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The United States imports vehicles, equipment, fresh produce and other goods from Mexico. That list may soon include water too, now that a San Diego County water district is looking south for help to diversify its supply. The Otay Water District serves a population of 220,000 people in southeastern San Diego County, in a service area spanning 125 square miles, from the border city of Chula Vista to the unincorporated areas in Jamul. It currently buys potable water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the San Diego County Water Authority and the Helix Water District.

 

The San Diego County Water Authority and the City of San Diego on Wednesday took a step toward the possibility of helping the region meet its future energy needs through a new pumped storage opportunity at the San Vicente Reservoir site. The potential project would create a new, up to 500-megawatt source of renewable energy that could provide electric grid stability to the region during peak times for energy use or other days when demand for electricity is high and renewable energy supplies are scarce.

As the The Valley is slammed with rain and storms, the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range is coming in under average for snow fall totals, which accounts for nearly 30 percent of drinking water for all Californian. The under average conditions brings up the question, does California need more water infrastructure?

2016 finished strong for the Los Angeles County economy. Employment during the year grew by 65,300 jobs and the unemployment rate declined to 5.1 percent. Voters expressed their willingness to invest in transportation (Measure M), housing (Measure HHH) and education (Measure CC) at the Nov. 8 election by 71.15 percent, 77.14 percent and 75.92 percent respectively. We have the opportunity to continue this positive economic momentum in 2017 if our voters and elected officials continue taking bold actions to build on these basic foundations.

The release of a lengthy collection of environmental documents has the California WaterFix marching on, even as many continue to doubt the viability of Gov. Jerry Brown’s nearly $16 billion plan to reroute water deliveries to the Central Valley and Southern California. The road is far from over for the massive plan, but experts and stakeholders believe that the release of the Final Environmental Impact Report before the Christmas holiday set the stage for the project to move forward and for its opponents to continue fighting it in both courtrooms and the court of public opinion.