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EPA Water Pollution Permit Limits Challenged by San Francisco

San Francisco is challenging the EPA over conditions imposed in a permit that allows the city to send discharge from its combined sewer system into the Pacific Ocean, according to a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit. The city’s filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit comes after the Environmental Protection Agency refused to review three conditions in the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit. The EPA approved the permit in December 2019.

 

Local Ag Looks to Spotlight its Climate-Friendly Profile

The Kern County Farm Bureau issued a “call to action” this week asking local growers and ranchers to participate in a series of upcoming meetings that will influence the role California’s agricultural lands will be expected to play, or continue to play, in fighting climate change. Besides asking members to speak up at a series of online meetings the state is hosting this month, the bureau is collecting data it hopes will illustrate local ag producers’ “climate-conscious nature” with an eye toward ensuring private industry will continue managing its property “on a voluntary basis,” bureau President John C. Moore III said by email.

All Set for Carlsbad Dredging Project

Carlsbad beaches will soon have more sand as a result of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon dredging project – starting this February until mid April, informs the City of Carlsbad, California. The lagoon has been dredged every one to four years since 1954 as part of the Encina power plant operations. The last time the lagoon was dredged was three years ago, in 2018. Now that the Encina plant has been retired, Poseidon Water is taking over the dredging, as part of an agreement when the seawater desalination plant was built and came online in 2015.

‘They Thought I Was So Low’: Women Say They Were Harassed, Bullied, Ignored at Powerful Water Agency

Miranda Grow loves the challenge of working with her hands. She’d had experience in carpentry and construction, and fulfilled a career dream when she was accepted as a mechanic apprentice at a large water district, relishing the behind-the-scenes work to deliver clean water to faucets and shower heads across Southern California.

Distribution of Landfalling Atmospheric Rivers Over the U.S. West Coast During Water Year 2021: Quarter Year Summary

San Diego County Water Authority Adds Tish Berge to Leadership Team

Tish Berge is joining the San Diego County Water Authority as assistant general manager, bringing experience from every aspect of water utility management to serve the region, it was announced Thursday.

Berge is general manager of the Sweetwater Authority, one of the water authority’s 24 member agencies. Berge starts her new role Feb. 22 alongside Deputy General Manager Dan Denham and General Manager Sandra L. Kerl.

City Reports Fewer Water Main Breaks for 4th Year in a Row

For the fourth year in a row, the number of water main breaks has decreased in the city of San Diego, officials reported Wednesday. There were 33 water main breaks in 2020, the lowest total in more than 15 years and far fewer than the peak of 131 breaks in 2010.  The city credited the continued downward trend to increased maintenance efforts and a multi-year program to replace old cast-iron pipes.

Opinion: Debate Begins Over $5 Billion Water Proposal for San Diego

Over two decades, I’ve watched opponents resist San Vicente Dam, the Carlsbad Desalination Plant, Olivenhain Reservoir, San Diego Pure Water and other projects because they refused a meaningful, fact-based dialogue. Thankfully, in each of those cases, a rational, long-term approach to securing our future prevailed.

Helix Water District Demonstration Landscape Blossoms

The plants are thriving at Helix Water District’s demonstration landscape just eight months after the project was completed. The WaterSmart plants at the District’s administration office in La Mesa beautify the neighorhood while inspiring people to install sustainable, WaterSmart landscaping.

California’s Rainfall is at Historic Lows. That Spells Trouble for Wildfires and Farms

There’s a race on in California, and each day matters: the precipitation during winter that fuels the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada and fills groundwater supplies has been slow to start, and faltering at best. Northern California remains stuck in one of the worst two-year rainfall deficits seen since the 1849 Gold Rush, increasing the risk of water restrictions and potentially setting up dangerous wildfire conditions next summer.