Auditor Kyle Elser said the city failed to charge Industrial Wastewater Control Program permit holders enough to cover the costs of the program.
According to the City Auditor’s Office, many of the fees charged to industrial polluters have not been adjusted since 1984. The Public Utilities Department agreed to adjust the fees last year, but failed to do so, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
El Cajon resident Patricia Wood, inspired by her daughter Kimberly, transformed a thirsty lawn into a wheelchair accessible garden, winning “Best in District” in the Otay Water District 2020 WaterSmart Landscape Contest.
After years marked by a historic statewide drought and devastating floods around downtown San Jose, Santa Clara County’s largest water provider has decided to ask voters to approve a parcel tax to pay for a wide variety of projects, from flood control to creek restoration, along with some costs of rebuilding the county’s largest dam at Anderson Reservoir.
