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OPINION: East Coachella Valley Residents Speak Out For A Healthier Environment

/in , , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Lesly Figueroa and Rebecca Zaragoza

The eastern Coachella Valley stands to benefit from a pair of Sacramento decisions. Now the state needs to hear from local residents.

In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-10-10. It directs the California Natural Resources Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Food and Agriculture to recommend actions to help create climate-resilient water systems and healthy waterways as part of California’s Water Resilience Portfolio Initiative. This is a major step toward sustainable and equitable access to this precious resource during this climate crisis.

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City Breaks Ground On Water Desalter

/in , /by /The Camarillo Acorn by Hector Gonzalez

Nearly 25 years after first detecting problems with local groundwater supplies, city officials broke ground Wednesday on the $66.3 million North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter.

Set to be completed in late 2021, the facility will include a treatment plant, three monitoring wells and 2,000 feet of pipeline on 5 acres of currently vacant land near Las Posas and Somis roads.

About 20% of the project’s total cost is being offset by federal and state grants, as well as Metropolitan Water District incentives.

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San Diego’s Climate Crisis: The Risks And Costs Of Living In The Backcountry

/in , /by /KPBSby Claire Trageser

Pete Beauregard squints in the morning sun as he thinks back to October 22, 2007.

“That wind hit us at about 120 mph, wind with fire,” he said. “It came head on and it was like a blow torch, it just cut everything to the ground.”

He’s talking about the Witch Creek Fire, which engulfed San Diego County that fall — scorching nearly 200,000 acres, forcing half a million evacuations and destroying more than 1,000 homes. Among them was the Ramona home shared by Beauregard and his wife Amy McQuillan.

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WateReuse Symposium Showcases City of San Diego’s Pure Water

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Locally-roasted coffee and home brewed beer made with purified recycled water from the City of San Diego’s Pure Water Demonstration Facility was showcased Sept. 10 in San Diego during two special events at the 34th annual WateReuse Symposium.

Pure Water San Diego presented two events featuring beverages made with a key ingredient: purified recycled water.

In the afternoon, symposium attendees were served hot- and cold-brewed coffee made by locally-owned Bird Rock Coffee Roasters. In the evening, a symposium reception featured a “Pure Brew” competition where attendees judged the best of 10 home brewed beers from members of San Diego’s Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity.

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OCWD Greenlights Final Phase Of Groundwater Replenishment System

/in , /by /CWEA (Oakland, Calif.)

The Orange County Water District (OCWD; the District) Board of Directors voted to award the contract to construct the 30 million gallon per day (MGD) Final Expansion of the world-renowned Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) to Shimmick Construction Company, Inc. The overall project cost is $310 million with the construction portion being approximately $200 million.

The project will create an additional 31,000 acre-feet per year (AFY) of new water supplies to serve north and central Orange County bringing the total production of the GWRS to 134,000 AFY, enough water for one million people. Construction is estimated to be completed in 2023.

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New General Manager Dives Into Work At Water District

/in , /by /Del Mar Times by Joe Tash Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Albert Lau has spent his entire professional career of more than two decades in the water industry, focused on issues related to bringing safe, affordable drinking water to the public.

“I got the water bug in college,” said Lau, 51, a resident of Olivenhain, who earned an undergraduate degree in civil engineering, and water resources and treatment, at Cal Poly Pomona. He later earned graduate degrees in engineering and business at the University of Colorado and San Diego State University, respectively.

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San Diego Leaders, Environmental Group Call For Full Permanent Funding Of Land And Water Conservation Fund

/in , /by /ABC10by Mimi Elkalla

An environmental group and several San Diego community leaders rallied Friday in an effort to highlight the need to pass legislation to protect an important federal land conservation program.

The Surfrider Foundation’s San Diego chapter and local leaders gathered to throw their support behind H.R. 3195 , a bill Rep. Mike Levin is supporting that would permanently and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

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School Programs Are Cultivating Interest in Gardening

/in , /by /The San Diego Union Tribune by Heather Holland

Children and gardens have been a common theme throughout literature. From “Jack and the Beanstalk” to “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Secret Garden” to “The Lorax,” our storytellers have found beautiful and fantastical ways of emphasizing the connection between children and things that grow.

In a more real way, strengthening that connection between youngsters and the green world continues today in the blank spaces of school play yards that have been turned into school gardens.

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Agreement Close On Buena Vista Lagoon Restoration

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union- Tribune by Phil Diehl

A proposal to keep deeper, more open water at the western end of the Buena Vista Lagoon is part of modifications that could make a proposed restoration at last palatable to all the property owners involved.

“It would still remove the weir, but would also protect the St. Malo open areas, as well as create some critical areas of deeper water,” said Keith Greer, regional principal planner for the San Diego Association of Governments, in a presentation Tuesday to the Carlsbad City Council.

 

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San Diego Region Leaders To Visit White House Following Latest Beach Closure From Tijuana River Sewage

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union- Tribune by Joshua Emerson Smith

Imperial Beach shorelines remain closed after nearly 100 million gallons of sewage-tainted runoff recently poured over the border from Mexico.

Local officials plan to visit the nation’s capital in coming weeks to urge lawmakers to fund an U.S. EPA blueprint released this summer for capturing sewage-tainted flows in the Tijuana River.

The planned visit, spearheaded by Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina, comes after his city experienced its latest beach closure from water pollution streaming over the Mexico border.

 

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