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IID Considers Giving Outside Contracts Exclusively to Unions

/in , /by /The Desert Review

The Imperial Irrigation District held a special closed session meeting Friday, November 20, as a discussion to institute Project Labor Agreements for all hired general construction capital projects and outside line work. Trade Councils and IBEW Local 47 are the unions negotiating with the IID. The subject of PLAs has been a contentious one since the October 2019 was voted on and pro-labor directors Norma Galindo and Eric Ortega were chosen as the negotiators with the union and the district.

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Environment Report: Pipeline Plan Takes a Small Step Forward (With Some Drama)

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Things got a little wild at the San Diego County Water Authority meeting last week when its 36 directors argued over whether they should spend more money studying a controversial $5 billion pipeline to the Colorado River.

Outrage after leaders apparently skipped over female directors waiting to add comments during a discussion period sparked some to change their vote on the matter.

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Lawn Rebates for Fall Planting Season

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

Fall planting season is underway and a great time to take advantage of rebates for replacing your lawn.

“Fall is like a second spring for planting in our region and it’s also a great opportunity for residents to take advantage of some outdoor incentives as they replace grass with climate appropriate plants,” said Joni German, water resources specialist at the San Diego County Water Authority.

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Popular Lake Miramar Gets Key New Role Just as it Turns 60

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

Lake Miramar, a longtime recreational oasis celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, is about to become a key part of San Diego’s new $5 billion Pure Water system that will boost the city’s water independence by recycling treated sewage.

The last of San Diego’s nine city reservoirs to be built, Lake Miramar attracts an estimated 100,000 people a year for jogging, biking, fishing, boating, picnicking and other activities.

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Board Approves Next Phase of Regional Water Conveyance System Study

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

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors authorized staff to launch the next phase of a study assessing options for long-term water deliveries to sustain the region’s economy and quality of life.

The decision follows months of community dialogue about Phase A of the Regional Conveyance System Study, which was released in August. The study demonstrated the technical viability and economic competitiveness of two routes for an aqueduct to transport the Water Authority’s independent, high-priority Colorado River water to San Diego County.

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Rep. Ruiz Introduces Salton Sea Bill in Congress to Provide Funding, Increase Air Quality Requirements

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

Southern California Democrats Rep. Raul Ruiz and Rep. Juan Vargas introduced a new bill on Thursday that would force the federal government to take a more active role in funding and managing Salton Sea habitat restoration and dust suppression.

HR 8775, the Salton Sea Public Health and Environmental Protection Act, would create an interagency working group called the Salton Sea Management Council to coordinate projects around the lake’s receding shoreline.

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Oceanside Receives $175K Grant to Boost Restoration of Loma Alta Slough

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

The National Fish & Wildlife Foundation awarded Oceanside’s water utilities department a $175,000 grant to assist with the city’s Loma Alta Slough wetlands project, officials said Thursday. The project is intended to restore and enhance approximately six acres of coastal wetland and upland habitat near Buccaneer Beach in south Oceanside.

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Water District Adopts Defensible Space Ordinance, Accepts Auditing Report

/in , /by /Ramona Sentinel (The San Diego Union-Tribune)by Julie Gallant

The Ramona Municipal Water District Board of Directors at its Nov. 10 meeting unanimously agreed to adopt the county’s defensible space for fire protection ordinance and accepted an auditing report that gives the district a favorable “unmodified” rating.

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California Wants Its Imperial Valley to Be ‘Lithium Valley’

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Businessweekby David R. Baker

Dust storms laced with toxins sweep across California’s Imperial County, where mud volcanoes spit and hiss near the shores of the slowly shrinking lake known as the Salton Sea. The county is one of California’s poorest, most of its jobs tied to a thin strip of irrigated land surrounded by desert. San Diego and the Golden State’s prosperous coast lie only 100 miles away across a jumble of mountains, but it might as well be another world.

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Two Companies See a Golden Opportunity in the Tijuana River’s Brown Waters

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer

We’re letting millions of gallons of sewage-contaminated Tijuana River water go to waste by tossing it to the Pacific Ocean.

That’s the opinion of two competing forces – one from the United States and another from Mexico – that are rethinking the region’s oldest and dirtiest problem, imagining it instead as a moneymaking opportunity.

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