The fate of a project that could cost Southern California water consumers billions of dollars hangs on a vote Tuesday at the Metropolitan Water District. It’s the California Water Fix. A $17-billion plan championed by Gov. Jerry Brown to build giant water tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. It would change how Northern California water is conveyed to the southern part of the state.
San Diego officials were informed repeatedly of the dangers of disease-carrying runoff from homeless encampments into area waterways, as far as a decade before the current hepatitis A crisis spurred action. Typical of the volumes of reports is a 2015 city plan for Mission Bay, which cited hepatitis research in setting priorities for officials regarding environmental quality. “The issues raised by transient encampments are socio-economic by nature,” the city Transportation and Storm Water report said. “Addressing the sources of homelessness requires coordination with law enforcement, social services, and the legal community. Therefore, it has been designated as an uncontrollable source.”
A state commission is throwing a new hurdle in front of Cadiz Inc.’s plans to turn a remote desert valley into a lucrative water source for Southern California. In a Sept. 20 letter to Cadiz, the State Lands Commission informed the company that its proposed water pipeline crosses a strip of state-owned land and therefore requires a state lease. The letter is the latest twist in the long, convoluted history of the politically connected company’s attempts to pump groundwater from its desert holdings 200 miles east of Los Angeles and sell it to Southern California cities.
Twentieth century Southern California quenched its thirst with a series of ingenious projects, from the aqueducts that bring snowmelt from the Eastern Sierra to Los Angeles, and the dams along the Colorado River that impound water from the Rockies, to the State Water Project that directs the flow of the distant Feather River through the Sacramento River, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, down the California Aqueduct and over the Tehachapis.
The chances of a weak La Niña are increasing for the rainy season, and scientists are trying to figure out what that means, especially after a year when the meteorology profession was thrown for a loop by unexpected monsoon-like conditions. La Niña, the inverse of better-known El Niño, is a cooling of equatorial waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean and can impact atmospheric conditions worldwide.
The nearly 24,000 Western Municipal Water District customers can expect to see their water bills rise on average about $15 to $20 a month after this week’s approval of phased rate increases. Residential customers in the Riverside area should see bills climb an average of $14.63 per month by early 2020, with a first incremental bump of $4.64 in January, a district report states. Customers in Murrieta are in for a hike of $19.24 over that period, starting with a $5.98 increase in January.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s bold $17 billion plan to build two gigantic 35-mile, 40-foot-wide tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to make it easier to move water from Northern California to Southern California and to stabilize the state’s water distribution system always seemed like a tough sell. Critics were far more energized than supporters. Then last month, a huge new obstacle emerged. That’s when the Central Valley’s Westlands Water District — the nation’s biggest irrigation district — came out against the project. It had been expected to pay nearly a quarter of the $17 billion cost.
Precarious environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, coupled with the aging delivery infrastructure of the State Water Project, along with restrictive pumping regulations, threaten our ability to replenish the San Gabriel Valley’s vital groundwater basin. A declining Delta ecosystem and non-secure levees vulnerable to earthquakes, saltwater intrusion and climate change pose serious challenges for us all.
Padre Dam Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a contract for the next phase of work on the East County Advanced Water Purification Program. The project, which is expected to produce up to 30% of East County’s water by 2023, is a collaboration between Padre Dam, Helix Water District, the City of El Cajon and the County of San Diego.
