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Opinion: Another Water War Washes Over the MWD

/in , /by /Pasadena Star-Newsby Rick Cole

In the final scene of “Chinatown,” the noir movie version of Los Angeles’s original water grab, anti-hero Jack Nicholson confronts the brutal triumph of the film’s “pillar of the establishment” villain. The cops don’t want to hear his story.  They invoke the racist trope that the law of the jungle rules in the ethnic enclave where the scene occurs: “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.” The real life water wars continue, however, and it remains to be seen who will win the current power struggle at the Metropolitan Water District.

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Rainbow Approves Lease Agreement for Bonsall Reservoir Site

/in , /by /Village Newsby Joe Naiman

The Rainbow Municipal Water District’s inactive Bonsall Reservoir is currently being leased for nursery use. Rainbow staff has been evaluating whether the site would be suitable for a photovoltaic energy generation facility but, until a decision is made, Rainbow has been providing agricultural leases.

On May 25, Rainbow’s board voted 5-0 to approve a new two-year lease with nursery operator Don Dabbs. Dabbs will pay $1,683 per month retroactive to Jan. 1, and the lease will run until Dec. 31, 2022. The agreement also has provisions of a potential 12-month renewal term or continuation of the lease on a month-to-month basis should Rainbow proceed on a solar generation facility or choose to sell the property.

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Rainbow MWD Board Approves Heli-Hydrant At Pala Mesa

/in , /by /Village Newsby Joe Naiman

The Rainbow Municipal Water District will be adding a Heli-Hydrant fire protection system on its Pala Mesa site. A 5-0 Rainbow board vote May 25 added the Heli-Hydrant project to Rainbow’s capital improvement plan, appropriated $149,728 from the district’s capital reserve fund, and authorized Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy to execute the contracts required to procure and install the equipment.

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Vallecitos Water District Taps Tech for Pipeline Inspection

/in , , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Vallecitos Water District is using a specialized camera and sonar to evaluate the condition of a sewer pipeline between San Marcos and Carlsbad.

The Land Outfall West pipeline is a large sewer line that stretches from El Camino Real to the Encina Water Pollution Control Facility in Carlsbad. Originally installed in 1986, an evaluation of the pipeline’s current condition using closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras and sonar will help the District identify and prioritize its ongoing pipeline renewal and maintenance activities.

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Poway Prepares to Overhaul Water System in Wake of 2019 Contamination Crisis

/in , , /by /10 News San Diegoby Jeff Lasky Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Poway is getting close to beginning the long-anticipated overhaul of its water system, following a 2019 crisis when the city’s water supply was contaminated by stormwater.

“It’s the largest capital improvement program the City of Poway has ever undertaken,” Shadi Sami, a city engineer helping oversee the project, told ABC 10News.

Currently, Poway gets its water from one source. Untreated water comes in from the San Diego County Water Authority, gets stored in Lake Poway, then goes to Poway’s water treatment plant and is stored in a clear well, before being distributed to residents and businesses. Following a storm in 2019, a valve that should not have been open allowed contaminated water into that clear well. With no other source of water, residents were under a boil water order for several days.

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Microclimate Matching in Your Landscaping Plan

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Earlier in our Conservation Corner series, we described how to map the different types of microclimates present in your landscaping. Using this information helps homeowners arrange plants in a new sustainable landscape. For the most efficient water use, plants should be grouped together with similar water needs according to their preferred microclimate.

In nature, plants that like lots of water are found along the banks of a stream, or grouped together at the base of a depression. Plants that need fast-draining soils so roots don’t rot might be found on hillsides. Plants that love lots of sunshine won’t grow in the shade of a tree.

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Poway City Council to Review 2021-22 Budget

/in , , /by /Poway News Chieftainby Emily Sorensen Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Poway City Council will review the proposed fiscal year 2021-22 operating budget and capital improvement program at its 7 p.m. meeting on Tuesday.

The council will be asked to hold a public hearing, receive a report from the Budget Review Committee, consider committee recommendations and adopt the budget resolutions.

 

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Water Authority Congratulates New MWD GM Adel Hagekhalil

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

On June 8, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Board of Directors voted to approve Adel Hagekhalil as the next General Manager replacing Jeff Kightlinger, who announced his retirement. Hagekhalil is scheduled to meet with the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors at its June 24 board meeting.

The San Diego County Water Authority issued the following statement by Board Chair Gary Croucher:

“It is with great pleasure that I congratulate Chairwoman Gloria Gray and the MWD Board of Directors on the selection of Adel Hagekhalil to serve as the district’s next General Manager. Adel is exactly the kind of person and visionary leader Southern California needs, especially as we experience another period of sustained drought, to help guide MWD as it faces important near- and long-term planning decisions impacting its water supply resources and water rates and charges.

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After a Bitter Fight, Southern California’s Water Kingpin Has a New Leader

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has hired Adel Hagekhalil as its next general manager, following a bitter power struggle over the future of an agency that delivers hundreds of billions of gallons each year from the Colorado River and Northern California to a region that otherwise wouldn’t have nearly enough water to support 19 million people.

Hagekhalil was previously second in command at the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, where he helped develop strategies for cutting the city’s use of imported water — and therefore its reliance on Metropolitan. He said he’ll bring a shift in focus to the agency, putting more emphasis on recycling sewage water, capturing rainwater and cleaning up groundwater aquifers.

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Abatti Responds to IID’s Supreme Court Filing

/in , , /by /Holtville Tribuneby Elizabeth Varin

Imperial Valley grower, landowner and former elected official Michael Abatti has responded to the Imperial Irrigation District’s official filing in his U.S. Supreme Court petition. The official response was filed sometime Monday, June 7. In March, Abatti filed for a “writ of certiorari” with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District’s decision in Abatti v. Imperial Irrigation District, to which the district was ordered by the High Court to provide a formal response last month.

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