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Escondido to Get $1.75 M Rebate

/in , , /by /Escondido Times-Advocate Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

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.

Bill Introduced to Address Water Pollution at U.S.-Mexico Border

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby City News Service

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.

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Efforts to Bring Back Red-Legged Frog Underway in San Diego Area

/in , , /by /Patch (Oceanside-Camp Pendleton)by Toni McAllister

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.

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San Diego May Spend $5M Per Year Boosting Low-Income Areas Affected by Climate Change

/in , /by /The San Diego Union Tribuneby David Garrick

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.

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Water Utility Hero of the Week: Michelle McMahon, Olivenhain MWD

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

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.

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San Diego’s Pure Water Sewage Recycling System Ready for Construction With All Hurdles Cleared

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

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.

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Opinion: How ‘Cutting Green Tape’ Can Make California More Resilient

/in , /by /CalMattersby Ashley Boren

California is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots – home to more unique species of plants and animals than any other state in the U.S. This biodiversity makes up the beautiful land and seascapes of the world’s fifth-largest economy and sustains our health, cultures and quality of life.

Yet it is disappearing at alarming rates. Today’s environmental, economic and social challenges – climate change, wildfires, habitat loss and the millions of Californians facing pandemic-related unemployment – threaten our Golden State’s resilience like never before.

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County’s Updated Conservation Plan Aims to Save More San Diego Farmland

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Deborah Sullivan Brennan

More San Diego farmland will be eligible for an agricultural conservation program under new rules the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved Wednesday.

San Diego has lost much of its farmland over the past decade. Since 2009, about 60,000 acres — 20 percent of San Diego County’s agricultural land — has been converted to other uses.

The county has tried to stem that decline through the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement, which is called the PACE program.

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LAFCO Approves Municipal Service Review, Sphere Updates for RCDs

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

San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission approved municipal service reviews for the county’s three resource conservation districts while also updating the sphere of influence for each RCD.

Separate 8-0 LAFCO board votes Monday, Feb. 1, approved the municipal service reviews for the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego, the Mission Resource Conservation District and the Upper San Luis Rey Resource Conservation District while approving a sphere of influence update for each RCD which does not alter the sphere boundaries. LAFCO also had a presentation and discussion on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act that morning, although no board action was taken.

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Editorial: Sexual Misconduct at the Metropolitan Water District Hints at Deeper Problems

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby The Times Editorial Board Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

What does sexual harassment have to do with our water supply? Far more than you might think.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California imports, stores and sells the drinking water used by nearly half of the people in this state. As a consequence, the MWD is at the center of the state’s battle with ongoing drought, the agricultural sector’s demands for irrigation water and the degrading natural environment’s inability to sustain iconic species such as migrating salmon.

On top of those challenges, the organization is in the midst of a rare leadership change, as a search to replace departing General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger moves closer to a conclusion and as the MWD approaches its second century.

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