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Gastelum Remains Barred From Committees Because Of Anti-Muslim Tweet

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gustavo Solis

Hector Gastelum won’t apologize. The Otay Water District board member didn’t apologize in April 2017 after sending a controversial tweet that drew outrage from the Muslim community and resulted in the district barring him from serving on sub-committees. And he didn’t apologize Wednesday when asking the district to reconsider its decision. “The thing that I never heard was a statement from Director Gastelum that he understood the damage that those comments and those things did, particularly to the Muslim community, at the time,” said Otay Water board member Mitch Thompson.

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City Water Department Resisted Oversight, Downplayed Smart Meter Problems

/in , /by /The Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

Shortly after Vic Bianes took over San Diego’s water department, he instructed his staff to hide information. Less than a month after he began leading the $1.1 billion Public Utilities Department in mid-October, Bianes emailed staffers who were preparing a presentation for one of the water department’s oversight bodies. Bianes said it’d be best to be “vague” and not give the Independent Rates Oversight Committee any specifics about how the department was handling ongoing customer service issues.

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Balboa Park Sustainability Efforts Set World-Class Standards

/in , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Most visitors know San Diego’s Balboa Park for its world-class museums, gardens, and performing arts venues. Behind the scenes lives a learning laboratory of environmental best practices. Aaron L. Boyles, sustainability manager for the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, describes an active, collaborative effort moving quickly to make Balboa Park the most sustainable urban park in the country. Conserving water is a critical component of this effort.

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OPINION: Built To Serve A Variety Of Purposes, Water System Struggles To Serve Any

/in , /by /The Fresno Beeby Johnny Amaral

Downstream from majestic Mount Shasta is the Shasta Dam and the reservoir now known as Lake Shasta. According to historical records, dam construction started in 1937, and was such a high priority that when some of the men working on the project went to war, they were replaced by men and women who completed the project in 1945. Since its completion, Shasta Dam has been enormously successful in providing electrical power, flood control, and water storage. Shasta Lake serves as a recreation area and destination spot for sportsmen, nature lovers and families. The 21-mile-long reservoir stores and distributes approximately 20% of the state’s developed water.

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Plans Would Reduce Water Diversions In North More Than South

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Steve Schoonover

A final draft plan for the San Joaquin River system has been released by state water regulators. It was met with howls of outrage over reductions in the amount of water that could be sucked out of the river. The plan was labeled a “water grab” and the “the first shot in a new water war.” But Friday the State Water Board also released a “framework” for a similar plan being prepared for the Sacramento River watershed, which would see even larger reductions of diversions in the north valley.

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Drought’s Aftermath Gives Fire Season A Boost

/in , /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Paul Rogers

California’s wildfire season is off to its worst start in 10 years. Through Monday morning, 196,092 acres have burned across the state since Jan. 1 — an area more than nine times the size of Chico and more than double the average by July 9 of the previous five years — according to an analysis of federal and state fire statistics by the Bay Area News Group. From the Oregon border to Napa County, Santa Barbara to San Diego, thousands of firefighters with helicopters, bulldozers and air tankers are battling hot temperatures and windy conditions at a time when, most years, summer fire season has barely begun.

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California Commission Votes To Eliminate Sativa Water District Over Brown Water Issues

/in , /by /ABC7 (Los Angeles)by Carlos Granda

Compton and Willowbrook residents wanted to make sure their message was heard loud and clear during a hearing. “We should have clean water here,” one resident said. Inside where a meeting was being held, residents told their stories. For months they have complained of brown, murky and smelly water coming out of their taps. “It’s very heartbreaking to see that we get dirty water. But it’s more heartbreaking to get no response from Sativa,” resident Martha Barajas said. There are allegations the district has been mismanaged and it operated without enough oversight.

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Agency That Delivered Brown, Smelly Water To Customers Should Be Dissolved, Board Rules

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Angel Jennings and Ruben Vives

Residents of working-class neighborhoods in Compton and Willowbrook have long fought an uphill battle against their local water district, which over the years has been accused of mismanagement, nepotism, bad service and, most recently, sending brown, smelly water through their taps. Still, Sativa Los Angeles County Water District managed to stay in business. But on Wednesday, residents won a decisive victory when county authorities voted unanimously to dissolve the troubled agency. The action by L.A. County’s Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, kicks off a lengthy and rare process to get rid of a water district.

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Some Residents’ Water Bills Jumped 500 Percent Or More In The Last 14 Months

/in , /by /The Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

Over 1,000 city of San Diego water customers have complained about bill spikes and other billing problems so far this year, hundreds more than the city has previously acknowledged and far more than in recent years. But the number of customers who experienced dramatic bill spikes could be even higher than just those who’ve complained to the city. Hundreds if not thousands more customers experienced billing spikes in 2017 and early 2018, according to an analysis of water department billing records by Voice of San Diego and NBC 7 Responds.

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Agency Ups Incentives For Water-Efficient Landscaping

/in , /by /The Daily Transcriptby Mark Armao Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County residents who replace the turf in their yards with sustainable landscaping features can receive $2.75 per square foot of upgrades, thanks to a recently launched incentive program. Administered by the San Diego County Water Authority and the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Landscape Transformation Program boosts the incentive amount of an existing program in the hopes of not only saving water, but also reducing stormwater runoff and green waste.

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