The Imperial Irrigation District has been found not guilty of a contempt of court complaint brought against it by farmer Michael Abatti as part of his contentious fight over water rights in the Imperial Valley.
Mission Hills High School student Jordan Chan of San Marcos won third-place in the statewide 2020 California Special Districts Association video scholarship competition. The “Districts Make The Difference” contest is designed to promote public awareness and understanding of the special districts providing communities with essential services like water, sanitation, healthcare, fire protection, and parks.
Chan received his $500 scholarship prize at the February Vallecitos Water District board meeting. He received recognition from state legislators and CSDA representatives. Chan was honored with a proclamation from San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones, and certificates of recognition from the offices of State Senator Brian Jones and State Assemblywoman Marie Waldron.
The Otay Water District Board of Directors last week unanimously appointed Assistant Chief of Water Operations Jose Martinez as the organization’s next general manager.
Martinez, 40, will succeed Mark Watton, who represented the water interests of Otay, the county and the state for more than 30 years.
The board said it will negotiate contract terms and vote on Martinez’s salary at its March 11 board meeting. His appointment is effective March 1.
A relatively dry winter and new state-set levels for the presence of a carcinogen in water threatening the closure of groundwater wells have local water officials considering water from new sources and looking to use water they’ve already banked.
Santa Clarita Valley water users get their supply from two main sources via the SCV Water Agency — water imported from Northern California through the State Water Project and water from the ground under the SCV.
Over the holidays, I received a letter from the San Diego County Water Authority designed to make customers of Fallbrook Public Utility District and Rainbow Municipal Water District worry. The tone of the letter alluded that if the two districts de-annex from the Water Authority, the reliability of our water supply would be at risk and our water prices could go up.
Since I have been to several community meetings where this change was discussed, I knew this insinuation was not true. FPUD and Rainbow have researched this option specifically to keep water rates down for our districts.
Under pressure to refurbish the Whittier Narrows Dam, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released plans to spend $393.2 million on the facility as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program, U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano announced Monday afternoon.
A year ago, Napolitano, D-El Monte sent a letter urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make safety repairs at Whittier Narrows Dam its highest budgetary priority in light of an assessment that said the barrier could fail in the event of a very large, very rare storm.
The California Native Plant Society-San Diego Chapter presents its eighth annual Garden Tour, The Artful California Native Garden: Native Gardens and Art Tour of East County. Spend the day exploring and learning from these gardens that illustrate plants that create habitat, dry stream-bed bioswales, adjacent natural areas, water catchment devices, slope gardens, charming water features, bridges, sculptures and more. Enjoy meeting artists in many of the gardens who will be creating and selling their California native garden themed artwork and crafts Be inspired this Spring!
Every time you turn on the tap to draw water to drink, cook or bathe, you expect that the water will be safe and healthy to use, and that’s what you should expect. That’s not true in every part of the World, or even in some parts of California, but it is true here in the Valley Center Municipal Water District service area.
We are confident in saying that our highest priority here at VCMWD is managing, monitoring and testing the water supply to ensure it meets all stringent federal and state drinking water standards.
Harris & Associates has been awarded the Rainbow Municipal Water District contract for the design portion of the district’s next pipeline upgrade project.
A 4-0 Rainbow board vote Jan. 28, with Helene Brazier absent, authorized Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy to execute a contract with Harris & Associates and appropriated the $399,540 Harris & Associates will be paid.
“This is the second phase of our ongoing effort to take care of our highest-priority pipelines,” Kennedy said.
Hundreds of pounds of rainbow trout were biting for participants on Saturday during the sixth annual Kids Fishing Day at Lake Jennings in Lakeside.
The event started in 2015 has been an annual highlight ever since its inception. Kids ages 9 and under fished for free all day Saturday at the Kids Pond, which is a 20-by 20-foot cube within the lake.
Recreation Manager Kira Haley says Lake Jennings was stocked with 2,000 pounds rainbow trout from Wright’s Rainbows in Thatcher, Idaho the week of February 3. Eight hundred pounds went directly into the Kids Pond, which is then attached to the floating accessible fishing dock.
