Water bills in the city of San Diego may need to go up by about $9 a month on average to help the city deal with flood control and improve the quality of rivers and streams. A new city audit looks into how poorly funded the city’s stormwater program is. Stormwater is a fancy name for water on the ground after it rains.
The city of San Diego audit that is meant to answer why some customers were overcharged hundreds of dollars on their water bills has been delayed. City Auditor Eduardo Luna announced in his May report that the audit, which was originally supposed to be published at the beginning of June, will instead come in July. The audit has already taken more than the 2,000 budgeted hours of work, according to the report.
The report highlights the economic impact of safe and reliable water supplies for San Diego businesses. NBC 7’s Melissa Adan has the details. (Published Thursday, Jun 21, 2018)
On the first day of summer, the San Diego County Water Authority unveiled a new outreach program that highlights the value of safe and reliable water supplies for the region. The Water Authority, its 24 member agencies, and partners from leading industries gathered Thursday aboard the USS Midway to launch the year-long Brought to You by Water program. The launch event featured the release of a study by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., about the significance of water supply reliability to the region’s economy.
Dozens of partners from the San Diego region’s second largest industry, tourism, joined the San Diego County Water Authority for a special event aboard the USS Midway on the first day of summer, June 21, kicking off a new education and outreach campaign called ‘Brought To You By Water.’ The Water Authority program underscores the importance of water reliability to the region’s core industries, focusing on examples including tourism, manufacturing, agriculture, and craft brewing.
We’ve got a great thing going here in San Diego County, from the mountains to the coast and from the far northern reaches of our region to the international border. Our economy is strong — one of the largest in the nation — with everything from global giants to startups trying to make a splash. We’ve got the most small farms of any county in the country and innovative industries that put us on the map.
Water use across the country reached its lowest recorded level in 45 years. According to a new USGS report, 322 billion gallons of water per day (Bgal/d) were withdrawn for use in the United States during 2015. This represents a 9 percent reduction of water use from 2010 when about 354 Bgal/d were withdrawn and the lowest level since before 1970 (370 Bgal/d).
The wet winter of 2017 brought an opportunity to test groundwater recharge – the intentional spreading of water on fields to percolate into the aquifer – as a tool for restoring groundwater levels and helping basins comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). This is especially important in the San Joaquin Valley, which has the biggest imbalance between groundwater pumping and replenishment in the state.
A family of industrial chemicals turning up in public water supplies around the country is even more toxic than previously thought, threatening human health at concentrations seven to 10 times lower than once realized, according to a government report released Wednesday. The chemicals are called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl. They were used in such goods as fire-suppressing foam, nonstick pans, fast-food wrappers, and stain-resistant fabric and carpet, but are no longer used in U.S. manufacturing. Water sampling has found contamination in water around military bases, factories and other sites.
At the height of the recent drought, the legislature passed and Gov. Brown signed legislation, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), that for the first time required California water agencies to account for groundwater pumping and held them accountable for the development of sustainable plans for the future. Groundwater accounts for approximately 30% of the state’s water supply.
