Helix Water District named Tim and Brianna Montgomery of La Mesa as the winner of its 2020 WaterSmart Landscape Contest, an annual competition that recognizes outstanding water-wise residential landscapes based on overall attractiveness, design, efficient irrigation and appropriate plant selection and maintenance.
At a May meeting of the board of directors of the Brownsville, Texas, Board of Public Works, the utility’s director of finance Mike Perez made an announcement that was perhaps surprising in the middle of a pandemic.
“April was a good month,” Perez said. Revenue was up, in part due to customers staying home and using more electricity. Accounts receivable were “in line” with the same period a year ago, indicating that customers were mostly able to pay their bills. “We are not seeing anything alarming so far,” Perez said.
In March, the COVID-19 relief bill known as the CARES Act set aside $900 million to help Americans pay their utility bills. Earlier this week, a broad coalition of water agencies delivered a letter to Congress advocating for more funding. The letter, submitted Monday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other California Congressional delegates, argues that billions of federal dollars are still needed for water infrastructure maintenance and assistance with water bills.
A settlement reached over water contamination claims stemming from Monsanto Company’s use of toxic chemicals known as PCBs will send $550 million to several jurisdictions, including the cities of San Diego and Chula Vista, it was announced Wednesday.
Local officials in Oregon, California, New York, Utah, Florida and many other places are collecting sewage samples to test for coronavirus, which experts say could allow for detection of hotspots for the disease before the diagnosis of clinical cases.
Major California cities say they’ll use their share of a $650 million settlement to clean up the now-banned chemical PCB from bays, lakes and other waterways polluted for decades. The giant chemical company Monsanto announced a tentative agreement Wednesday with government entities that had filed suit since 2015 over waterways and estuaries they say were polluted.
Researchers at Stanford are working on a technology that may be needed more than ever over the next decade, especially if new predictions are accurate. Researchers have recently warned of a potential mega-drought in the western United States – conditions so dry that our drinking water supplies could be facing historic pressures. Experts say keeping the taps flowing could require a patchwork of solutions, including potentially increasing the use of desalination, turning saltwater into drinking water.
The water has made development possible and is used for farms, homes and businesses. Meanwhile, recreation has risen to over 4 million annual visitors in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, with tourists bringing in over $420 million to local communities.
The Rainbow Municipal Water District needs a 15,000-square-foot area which is part of Moody Creek Farms, so the Rainbow board approved a resolution of necessity for the property May 26.
The 4-0 board vote, with Helene Brazier unable to participate in the meeting, does not approve eminent domain but allows for that possibility if the district and Ernest Moody are unable to come to terms on a sale agreement.
“This is just the resolution of necessity. We’re not agreeing to the price of the land,” district engineer Steve Strapac said.
Panelists from several water districts will give updates on new laws affecting water consumption in California during an American Liberty Forum of Ramona event set for Saturday, June 27.
The free forum on Water Regulations Today and Tomorrow will be held at Ramona Mainstage, 626 Main St. Doors open at 11 a.m. and a video program starts at 11:30 a.m.
The focus will be on Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668.
SB 606 is in response to mandates that California achieve a 20 percent reduction in urban per capita water use by Dec. 31, 2020. Existing law requires each urban retail water supplier to develop urban water use targets and an interim urban water use target.
AB 1668 would require the state Water Resources Control Board to adopt long-term standards for the efficient use of water and would establish specified standards for per capita daily indoor residential water use.
