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CWA Ratifies Contracts, Accepts Notice of Completion for Pipeline 5 Repairs

/in , , /by /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Eventually the San Diego County Water Authority will develop and implement a long-term fix for the vulnerability of the three SDCWA pipelines in Moosa Canyon, but the short-term fix for Pipeline 5 is now complete.

A unanimous CWA board vote, Thursday, May 28, ratified four contracts approved administratively by CWA General Manager Sandra Kerl and authorized Kerl to accept the work as complete.

“Earlier this month, in May, we shut down Pipeline 5 to remove the bulkheads and we resumed normal operations on May 8,” Neena Kuzmich, engineering manager of CWA, said.

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LAFCO Approves Detachment Review Committee

/in , , /by /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego’s County’s Local Agency Formation Commission approved a committee to review issues regarding the proposed detachment of the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District from the San Diego County Water Authority.

An 8-0 LAFCO board vote June 1 approved the composition of the committee, although LAFCO executive officer Keene Simonds will appoint the specific members and the list of tasks for the committee.

“We have agreement with the County Water Authority, Rainbow and Fallbrook,” said county supervisor Dianne Jacob, who is the chair of the LAFCO board.

“We have consensus on the tasks. I think we have a working agreement on the composition,” Simonds said.

CWA Sets June 25 Rate Hearing

/in , , /by /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority hearing to approve calendar year 2021 rates and charges will be June 25.

The May 28 motion to set the rate hearing date along with the proposed rates and charges passed with 78.139% of the SDCWA weighted vote. Twenty-one CWA board members supported the motion. Fallbrook Public Utility District general manager Jack Bebee, who is also FPUD’s representative on the CWA board, cast one of the eight votes against the action. Tom Kennedy, who is the Rainbow Municipal Water District general manager and Rainbow’s CWA representative, abstained as did Lois Fong-Sakai, who is one of the city of San Diego’s representatives on the CWA board.

A non-voting presentation earlier in the day addressed proposed changes to the CWA’s two-year budget which covers fiscal year 2019-2020 and fiscal year 2020-2021; the June 25 CWA board meeting will also include consideration of the budget adjustments. If the rates and charges are approved June 25, the action will also allocate the pro-rata shares of total fixed charges to each CWA member agency.

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Opinion: Beyond COVID and Social Unrest, Valley’s Big Problem Remains Declining Groundwater

/in , , /by /The Fresno Beeby Ellen Hanak and Jelena Jezdimirovic

In these extraordinary times, managing groundwater for long-term sustainability may not seem like a top priority. But in the San Joaquin Valley — where groundwater supplies have been declining for decades — excess pumping is a critical problem, with major implications for public health, jobs, the environment and local economies.

The state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires groundwater planning and actions to sustain this vital resource. Agencies from California’s 21 “critically overdrafted” basins — including 11 large basins that span most of the San Joaquin Valley floor — submitted their first groundwater plans in January.

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Vallecitos Water District Employs Technology to Decrease TSS, pH and Algal Blooms

/in , , /by /WaterWorld Magazine

Vallecitos Water District provides 5.25 million gallons of recycled water for irrigation every day. To fulfill the demands of modern irrigation systems, it is important to maintain low TSS levels. This is a challenge during the warm months in California, as algae that occur with raising temperatures, increase the level of TSS and clog the filters that are meant to remove TSS before the distribution of water to the irrigation systems.

Vallecitos Water District is known for its’ sustainable and innovative focus when it comes to water and wastewater treatment.

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FPUD Board Tours Conjunctive Use Project Sites

/in , , /by /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman

The five Fallbrook Public Utility District board members were given a tour of FPUD’s Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project sites May 29.

Because a majority of the FPUD board members were present, it was legally required to be a noticed public hearing and the tour was officially a special meeting of the FPUD board. Although members of the public were welcome to attend they would have been required to remain in their own cars or trucks due to the coronavirus quarantine, but they would have been able to hear the audio communications.

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Reservoirs Begin Reopening to Recreational Use Countywide

/in , , /by /Water News Network

City of San Diego lakes and reservoirs previously closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic are now in the process of reopening for public recreation.

El Capitan Reservoir and Upper Otay Reservoir reopened on June 6. San Vicente Reservoir will open to the public June 13.

Three reservoirs will re-open in July: Lake Hodges on July 1, Sutherland on July 3, and Barrett on July 8.

Miramar, Murray, and Lower Otay Reservoirs have opened in mid-May.

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CVWD Approves $376 Million Budget, No Rate Increases

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

The Coachella Valley Water District’s board of directors on Tuesday voted to approve a  $376 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The budget notably will not include rate increases even though CVWD — which has a service area of roughly 1,000 square miles and includes about 108,000 homes and businesses — had planned to implement one this year. The new math comes after the water district ripped up its previously proposed budget in May due to the economic slowdown caused by the response to the coronavirus.

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PFAS Management to Drive $12.1 Billion in Water Utility Spending Over Next Decade

/in , , /by /WaterWorld Magazine

Mounting public concerns and new state regulations in the U.S. are compelling water & wastewater utilities to address health risks associated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – a class of pervasive chemicals found in drinking water and wastewater biproducts.

According to a new report from Bluefield Research, PFAS: The Next Challenge for Water Utilities, more than US $3 billion is forecasted to be spent annually on drinking water remediation technologies by 2030. While any significant increase in water treatment solutions hinges on federal policies, 29 states have already implemented a mix of policy directives, including testing requirements, prohibitions on product applications (e.g., food packaging), and the elimination of select fiirefighting foam constituents.

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Public Comment for Lake Powell Pipeline Open, Again, Until September

/in , , /by /KJZZ Arizonaby McKenzie Stauffer

Comments, questions and concerns are now being accepted, again, for the Lake Powell Pipeline. This comes after the Bureau of Reclamation issued the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline, which is designed to pump water to Washington County.

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