Del Mar is gearing up for a tussle with the California Coastal Commission over the best way to adapt to rising sea levels, an issue with statewide implications.
The city north of San Diego has taken the position that one of the Coastal Commission’s basic strategies, called “managed retreat” or sometimes “planned retreat,” will not work in Del Mar.
Sept. 27 was the final day of work for San Diego County Farm Bureau executive director Eric Larson, who retired after 22 years in that position and 48 years working in agriculture. A Sept. 24 proclamation of the San Diego Board of Supervisors recognized Larson for his contributions to local agriculture and his copperation with county government.
It was an honor to join over 160 business and political leaders from the San Diego Region for the 2019 Mission to DC. Sponsored by the San Diego Chamber, I was able to attend meetings with the EPA, State Department and several congress members as well as network with area leaders.
San Diego took several steps this week to boost the accuracy of water bills, improve customer satisfaction and speed up the installation of digital “smart” meters.
The changes come after public outcry in 2017 and 2018 over exorbitant water bills received by many customers which city officials blamed on faulty meters, employee errors and mismanagement in the Public Utilities Department.
The potential reorganization in which the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District would detach from the San Diego County Water Authority and become part of the Eastern Municipal Water District will require approval from San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission, but Riverside County’s LAFCO has agreed to let the process be conducted entirely by San Diego County’s LAFCO.
The San Diego County Water Authority presented its 2019 Water Innovation & Efficiency Award to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar for significantly reducing its overall potable water use through a successful water conservation program and new infrastructure for distributing reclaimed water.
MCAS Miramar embarked on a water conservation program about a decade ago, and through a $6 million investment, MCAS Miramar decreased its potable water use by more than 40 percent since 2007. In 2015, the commanding officer formed a water conservation board tasked with reducing the base’s overall potable water use.
As September and the rainfall year wound down, Michael Candra needed a perfect storm — a perfectly light, minor storm.
Early Saturday morning, San Diego’s season total stood at 12.83 inches. At that point, Candra was in fifth place in the Union-Tribune’s 17th annual Precipitation Prediction Contest, which drew more than 500 entrants. Each year, we ask the locals to predict how much rain San Diego will receive from the start of the water year Oct. 1 to the end on Sept. 30.
Candra, 41, had predicted of 12.89 inches. Two people had predicted 12.85, one had 12.86 and another 12.87.
California has more water stored in its reservoirs than it did a year ago after a marathon wet winter that pounded the state with rain and blanketed its mountain ranges with snow.
Statewide reservoir water storage is 128% of average, which amounts to about 29.7 million acre-feet of water for California, the Department of Water Resources announced Tuesday.
One of the largest reservoir increases is at Lake Oroville, which is at 102% of average, compared with 62% of average this time last year. In addition, Shasta Lake is at 126% of average compared with 88% of average in 2018.
Were San Diego on its own, there wouldn’t be enough water to go around. Only about 5 percent of urban San Diego’s water comes from local rainfall, an almost meaningless amount that wouldn’t support our region’s 3 million residents.
The San Diego County Water Authority today presented its 2019 Water Innovation & Efficiency Award to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar for significantly reducing its overall potable water use.
The reduction was achieved through a successful water conservation program and new infrastructure for distributing reclaimed water. The award was announced at the Industrial Environmental Association’s 35th Annual Environmental Conference at the San Diego Convention Center.
The award is part of the Water Authority’s Brought to You by Water outreach and education program, and an effort to recognize water-efficiency investments among the region’s top industries and organizations in conjunction with the IEA.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
