The San Diego City Council met on Tuesday and passed a 3% increase in water rates to residents of the city.
The water rate increase comes after the San Diego County Water Authority, San Diego’s supplier of water, increased its rates by about 5% for treated water and nearly 4% for untreated water.
Riverside County water suppliers told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that conservation efforts are aiding the region in weathering the current severe drought, but their future ability to meet demand will depend on new infrastructure and changes in consumption habits.
“As the watersheds dry up in the Southwest, we need to be concerned about some things,” Beaumont-Cherry Valley Water District Manager Dan Jaggers told the board during a presentation on the drought emergency. “As the drought continues, we will begin to have further restrictions. People need to know how serious this is.”
Southern California water officials on Monday lifted a temporary ban on outdoor watering in portions of Los Angeles County after completing emergency repairs on a critical pipeline two days early.
The 36-mile Upper Feeder pipeline, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, is a major conduit for supplying water to the region from the Colorado River. Officials shut it down Sept. 6 so they could address a leak, and called on nearly 4 million residents to halt all outdoor irrigation — including sprinkling and hand watering — for 15 days while they did the work.
While repairing parts of Hodges Reservoir Dam, city workers found additional defects that need to be addressed, likely delaying the completion of repairs by several months, the city announced Monday.
During a prior inspection, city workers identified areas in the dam wall that required repair and needed to be sealed. To access areas on the dam for repair, the water level of the reservoir was lowered 18 feet to an elevation of 275 feet by transferring water to other reservoirs and treatment plants, officials said.
In the coming year San Diegans may be made to pay up to 3% more for running water. Tuesday, Sept. 20 San Diego City Council voted on whether or not to move forward with rate increases.
A rate hike could be the second time in the last two years the price for water could go up.
If you’re looking to upgrade your landscape or just love gardens, it can be challenging to choose the right plant that will thrive within your WaterSmart Living landscape plans for your specific conditions.
The online plant finder WaterSmart Landscaping in San Diego County can assist you through a comprehensive database of choices well suited to this region’s Mediterranean climate.
In California, low-income residents can get ongoing state help to pay for electricity, health care coverage and telephone service, among other things.
But for the most part, people struggling to make ends meet can’t get similar assistance for water and sewer bills.
That’s changing for the immediate future, and maybe in the long run as well.
People in need can apply for one-time grants of up to $2,000 for water and sewer debts through the federally funded Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program, which began rolling out earlier this summer.
Locally, eligibility requirements and applications can be found on a webpage of the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty of San Diego County (maacproject.org/lihwap). MAAC, the San Diego County Water Authority and Campesinos Unidos recently announced they are teaming up to spread the word and assist with the program.
In a part of the Coachella Valley where exclusive neighborhoods wrap around lush golf courses and ponds, a stretch of open desert could be transformed into a new sort of artificial oasis.
A developer has plans for hundreds of homes and a resort featuring a surfing lagoon. If La Quinta’s City Council endorses the proposal, the sandy ground at the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains would become the site of a 12-acre pool where surfers could take off on sculpted lines of peeling waves.
The Helix Water District has received an $18 million loan from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support the Drinking Water Reliability Project. Helix will use the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or WIFIA loan, to increase the region’s drinking water resiliency by expanding water reuse opportunities and reducing the reliance on imported water.
Mayor Todd Gloria has signed for the first installment of a $733 million federal loan to fund repairs to San Diego’s aging storm drainage system and protect coastal wetlands.
Gloria was joined by official from the Environmental Protection Agency at a signing ceremony Tuesday at Torrey Pines State Reserve overlooking the Los Peñasquitos Watershed, which will be protected by the stormwater project.
