As water shortages loom in Baja California, the state’s plans for a desalination plant are back on track after years of delay.
An undeveloped 50-acre plot next to a power plant in northern Rosarito Beach – envisioned as the site of the proposed desalination facility – is now in Mexican government hands. By the end of the year, the state of Baja California expects to invite prospective developers to submit bids.
The two men who helped Calgary get a replacement pipe to help repair the city’s ruptured feeder main were honoured over the weekend.
When the pipe broke in June, city officials put out an international call for replacements. On Sunday, City of Calgary worker Toby Weickert and San Diego County Water Authority worker Martin Coghill both received white hats for their efforts.
Three years ago, climate researchers shocked drought-weary Californians when they revealed that the American West was experiencing its driest 22-year period in 1,200 years, and that this severe megadrought was being intensified by global warming.
Now, a UCLA climate scientist has reexamined the data and found that, even after two wet winters, the last 25 years are still likely the driest quarter-century since the year 800.
Try driving up Morena Boulevard in Mission Valley, or north through Bay Park and Clairemont, and chances are you’ll be bottlenecked by an army of orange traffic cones demarking a huge construction project that will consume northern San Diego for years to come.
The city of San Diego is currently building a massive wastewater-to-drinking water recycling system – but it must tear up the streets to do it. The new pipe route tunnels from Morena Pump Station near the San Diego International Airport, then 10 miles north to University City and then another 8 miles to Miramar Reservoir, the final stop for all our transformed toilet water.
The Santa Fe Irrigation District and San Dieguito Water District have filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego over alleged “negligent” maintenance on the Lake Hodges Dam. The aging dam underwent emergency repairs in 2022 and the districts’ suit seeks financial damages of $21 million due to breach of contract and resulting loss of access to local water which they say has forced them to raise water rates, negatively impacting customers.
The lawsuit also alleges a violation of California’s Public Records Act, according to a press release issued by the district.
Gondek white-hatted over 100 guests from out of town, as well as formally white-hatting Toby Weickert, and Martin Coghill who arranged the delivery of the feeder main pipe from San Diego to Calgary.
The Uptown Car Wash in Hillcrest has been a haven for the budget shopper. The company offers a wash for less than $10, while a full detail is more pricey. However, the costs for those services likely are increasing.
That’s because the San Diego County Water Authority this week raised water rates by 14%. The higher water bills are expected to begin in January for the county’s 23 agencies, including the City of San Diego, which has raised water bills 16% the past few years.
There are three go-to topics of conversation for Angelenos: weather, traffic and water. Our city is perpetually trying to rid itself of H20 or thirsting for it. Those opposing needs shaped L.A.’s topography and made a mythic king out of a self-taught engineer from Belfast. And recent drought has forced us to confront the reality of climate change, rethink our water sources and dig up our lawns.
Given how large water supply looms in the minds of Californians, our access to it in L.A. feels especially miraculous, and — during the relentless radiating heat of summer — uniquely enlivening.
On July 25, the San Diego County Water Authority (CWA) Board of Directors voted for a 14% wholesale rate increase effective in 2025 for the wholesaler’s 23 local water agencies, to be followed by a 16.4% increase in 2026 plus 5.6% in 2027 (40.1 percent compounded).
The increase is part of an unstoppable trend in county water management caused by CWA’s high debts and declining water use, resulting in less revenue for paying those debts—over $2 billion worth.
Water rates in San Diego County won’t go up next year as sharply as some feared — but the county water authority’s efforts to keep rates low are becoming a significant threat to its credit rating.
A sharply divided water authority board voted Thursday to reduce next year’s rate increase from 18 percent to 14 percent, which eases pressure on local water agencies to raise rates on their customers.
