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Federal Officials Rejigger Rules on Water Deliveries-Some Say at Expense of Fish

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

The ongoing fight between environmentalists and agriculture over California’s scarce water supplies was renewed Tuesday after the federal government issued a comprehensive plan to boost water “flexibility” that opponents claim is a giveaway to farmers tantamount to killing off imperiled fish. The proposal, contained in a review, or biological opinion, of the state and federal water distribution systems, loosens restrictions on water deliveries proposed in July by the National Marine Fisheries Service to protect chinook salmon, steelhead trout and delta smelt.

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Tijuana Water Line Break Causes 9.2 Million Gallons of Wastewater to Flow Into US

/in , /by /ABC 10 News San Diegoby Mark Saunders
A water line break allowed more than 9.2 million gallons of treated and untreated wastewater to flow from Tijuana into the U.S. this week. The transboundary flows were reported Monday night due to a break in the main water line from the La Presa-Aguaje la Tuna urban aqueduct at about 11 p.m. CILA said the break produced flows that ended at the Tijuana River channel, causing a berm at a CILA pump station to collapse and allow wastewater into the U.S. The flow in the Tijuana River exceeded the pump station’s capacity
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Lower Santa Margarita River Recycled Water Pilot Project Among CWA’s IRWM Grant Applications

/in , , /by /Village Newsby Joe Naiman Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority has an Integrated Regional Water Management plan and the state’s Department of Water Resources has a grant program for IRWM projects. The latest SDCWA grant applications include one for the Fallbrook Public Utility District’s pilot program which would recharge recycled water in the Santa Margarita River basin. A unanimous Sept. 26 CWA board vote approved grant applications totaling $14,416,156 including $687,500 for the FPUD indirect potable reuse pilot project.

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San Diego County LAFCO Approves MOU to Handle All FPUD/Rainbow Reorganization Hearings

/in , /by /Village Newsby Joe Naiman Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation approved a memorandum of understanding with Riverside County’s LAFCO which will delegate entirely to San Diego LAFCO the potential reorganization in which the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District would detach from the San Diego County Water Authority and become part of the Eastern Municipal Water District. The 8-0 LAFCO board vote, Oct. 7, also included direction to LAFCO staff to review the economic impacts not only for FPUD and Rainbow but also to the SDCWA and to the 22 other CWA member agencies.

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MWD and Partners Helping to Bring More Native Plants to SoCal to be More Water Efficient

/in , /by /California Water News Daily

A new pilot program has been launched by numerous organizations in Southern California to aid residents in selecting more native plants for their homes and gardens to become even more water-efficient. Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California and local water agencies have teamed up with the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) to boost the number and variety of native plants offered at local nurseries.

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The New Weapon In The War Over Dam Removal: Economics

/in , /by /E&E News by Jeremy P. Jacobs

The decadeslong Pacific Northwest salmon war may be nearing the end.

But it’s economics, not fish, that could be the demise of four dams at the center of the fight.

The dams on the Lower Snake River — besieged by conservationists and biologists for killing fish — are now battered by falling prices for renewable energy, skyrocketing replacement costs for aging turbines and a growing tab for environmental mitigation.

“The jig is up,” said Daniel Malarkey, a senior fellow at the Sightline Institute, a regional think tank focused on energy, economic and environmental policy. “We had this super-cheap power relative to other resources, and we’ve piled a bunch of extra costs on it.”

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An Environmental Group Found Arsenic And Chromium In Tap Water In All 50 US States. Here’s How To Check What’s In Your Taps.

/in , /by /Business Insider by Aria Bendix

In 2017, the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a database of all the known contaminants lurking in US drinking water. After compiling data from 50,000 public water utilities across the country from 2010 to 2015, the group found 267 chemicals that they dubbed concerning to human health.

On Wednesday, the group announced an update to those findings: After analyzing the same data set from 2012 to 2017, the EWG found 278 contaminants in US drinking water.

The health risk of each contaminant is “going to vary region by region, state by state, utility by utility,” Tasha Stoiber, a senior scientist at EWG, told Business Insider.

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Central Coast Project Would Raise Water Bills, Endanger Aquifer, Opponents Say

/in , /by /CalMattersby Kate Cimini

Activists and local government officials across Monterey County have banded together to fight a proposed desalination plant that could double the cost of water for some residents and endanger an aquifer that serves low-income communities.

Opponents say the plant could cause saltwater to seep into the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin, the aquifer that provides freshwater to much of Monterey County.

California American Water (CalAm), an investor-owned public utility, however, says the plant is needed to fulfill the Monterey Peninsula’s water needs, and that the effects on other communities will be minimal, if any.

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Bipartisan San Diego Water Bill Introduced By Representatives Hunter, Davis, and Peters

/in , , /by /East County Magazine (San Diego, Calif.)

San Diego Congressional members Scott Peters, Duncan Hunter and Susan Davis have introduced bipartisan federal legislation to simplify permit requirements to operate the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plan, with a goal of providing purified, recycled drinking water for the San Diego region and reducing ocean pollution.

The bill, H.R. 4611, the Ocean Pollution Reduction Act II, was introduced in the House on October 4, 2019.

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Imperial County Declares Salton Sea Emergency, Demands California Take Action

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

Imperial County has had enough. That was the message from the county board of supervisors on Tuesday as they voted unanimously to declare a local state of emergency at the Salton Sea.

And that may not be all: In addition to the action on the state’s largest lake, supervisors said they will seek another emergency declaration on the badly polluted New River — which flows into the Salton Sea — in two weeks.

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