The Fallbrook Village Association will be receiving a Community Service Water Usage customer discount for Vince Ross Village Square water purchased from the Fallbrook Public Utility District.
Craig Elitharp was seated on the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors on December 1, 2020, representing the Vallecitos Water District. Director Elitharp serves on the Legislation and Public Outreach and Water Planning and Environmental committees.
Opponents of a proposed desalination facility along the Huntington Beach coastline are aghast that Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken steps to help end a years-long regulatory logjam. Although an environmentalist, the governor clearly recognizes the importance of developing new water sources to meet California’s needs. Privately funded facilities plants that turn saltwater into drinking water aren’t the only solution to California’s water shortages, but they are one solution. For instance, a similar plant in Carlsbad has the capacity to meet 9 percent of San Diego County’s water needs.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s draft 2020 Urban Water Management Plan was released for public review today. The plan highlights how regional investments in a “water portfolio approach” to supply management and a sustained emphasis on water-use efficiency mean that San Diego County will continue to have sufficient water supplies through the 2045 planning horizon — even during multiple dry years.
The city of Escondido is being sent a rebate of $1,754,023 by the San Diego County Water Authority, of which Escondido is a member agency. The Rincon Del Diablo Municipal Water District, which also serves parts of Escondido, was sent a rebate of $630,781. This week the Water Authority’s Board of Directors voted to distribute a rebate of $44.4 million to its 24 member agencies across the region after receiving a check for that amount from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to pay legal damages and interest.
A coalition of San Diego County elected representatives introduced a bill Monday to address water pollution along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act would designate the Environmental Protection Agency as the lead coordinating federal, state, and local agencies’ efforts to build and maintain infrastructure projects aimed at reducing pollution along the border.
California red-legged frogs disappeared from their natural habitat in Riverside and San Diego counties decades ago. Disease and invasive species were their downfalls, according to John Heil, who works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Now multiple partners — including national and international nonprofits, government agencies, and private landowners — have come together to change the course of the frog’s plight, Heil explained.
A new proposal would require San Diego to spend nearly $5 million a year boosting low-income and ethnically diverse city neighborhoods most affected by climate change. Called a “climate equity fund,” the money would be spent building parks, planting trees, increasing exercise opportunities, making areas more walkable and enhancing public transit.
Michelle McMahon, Olivenhain Municipal Water District IT Coordinator, is the Water Utility Hero of the Week. The water and wastewater industry is among the sectors that are classified as essential during the coronavirus pandemic and the employees are essential workers.
San Diego is ready to start building the long-awaited Pure Water sewage recycling system, now that city officials have resolved litigation that delayed the project 18 months and increased its estimated cost to $5 billion, city officials say.
Pure Water will boost San Diego’s water independence by recycling 83 million gallons of treated sewage into potable drinking water by 2035.
All regulatory permits have been secured and construction bids are being opened and analyzed for the 10 projects that will make up Pure Water phase one, a large treatment facility slated to open in 2025 near Miramar that will be connected to many miles of pipeline in the northern part of the city.
