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Scripps’ New Program Forecast Imperial Beach Flooding, Helped City Brace For Impact

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

Massive waves crushed the Imperial Beach shoreline at dawn Friday, flooding sections of Seacoast Drive all the way to the Tijuana River Estuary. Many residents boarded up windows and put out sandbags in preparation for the 15-foot waves that covered the entire beach during high tide, inundating streets and garages. However, the city would’ve been caught off guard had it not been for an experimental warning system launched just months ago by UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

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‘A Crisis Of Sewage’: California Lawmakers Seek Funding For The Polluted New River

/in , /by /The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)by Ian James

For decades, the New River has flowed north across the U.S.-Mexico border carrying toxic pollution and the stench of sewage. Now lawmakers in Washington and Sacramento are pursuing new legislation and funding to combat the pollution problems. Rep. Juan Vargas introduced a bill in Congress last week that would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to create a program focused on helping to coordinate funding for the restoration and protection of the New River.

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Measure W Will Fund Projects To Recycle Rainwater From LA River

/in , /by /ABC7 (Los Angeles)by Josh Haskell

With four straight days of rain, the Los Angeles River has come alive. Thanks to Measure W, which was passed by voters last November, projects will be funded and infrastructure will be built to capture, treat and recycle all this rain water. “We lose trillions of gallons of water out to the ocean every year, and if we were able to capture it, we could supply about half of our water needs locally,” said Jill Sourial with The Nature Conservancy.

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Energy Storage Evolution; POU Leaders Weigh Costs, Benefits And Performance

/in , /by /California Municipal Utilities Association Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

With a decarbonizing electricity business and the West perennially coping with drought, pumped-storage projects would seem to be the ideal win-win solution. Carbon-free electricity is generated by water from an upper reservoir falling on a turbine. Water is then pumped from the lower reservoir back to the upper reservoir chiefly using renewable power to be used again and again. Federal legislation signed in October may provide a boost to pumped storage projects under development by lengthening the duration of preliminary permits issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The new law, named the Water Resources Development Act, extended the duration of a FERC preliminary permit for pumped-storage projects to four years.

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He’s ‘Famous’ For Measuring California’s Snow. Now, He’s Retiring After 30 Years — Sort Of.

/in , /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Ezra David Romero

A simple web search will pull up nearly a million articles, videos and photos featuring Frank Gehrke. He’s no fashion icon like Kim Kardashian or a dogged politician like Gov. Jerry Brown. But he has broken a lot of news. Sometimes, it’s bad news, like California suffering yet another year of drought. That’s a realization he alluded to in 2014, when he measured the snowpack near Lake Tahoe.

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Opening the Doors To Careers In Water

/in , /by /Water News Network

Cecilia Bernal came looking for a career. Essie Mae Horne was focused on occupational advancement. Michaela Maddox-Gomez wanted to explore her options before she graduates from Mt. Carmel High School. Bernal, Horne and Maddox-Gomez were among the approximately 250 people packing the Center for Water Studies 2nd annual Women in Water – Exploring Career Pathways symposium on Jan. 17 at Cuyamaca College. The event included nearly two dozen speakers, a half-dozen panel discussions, inspirational messages from water and wastewater industry administrators, a day’s worth of networking opportunities and a bevy of information tables.

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Otay Water District Uses Drones To Survey Facilities, Properties

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Hernandez Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

When it’s time to inspect facilities, such as water tanks, or survey the topography of its properties, the Otay Water District now turns to technology it has embraced in the past year: drones. The water agency, which serves more than 225,000 customers in eastern and southern San Diego County, uses two camera-equipped drones to get a bird’s-eye view of its vast and mostly remote sites and facilities, which include 40 potable water reservoirs, more than 20 pump stations and a treatment plant.

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Coastal Flooding Likely With Weekend’s High Tides; Cities Prep With Sandbags

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

Coastal flooding and beach erosion are possible through Monday during the annual ocean phenomenon known as king tides. Waves carrying sand and rocks are likely to wash over The Strand in Oceanside, the parking lots at Tamarack Avenue beach in Carlsbad and Cardiff State Beach in Encinitas, and other low spots along the coast. Parts of Highway 101 have been closed temporarily to clean up debris and repair damage left by the seasonal tides and waves in recent years.

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New Escondido Council Reverses Two-Year-Old Water Plant Location Decision

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

The new Escondido City Council majority flexed its muscle Wednesday by reversing a decision made two years ago to build a recycled water desalination plant in the middle of the city near businesses, a retirement complex, and homes. The Washington Avenue and Ash Street site was strongly opposed by residents and business owners in the area when the council voted in 2017 to build the $15 million plant there. The facility is badly needed to divert used water from being dumped into the ocean and to bring less expensive, higher-quality water to avocado farmers in the eastern and northern parts of the city.

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Lawsuit Alleges Poway Violated Clean Water Regulations

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Steve Dreyer

A Poway landowner has filed a Clean Water Act lawsuit against the city for allegedly failing to adhere to water pollution control permits in the Lake Poway area along the trails leading to Mount Woodson and Potato Chip Rock. Poway City Attorney Allen Fenstermacher on Tuesday said the city denies all claims made in the suit and will file a response next month. He said the plaintiff, Kevin T. Kelly, filed the suit after the city rejected his request to purchase his property.

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