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Wildfires On The Rise Due To Drought And Climate Change

/in /by /CBS Newsby Steve Inskeep

Fighting wildfires in America cost federal agencies almost $2 billion last year including more than half the budget of the U.S. Forest Service. Wildland fires are growing worse in a time of drought and climate change, and the biggest and most destructive fires can’t be stopped. They are a force of nature: imagine trying to stop a hurricane. Yet the government has to try, because more than a 100 million Americans now live in — or near — forests and grasslands that can erupt in flames. This is what’s left of a neighborhood in the Kern River Valley.

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Coronado Couple Win “WaterSmart Landscape Contest”

/in /by /The Coronado Timesby Coree Cornelius Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

In March of 2017, California American Water announced its new Sustainable Landscapes Program in which it encouraged customers of California American Water who are residents of the San Diego region to “take a watershed approach to landscaping their yards.” Partnering with the San Diego County Water Authority, the City of San Diego, County of San Diego, Surfrider Foundation, and the Association of Compost Producers, the mission of the new program set out to be “the go-to resource to assist San Diego County residents in adopting sustainable landscaping best practices through education and training, technical assistance, landscaping materials and financial incentives.”

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Letter to the Editor: Water Board Members Compensated Fairly

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Mark Hattam

The U-T’s print-edition version of a story (“Attorney: Agency’s meetings must be open,” May 18) omitted critical context that may give readers a false impression about compensation for San Diego County Water Authority Board members. The online version of the story said directors on the agency’s 36-member Board were collectively paid more than $80,000 in per diems for participating in certain agency meetings in 2016. The word “collectively” was not in the print version, leaving some readers to erroneously believe that individual board members collected more than $80,000 annually.

Water Officials To Test Repairs At San Diego School After Elevated Lead Levels Found

/in /by /KPBS

City of San Diego officials are scheduled to test the water at Birney Elementary School in University Heights on Friday to determine if repairs successfully cleared contaminants from the plumbing system. Birney is one of two San Diego Unified School District campuses where elevated levels of lead were discovered in the water. Officials with the city’s Public Utilities Department told the City Council’s Environment Committee that while the city is testing for contaminants, school districts are responsible for making repairs.

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Water Rates Already Among Highest Nationwide To Rise In San Diego County

/in /by /NBC San Diegoby Gene Cubbison Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water rates in San Diego County, which are already among the highest in the country, are about to go up again. A typical household here pays more than twice the national average, according to the County Water Authority. While the average American family pays less than $40 a month, local residents pay about $80. Next year’s rates increase by the County Water Authority will be nearly four percent both for treated and untreated water. This marks the lowest increase in five years.

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Federal Water Agency, In Course Correction, Courts Private Investment

/in /by /Circle Of Blue (Traverse City, Mich.)by Brett Walton

In early May, Bureau of Reclamation officials gathered the world’s top builders and bankers for a meeting at the Sheraton West hotel conference room in Lakewood, Colorado, a Denver suburb that abuts Rocky Mountain foothills. Reclamation faces a conundrum. The assets of the federal agency that operates many of the largest dams and canals in the American West are aging. Maintenance costs are rising. Rural water supply systems and other projects authorized by Congress decades ago are tens of billions of dollars away from completion.

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BLOG: How One Water Agency Thrived During California’s Drought

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tara Lohan

Now that California has come through the worst of its recent five-year drought, it’s time to take stock of what went wrong and right. Moulton Niguel Water District, which serves 170,000 people in Orange County with water, wastewater and recycled water services, insists it didn’t just survive the drought, but thrived. The district saw per capita water use fall and saw an improvement in the water efficiency of its customers. Moulton Niguel changed its outreach strategy to use more electronic communication with customers and is now piloting a program that allows customers to monitor their usage through a mobile app.

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San Diego County Authority Proposing 3.7% Water Rate Increase

/in /by /ABC 10 (San Diego)by Grecia Aguilar Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Your water bill could be getting more expensive. The San Diego County Water Authority is considering a 3.7% rate hike. Maintaining a low-water yard does not take much work for Dutch Burman. “There’s not much land that needs to be irrigated,” he said, describing his front yard, which has mulch, drought-tolerant palm trees and a low-water irrigation system. During the drought, he scaled back on his water consumption. “My bill has gone down so dramatically because of the conserving,” he said. His last bill came out to about $225, thanking low-flow faucets, toilets and a washer.

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San Diego Council Committee Gets Update On School Water Testing

/in /by /KPBS

An update on testing for contaminants in water at area schools is scheduled to be presented on Thursday to the City Council’s Environment Committee. The presence of contaminants has been a hot-button issue since elevated levels of lead, copper and bacteria were found in October in the water systems at three older campuses in the San Ysidro Unified School District. Earlier this year, lead was found in the water at Emerson-Bandini Elementary/San Diego Cooperative Charter, which share a campus in Southcrest, after a dog refused to drink from a bowl of water.

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San Diegans Pay Some of the Highest Water Rates in the State and Country

/in /by /Voice of San Diego Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego has some of the most expensive water in California – and in the country. A typical San Diego household pays about $80 a month for water. The national average is less than $40 a month, according to a recent survey by the American Water Works Association. Water in California is more expensive than elsewhere, but San Diego still has among the highest rates in the state, according to another recent survey. The most expensive water in the state is found in communities along the state’s Central Coast, like Santa Barbara.

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