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Water Agency Finances Hit by Mandatory Conservation

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by By Bradley J. Fikes Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

This is the time of year when water utilities set their rates, which almost inevitably go up. But this year, the rate hikes are likely to be higher than usual, as water utilities cope with the unexpected impact of mandatory conservation on their budgets.

On April 12, Metropolitan’s board of directors is scheduled to vote on its prices for 2017 and 2018. These prices will be passed down to customers like the San Diego County Water Authority. In turn, the Water Authority sells to retail agencies that sell to the ultimate residential, business and agricultural customers.

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VIDEO: Crews free man after getting arm stuck in water pipe

/in /by /CBS 8 (San Diego)

Crews free man after getting arm stuck in water pipe.

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Crews Free Water District Worker With Hand, Arm Stuck in Line: SDFD

/in /by /NBC 7 (San Diego) by By Samantha Tatro

Crews briefly turned off the water supply for a line serving all of 4S Ranch to help rescue a worker who somehow got his arm and hand stuck inside the valve of a 48-inch water line.

The Metropolitan Water District worker had his arm stuck in the water release pipe for nearly two hours while crews worked to free him, San Diego Fire-Rescue (SDFD) Capt. Amador said.

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OPINION: Desalination Plant Lessens Local Impacts of State Emergency Regulation

/in /by /Seaside Courier (Encinitas)by By Mark Muir

Over the past several months, the San Diego County Water Authority joined with its member agencies and local civic and business groups to advocate for state policies that reflected local water supply investments and conditions. The proposed modifications were designed to achieve important statewide water management goals in a more equitable and sustainable manner, allow communities to receive the benefits of their investments in water supply reliability and minimize unnecessary impacts to ratepayers.

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OPINION: The Case for Higher Water Rates

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby By Meena Westford Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Just about every year, the San Diego County Water Authority uses ratepayer funds to bus local citizens to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s final budget meeting in downtown Los Angeles. They are customers who have ended up with some unfortunate misimpressions about Metropolitan’s financial practices and proposed budget, and they come to urge Metropolitan to collect less revenue than what is proposed. And then the bus goes home.

 

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OPINION: Jeff Denham: Bureaucrats Impede Water Development

/in /by /Manteca Bulletin by By Dennis Wyatt

A simple and relatively inexpensive way to expand California’s available water is to modify spillways on reservoirs. Congressman Jeff Denham noted experts have estimated it would allow access to a million acre feet of water annually. That’s enough to meet the typical water needs of almost 11 million people a year based on per capital consumption figures supplied by the United States Geological Survey.


But it requires more than the proverbial act of Congress. Denham noted the big roadblock is the federal bureaucracy — the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be more precise — that only relicenses hydroelectric operations every 40 to 50 years. 

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OPNION: Hetch Hetchy: Environmental Hypocrisy, San Francisco-Style

/in /by /Manteca Bulletin by By Dennis Wyatt

San Francisco intellectuals are noted for attacking Central Valley farmers, Sierra lumbermen and Los Angeles for environmental crimes.The most enduring symbol of hatred for the San Francisco environmental crowd is dams. They represent everything supposedly evil about modern-day California. They contend the huge concrete structures destroy wild rivers, flood pristine canyons and spur urban growth where it shouldn’t occur.

The San Francisco crowd’s favorite whipping boy is Los Angeles. They detest what Los Angeles has done in the name of water development, specifically with the Owens Valley and Mono Lake.

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OPINION: Con: Agency Needs Transparency Before Raising Rates

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by By Mark Weston

Few people would be shocked to learn that the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District is once again preparing to raise water rates and property taxes for the next two years, given its history of similar increases. What alarms me most is that Metropolitan is doing so using methodology that a state Superior Court judge has ruled illegal to collect money that it does not need using a process that lacks public transparency.

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In Response: Hitting our Mark

/in /by /The San Diego Union Tribune by By Maureen A. Stapleton Quoted: Maureen A. Stapleton

The Union-Tribune’s report on regional and statewide water conservation efforts (“Water conservation skid worsens across state,” April 5) omitted an important fact about the months-long effort of local residents and businesses to increase conservation — a fact that deserves to be recognized. We, as a region, saved enough water to successfully meet the state’s mandate for the initial emergency regulation period of June 2015 through February 2016.

Together, we reduced potable water use by 22 percent over this period compared to 2013 levels, outperforming the state’s aggregate target of 20 percent for the San Diego region.

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Water Woes Divide California into Haves, Have Nots

/in /by /U.S. News (Washington, D.C.)by By Tori Richards

People have long predicted that California could eventually collapse into the ocean following a mega earthquake. Now, an eerily similar true-life scenario is playing out — but it’s thanks to the weather.

The Gold Rush State has sunk more than 45 feet since 1935 – something the U.S. government calls the “largest human alteration of the earth’s surface.” But earthquakes aren’t the cause. It’s happening because of excessive groundwater mining brought on by drought, and geologists say all the rain in the world won’t reverse cave-ins of dirt and rock in underground aquifers.

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