You are now in Media Coverage San Diego County category.

Escondido Hires Firm To Plan Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Deborah Sullivan Brennan

Escondido is moving forward on a reverse osmosis treatment facility that will reduce the city’s wastewater and also provide more recycled water for agricultural use. The project will divert millions of gallons of water from the discharge pipeline, and turn it into highly treated irrigation water. It’s expected to begin construction in early 2020 and come online in December, 2021. “This will not only generate a new supply of water to farmers that is economically viable to them, but it also will save our wastewater customers an enormous amount of money,” said Director of Utilities, Christopher McKinney.

Full Story

SDPD Warns Of Thieves Posing As City Utility Employees

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Alex Riggins

A pair of thieves posing as city water department employees conned their way into a La Jolla home earlier this month, distracting the elderly homeowner as they stole cash and jewelry, police said Tuesday. The same two men wanted in connection with the scam and theft in La Jolla are also wanted for questioning in a similar incident that occurred nine days prior in the nearby community of Bird Rock, according to San Diego police detective Sgt. Ron Bailiff. Police say the two men identified themselves as being from “the water department” when they knocked on the front door at the La Jolla home around 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 9.

Full Story

Craft Beer Industry Economic Impact In San Diego Rises To $1.2 Billion

/in , /by /Water News Network

As the nation’s “Capital of Craft,” San Diego County is home to more than 150 breweries that boast nearly 6,500 local jobs. In 2018, the regional craft beer industry produced $1.2 billion in economic impact, according to a report by California State University San Marcos and the San Diego Brewers Guild. California has more operational craft breweries than any other state in the country. As of January 2019, 155 independent craft brewers were operating in San Diego County. The regional economic benefits generated by the industry would not be possible without the safe and reliable water supply that the San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies deliver to the region every day.

Full Story

Irvine Lake Is Rebounding After Seven Years Of Drought Conditions

/in , /by /Orange County Register (Anaheim, Calif.)by Alicia Robinson

What a difference a year – and a whole lot of rain – can make for a reservoir. Irvine Lake was created in 1931 with the completion of the Santiago Dam just west of the Santa Ana Mountains. While it can hold as much as 25,000 acre feet of water (an acre foot is enough to cover a football field at one foot deep), through California’s punishing seven-year drought it often held much less. Just a year ago, the water level was at 2,700 acre feet and large swaths of parched dirt were left exposed….

Full Story

Cooling Goo Sidewalks And Other Strange New Weapons In The War On Urban Heat

/in , /by /The Guardian

Los Angeles can sometimes feel like a sprawling hellscape of heat: in the northern valleys and the southern city, metal playground equipment, car steering wheels, even the ground itself effectively become weaponized. The more than 300 days of sunshine a year that for generations have made LA such an attractive place to live and visit are becoming a grave liability due to the climate crisis. The city gets so murderously hot all year-round, its residents routinely suffer heat-related death even in winter. Last summer, city residents in endured some of its highest temperatures ever recorded. Worse is likely to come.

Full Story

Center For Chula Vista Students Fosters Learning About Water

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Alexandra Mendoza

Fifth graders now have a space to learn everything about water, from conservation to careers in the water industry. The Hydro Station is an initiative of the Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD), the Otay Water District and Sweetwater Authority. This facility consists of a classroom right next to the Richard A. Reynolds desalination plant, which is estimated to receive about 4,500 students every school year. The idea is for children to broaden their career options from an early age and, if they wish, to consider a water-related career.

Full Story

Helix Water District, Sweetwater Authority Offer Smart Leak Detector Rebates

/in , /by /Water News Network

The Helix Water District has rolled out a new smart leak detector rebate program. Helix and Sweetwater Authority customers can get a rebate of up to $100 when they purchase a smart leak detector. The detectors sync to smartphones, allowing customers to monitor water use 24/7 via smartphone and the devices notify customers of leaks and water consumption amounts. There are two types of smart leak detectors: plumbed devices and external devices, according to Helix. Plumbed devices are plumbed into your existing water lines. Most of these devices can automatically shut the water off at their point of installation, or allow you to shut your water off remotely, in case of a leak.

Full Story

Proposal Would Allow Oil Companies Keep Injecting Wastewater Into Kern County Aquifers

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

California regulators are negotiating an agreement with two major oil companies that would allow them to keep injecting millions of gallons of wastewater into potential drinking water and irrigation supplies in the Central Valley for three years. The voluntary plan would allow Aera Energy (which was jointly formed by Shell Oil and Exxon Mobil) and California Resources Corp. to continue to inject fluid remnants of oil extraction into 94 wells that discharge into shallow groundwater aquifer zones in Kern County. The negotiations frustrate groups like Clean Water Action, a national environmental organization, which argues that injecting into the aquifers violates the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and should cease now, not in three years.

Full Story

Goleta Water District Updates Permit To Sell Recycled Water To Ag Users

/in , /by /Noozhawk (Santa Barbra, Calif.)by Giana Magnoli

The Goleta Water District has updated its recycled water permitting so it can now sell to agricultural customers, although not many of them are interested in buying. Recycled water, which the district has produced and sold since 1997, cannot be used for groundwater recharge, but was used for landscape irrigation, construction dust control, industrial cooling, and toilet and urinal flushing. State law has allowed more uses in the intervening years, and with a modernized permit, the district can now sell recycled water for agricultural irrigation and industrial and manufacturing uses, said Ryan Drake, the district’s water supply and conservation manager.

Full Story

Odor Advisory Issued For Salton Sea Area; Hydrogen Sulfide Leads To Rotten-Egg Smell

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Carlos Lozano

An odor advisory was issued Sunday for the Salton Sea area in Riverside County due to elevated levels of a gas that smells like rotten eggs, according to state air regulators. The advisory was issued for the Coachella Valley and will remain in effect until at least Monday because of winds from the south, with peak concentrations of hydrogen sulfide emissions occurring in the morning hours, the South Coast Air Quality Management District said in a statement. “Hourly average concentrations of hydrogen sulfide peaked [Sunday] morning at 239 parts per billion immediately downwind of the Salton Sea – at a monitor close to the shore, in an area with little population,” the district said.

Full Story