San Diego’s $4 billion plan to boost the city’s water independence is facing delays and cost increases thanks to a legal dispute over the use of unionized construction workers.
A judge issued an injunction in June that halted the project, a recycling system called “Pure Water” that would purify treated sewage into drinking water and supply one-third of the city’s water supply by 2035.
Several engineers will spend the next few weeks 20 feet underground fixing a crack in a large water pipeline that spans almost the entire length of San Diego County.
The San Diego County Water Authority discovered a leak earlier this month in a portion of its 90-inch Pipeline 4, which has carried water since 1966 from the Skinner Water Treatment Plant near Temecula down to the Otay Reservoir near Chula Vista.
“We have very old, aging infrastructure so we’re always keeping tabs on things to make sure we can stay ahead of any failures or issues with our pipe,” said SDCWA Principal Engineer Brent Fountain.
The southern part of California’s Central Coast from San Luis Obispo County to Ventura County, home to about 1.5 million people, is blessed with a pleasing Mediterranean climate and a picturesque terrain. Yet while its unique geography abounds in beauty, the area perpetually struggles with drought.
Indeed, while the rest of California breathed a sigh of relief with the return of wet weather after the severe drought of 2012–2016, places such as Santa Barbara still grappled with dry conditions.
The utility’s ‘future water company, today’ initiative uses the Newmarket region of its operating area as a proving ground for innovations promising the greatest benefits.
As part of this, Black & Veatch is creating a digital representation of the region’s water treatment and distribution infrastructure and embedding Hybrid Adaptive Real-time Virtual Intelligence (HARVI) – an artificial intelligence (AI) provided by its strategic partner EMAGIN – into the digital twin.
This enables predictive capabilities and intuitive decision support and intervention.
The Trump administration warned California officials Thursday that the state is “failing” to meet federal water quality standards, the latest move in the president’s escalating political feud with the state’s liberal leaders.
In a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler threatened possible enforcement action if the state did not improve the way it deals with lead, arsenic and human waste in its water.
In accordance with Senate Bill 4 authored by former Senator Frances J. “Fran” Pavley (D-27st District-Agoura Hills) in 2013, the State Water Resources Control Board, is now required to develop and implement a regional groundwater monitoring program. The State Water Board has partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to monitor regional groundwater quality in oil production areas. Thus far a study by the USGS has revealed higher than normal salinity levels in groundwater near three oilfields in western Kern County.
California is fighting a plan by President Donald Trump’s administration to push more water through the Delta – a move state officials say would harm endangered fish species and deprive millions of Southern Californians of water.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife, in a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said the federal plan would harm the nearly-extinct Delta smelt and other species. The state said the plan would also hurt the mostly urban water agencies that belong to the State Water Project, which might have to surrender some of its supplies to compensate for the federal plan.
Chemicals used for carpets and anti-stain products have been found in water sources for 7.5 million people in California, detailing the extent of the problem as state regulators work to develop safety levels for the contaminants that have been linked to cancer.
A report released Wednesday by the Environmental Working Group found variants of the chemicals known as PFAS in 74 community water systems between 2013 and 2019, according to data from state and federal regulators. More than 40 percent of the systems had at least one sample that exceeded the health advisory level set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development California State Director Kim Dolbow Vann on Monday, Sept. 23 announced more than $5 million in investments for three infrastructure improvement projects in California.
“We know that in order for California’s rural communities to continue to prosper, it is essential they have safe, reliable infrastructure,” said Vann. “USDA’s programs are addressing those needs and today’s investments will help improve water or wastewater systems in three communities.”
Funding is provided through USDA Rural Development’s Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant program, and can be used for drinking water, storm water drainage and waste disposal systems for rural communities with 10,000 or fewer residents.
