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CWA Ratifies Contracts, Accepts Notice of Completion for Pipeline 5 Repairs

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

Eventually the San Diego County Water Authority will develop and implement a long-term fix for the vulnerability of the three SDCWA pipelines in Moosa Canyon, but the short-term fix for Pipeline 5 is now complete.

A unanimous CWA board vote, Thursday, May 28, ratified four contracts approved administratively by CWA General Manager Sandra Kerl and authorized Kerl to accept the work as complete.

“Earlier this month, in May, we shut down Pipeline 5 to remove the bulkheads and we resumed normal operations on May 8,” Neena Kuzmich, engineering manager of CWA, said.

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LAFCO Approves Detachment Review Committee

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

San Diego’s County’s Local Agency Formation Commission approved a committee to review issues regarding the proposed detachment of the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District from the San Diego County Water Authority.

An 8-0 LAFCO board vote June 1 approved the composition of the committee, although LAFCO executive officer Keene Simonds will appoint the specific members and the list of tasks for the committee.

“We have agreement with the County Water Authority, Rainbow and Fallbrook,” said county supervisor Dianne Jacob, who is the chair of the LAFCO board.

“We have consensus on the tasks. I think we have a working agreement on the composition,” Simonds said.

CWA Sets June 25 Rate Hearing

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

The San Diego County Water Authority hearing to approve calendar year 2021 rates and charges will be June 25.

The May 28 motion to set the rate hearing date along with the proposed rates and charges passed with 78.139% of the SDCWA weighted vote. Twenty-one CWA board members supported the motion. Fallbrook Public Utility District general manager Jack Bebee, who is also FPUD’s representative on the CWA board, cast one of the eight votes against the action. Tom Kennedy, who is the Rainbow Municipal Water District general manager and Rainbow’s CWA representative, abstained as did Lois Fong-Sakai, who is one of the city of San Diego’s representatives on the CWA board.

A non-voting presentation earlier in the day addressed proposed changes to the CWA’s two-year budget which covers fiscal year 2019-2020 and fiscal year 2020-2021; the June 25 CWA board meeting will also include consideration of the budget adjustments. If the rates and charges are approved June 25, the action will also allocate the pro-rata shares of total fixed charges to each CWA member agency.

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Vallecitos Water District Employs Technology to Decrease TSS, pH and Algal Blooms

/in , , /by /WaterWorld Magazine

Vallecitos Water District provides 5.25 million gallons of recycled water for irrigation every day. To fulfill the demands of modern irrigation systems, it is important to maintain low TSS levels. This is a challenge during the warm months in California, as algae that occur with raising temperatures, increase the level of TSS and clog the filters that are meant to remove TSS before the distribution of water to the irrigation systems.

Vallecitos Water District is known for its’ sustainable and innovative focus when it comes to water and wastewater treatment.

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FPUD Board Tours Conjunctive Use Project Sites

/in , , /by /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman

The five Fallbrook Public Utility District board members were given a tour of FPUD’s Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project sites May 29.

Because a majority of the FPUD board members were present, it was legally required to be a noticed public hearing and the tour was officially a special meeting of the FPUD board. Although members of the public were welcome to attend they would have been required to remain in their own cars or trucks due to the coronavirus quarantine, but they would have been able to hear the audio communications.

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Rainbow Approves Application to LAFCO to Annex Meadowood

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

The April meeting of the Rainbow Municipal Water District board included an out-of-agency service agreement for Rainbow to serve Pardee Homes’ Meadowood development, which is currently within the boundaries of the Valley Center Municipal Water District. The May 26 Rainbow board meeting included a 4-0 vote, with Helene Brazier not able to participate in the meeting, to submit an application to annex the Meadowood area.

The motion directed Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy to prepare and submit an application to San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission to annex the Meadowood land. The April 28 action included direction to district staff to prepare an application to LAFCO, and a preliminary application was presented to the board for the May 26 meeting.

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Reservoirs Begin Reopening to Recreational Use Countywide

/in , , /by /Water News Network

City of San Diego lakes and reservoirs previously closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic are now in the process of reopening for public recreation.

El Capitan Reservoir and Upper Otay Reservoir reopened on June 6. San Vicente Reservoir will open to the public June 13.

Three reservoirs will re-open in July: Lake Hodges on July 1, Sutherland on July 3, and Barrett on July 8.

Miramar, Murray, and Lower Otay Reservoirs have opened in mid-May.

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CVWD Approves $376 Million Budget, No Rate Increases

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

The Coachella Valley Water District’s board of directors on Tuesday voted to approve a  $376 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The budget notably will not include rate increases even though CVWD — which has a service area of roughly 1,000 square miles and includes about 108,000 homes and businesses — had planned to implement one this year. The new math comes after the water district ripped up its previously proposed budget in May due to the economic slowdown caused by the response to the coronavirus.

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City of San Diego in Dispute with SDG&E over Undergrounded Power Lines

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Rob Nikolewski

The city government of San Diego is fighting with San Diego Gas & Electric over an ongoing project that replaces overhead power lines with underground lines in various parts of the city.

At issue is at least $22.1 million in invoices racked up from the end of 2018 through February of this year. City Attorney Mara Elliott says the price tag is too high and SDG&E has not properly documented the costs. The utility counters that it has substantiated its charges to city officials and the bill fairly represents work rendered.

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Pure Water San Diego Projects Underway After Receiving Milestone Permit

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Pre-construction activities at the North City Water Reclamation Plant and the future Pure Water Facility are underway as part of Phase 1 of the Pure Water San Diego program. More than 80,000 cubic yards of soil have been moved to date during initial site work, the equivalent of approximately 25 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Last month, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted an order granting a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES permit, to the City of San Diego to add purified water to the Miramar Reservoir for Phase 1 of the Pure Water San Diego program. The approval is a major milestone for the program.

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