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Sewage Flows From Tijuana Completely Shutter Imperial Beach Shoreline

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

A beach closure that has been in place for months for the southern part of the Imperial Beach was extended Sunday to include the city’s entire shoreline. The San Diego County Department of Environment Health issued the order to close the coastline to swimmers as a result of sewage-contaminated runoff in the Tijuana River. Signs warning residents of the contamination will be in place until testing indicates the water is safe for recreational use.

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California Reservoirs Near Capacity In May

/in , /by /Water News Network

It has been a winter – and spring – for the record books, for California reservoirs and ski resorts. And, it’s not over yet. Snow has continued to fall throughout May, with several inches or more in the Sierra Nevada and the southern California mountains. In the lowlands, the City of San Diego has experienced one of its wettest months of May on record. The San Diego National Weather Service reported that Alpine and El Cajon set daily precipitation records on May 23. The normal rainfall at Lindbergh Field during the water year (October 1 – September 30) averages about 10.3 inches. In the current water year, 12.7 inches of rain has been recorded at Lindbergh Field as of May 23.

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A Green Light For Carlsbad Desal Plant Expansion

/in , /by /The Daily Transcriptby Kerry Jackson

With more than 800 miles of coastline and a great big ocean out there, California shouldn’t be always be scrambling for water as if it were in the middle of the Sahara Desert. But politics tend to make goods scarce rather than plentiful. But sometimes there’s good news. Such as a recent report that the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board has issued a permit allowing a permanent seawater intake to be built at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Desalination Plant in Carlsbad. Once fully operable in 2023, the new intake system will supplement the 50 million gallons of “drought-proof” potable water the plant currently pumps out daily, most of it drawn from the Agua Hedionda Lagoon located next to the facility.

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Water Authority Proposes 4.3% Rate Increase To Local Agencies In 2020

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

San Diego County Water Authority staff have proposed a 4.3 percent increase in the cost of treated water in 2020, citing cost increases and continued investment in local supplies. Authority staff said the increase is driven by higher costs for water supplied and transported by the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District, as well as increasing maintenance costs for reservoirs at Lake Hodges and San Vicente, and spending for upgrades to the desalination plant in Carlsbad.

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The Santa Clara River May Be One Of The Last Of Its Kind In Southern California

/in , /by /Ventura County Starby Cheri Carlson

Tom Dudley stood at an old Fillmore watercress farm off a rural stretch of highway and described the dream. A forest of willow and cottonwood trees, shallow wetlands for wading birds and some deeper spots for ducks – all just a football field or so from what many call the last wild river in Southern California. The Santa Clara stretches 84 miles and through two counties from the San Gabriel Mountains to the ocean just south of Ventura Harbor. Over the past 20 years, millions of dollars have been invested to protect and restore the river, work that some say has reached a tipping point.

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New Facility Captures Water From Seven Oaks Dam For 1 Million Inland Users

/in , /by /San Bernardino Sunby Jennifer Iyer

A facility designed to increase water supply reliability for the Inland area was dedicated in a light rain at the foot of the hulking Seven Oaks Dam near Highland on Thursday, May 23. Officials used a new concrete diversion box to move water rushing from the dam to a new sedimentation basin and beyond. The water is intended to spread out and seep into a groundwater basin, which officials have said is historically low due to a 20-year drought. Residents from Yucaipa to Colton and users in Riverside County will benefit from the project.

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EVMWD Helps To Preserve Local Bees

/in , /by /Valley News (Fallbrook, Calif.)

Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District is implementing a Bee Keeper First program to help protect local bee populations while ensuring safety within the community through relocating bees found in water meter boxes or at district facilities. Whenever possible, staff will contact a beekeeper to have the hive removed and relocated, through the Beekeeper First Program. The cost effective and environmentally friendly approach was realized through a regional partnership with Eastern Municipal Water District, Rancho California Water District and local beekeepers. Through this partnership, local bee populations within a combined 800 square miles will be safely relocated.

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US EPA Approves Price Canyon Aquifer Exemption

/in , /by /KCBX (San Luis Obispo)by Greta Mart

The US Environmental Protection Agency has approved an aquifer exemption for the Arroyo Grande oil field near San Luis Obispo. This enables Sentinel Peak Resources, the current owner of the oil field also known as Price Canyon, to move forward with a planned expansion of wells for both enhanced oil recovery and dispoal of wastewater, or “produced water.” In a decision dated April 30, the director of EPA’s water division said the underground formation beneath the oil field does not, and will not in the future, serve as a source of drinking water due to the presence of “commercially producible quantities of hydrocarbons.”

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OPINION: Never-Ending Tijuana Sewage Nightmare A Failure Of Leadership

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diego County residents have in recent days had yet another reminder of the utter failure of the local, state and federal governments in the United States and Mexico to solve an awful ongoing problem. That reminder came in the form of nearly 57 million gallons of water tainted by sewage, carcinogenic chemicals and pesticides pouring into the United States last week via the Tijuana River because of broken, inadequate sewer infrastructure on the Mexican side of the border. This has become a terrible fact of life. Sewage spills from Tijuana have fouled San Diego’s coastal waters for years, and the southern shoreline of Imperial Beach has been closed since November.

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Census Bureau: San Diego Posted 8th Largest Population Increase Among Big Cities

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

San Diego posted the eighth largest population increase between July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2018 among cities with populations of 50,000 or more, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. During the 12-month period, the population of “America’s Finest City” grew by 11,549 people, a near 1 percent increase from the previous year. Phoenix saw the largest population increase in the country during the period, adding 25,288 people, according to the Census Bureau report. San Diego was the only city in California to make the top 10 for largest population gains in the latest report, while Texas had four cities make the top 10.

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