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San Diego Water Bill Audit Finds Thousands Of Errors, Meter Readers Can Bypass Accuracy Checks

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Bradley J. Fikes

A major, months-long audit of the city’s utilities department, sparked by a public outcry over high water bills, concluded that 2,750 water bills sent to San Diego residents last year were incorrect and had to be readjusted while discovering that 10 meter readers accounted for 71 percent of the errors. The city audit released Thursday also found that meter readers figured out how to bypass an accuracy check required when meters are read and the city’s Public Utilities Department doesn’t measure the performance of its 36 meter readers.

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Daily Business Report-July 26, 2018: Water Authority Expands Water-Use Efficiency Opportunities For Low-Income Homes

/in , /by /San Diego Metro Magazine Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority is expanding a long-running partnership with San Diego Gas & Electric to increase the availability of devices that save both water and energy for thousands of income-qualified residents across the region. The Water Authority’s investment of $150,000 will supplement funding for water-saving devices, allowing SDG&E’s Energy Savings Assistance Program to serve more customers. Approximately 21,000 residents annually have participated in the program, receiving assistance for devices such as low-flow showerheads and efficient washing machines.

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Mayor Vows ‘Sweeping Reform’ In Utilities Department Over Water Bill Errors

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer Thursday called for “sweeping reform” within the Public Utilities Department following widespread complaints of inaccurate water billing from late 2017 into this year. Reports by City Auditor Eduardo Luna‘s office and business consulting firm West Monroe Partners found that meter reading employee errors, lack of oversight and insufficient quality control led to billing complaints, in addition to scheduled rate increases, higher water use after drought restrictions were lifted as well as a longer billing cycle between September and December.

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Diamond Valley Lake Near Hemet To Reopen After Month-Long Closure For Blue-Green Algae

/in , /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.)by Ryan Hagen

Boating, fishing and hiking will be allowed again at Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet starting Friday, July 27 — more than a month after it closed because of an algal bloom outbreak. Water quality tests confirmed the potential health effects of a large bloom of blue-green algae had diminished, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California said in a Wednesday, July 25, news release.

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Los Angeles Utility Wants To Solve Energy Storage With The Hoover Dam

/in , /by /Next City (Philadelphia, Pa.)by Rachel Dovey

Clean energy storage is a billion-dollar problem — but Elon Musk aside, a number of technologists are eyeing existing infrastructure and wondering how it could, effectively, serve the function of a giant battery. Take the California utility proposal Next City reported on earlier this year. Because school buses operate on fixed schedules and sit idle during peak demand times, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. wants to study whether electric school buses can effectively store power from renewables, and then send that power back to the grid when necessary.

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Controversial Bill Could Exempt California WaterFix From Judicial Review

/in , /by /The Press (Brentwood)

A federal spending bill containing three controversial riders that may impact California water management for decades passed the House of Representatives July 19 and will next face debate in the U.S. Senate. The Fiscal Year 2019 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill (H.R. 6147), was introduced by Rep. Ken Calvert (CA-42). Calvert, who serves as the Chairman of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, included a rider identified as Section 437 in the bill that would exempt the California WaterFix project from state and federal judicial review.

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Capitol Rally To Protest Water Agency’s Bay-Delta Plan

/in , /by /Western FarmPress

Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, is holding a rally on August 20th at noon on the steps of the State Capitol to protest Phase 1 of the State Water Resources Control Board’s Bay Delta Plan The plan would require an average of 40% unimpaired flows along the Merced, Tuolumne, and Stanislaus Rivers for the protection of fish.

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San Diego County Water Authority Dedicates $150K To Efficiency Program

/in , /by /KPBS Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority Wednesday announced expanded funding for a partnership with San Diego Gas & Electric that increases the availability of devices that save water and energy for thousands of income-qualified residents. The Water Authority is investing an additional $150,000 into SDG&E’s Energy Savings Assistance Program, which funds the purchase of devices like low- flow showerheads and efficiency washing machines. “We are committed to helping the San Diego region make the most of our water supplies inside and outside their homes through a variety of innovative projects and programs,” said Mark Muir, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors.

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Sites Reservoir Earns $816 Million In Proposition 1 Funding

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Record

Nearly four years after voters approved billions of dollars for new water storage in California, the state finally announced how the pie would be divided. Sites Reservoir in Colusa County, west of Maxwell, will get the largest chunk. The proposed reservoir has been on the drawing boards since last century. It’s the largest and most expensive proposal of the eight projects considered by the California Water Commission on Tuesday. It received the largest award, too — $816 million.

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Temperance Flat Dam Gets $171 Million. Project Just Needs Another $2.6 Billion

/in , /by /The Fresno Beeby Lewis Griswold

The proposed Temperance Flat dam east of Fresno on the upper San Joaquin River has been awarded $171 million by the California Water Commission, which doled out $2.5 million Wednesday for water storage projects around the state. The amount for Temperance Flat is far less than the $1 billion that proponents had asked for. The cost of building the dam is estimated at $2.83 billion. But the project is not dead, said Tulare County Supervisor Steve Worthley, president of the San Joaquin Valley Water Infrastructure Authority.

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