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High-Tech Tools Help Detect Possible Pipeline Problems

/in , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

It’s a whole new ballgame for the San Diego County Water Authority when it comes to finding leaks in major pipelines with cutting-edge technology. One new tech tool deployed for the first time in February actually looks like a tennis ball that floats through water-filled pipelines scanning for potential trouble. Of course, the new device is much more complex inside than a tennis ball – in fact, the Nautilus is among the most advanced tools of its kind in the world. It not only detects defects that are invisible to the human eye, it does so without requiring pipes to be drained, which saves a significant amount of water and disruption to customers.

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OPINION: Higginson: The ‘Why’ Of Water Rates

/in , /by /Poway News Chieftainby Don Higginson

In 1959 we had just moved to San Diego from Taipei (Taiwan) where my dad had been stationed in the Navy. Out for a Sunday drive (something one actually did back then for family entertainment) we approached the old bridge spanning Lake Hodges. That Sunday drive remains a vivid memory sketched in my mind as my three young sisters busted out laughing when we read a sign on the bridge that simply read, “No fishing from the bridge.” Quite amusing to us as the lake was bone dry, without any water in sight.

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California Drought Over, Conservation Continues

/in , /by /The Press (Brentwood, Calif.)by Tony Kukulich

Last week, as snowpack in the Sierra Nevada measured more than 150 percent of its average, California was declared free of drought for the first time in more than seven years.
As reported by United States Drought Monitor on March 19, “California emerged from drought conditions for the first week since Dec. 11, 2011, breaking its 376-week streak.”
But California weather is nothing if not fickle, and boom-or-bust weather cycles appear to be the new norm for the state. During a speech at the American Water Works Association conference in Sacramento on Tuesday, March 26, California Secretary for Natural Resources, Wade Crowfoot, said that he expects wet winters will be wetter, and dry winters will be drier. Water managers across East County echoed that sentiment and stressed the importance of continued conservation.

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OPINION: The Salton Sea Is A Disaster In The Making. California Isn’t Doing Anything To Stop It

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

California’s largest internal body of water is steadily drying up, exposing a lake bed that threatens to trigger toxic dust storms and exacerbate already high levels of asthma and other respiratory diseases in Southern California. Yet there is something about the Salton Sea that leads many lawmakers to ignore the urgency and put off remediation programs. It’s just so far south — off the mental map of officials who represent more densely populated urban areas to the north, like Los Angeles. It is hydrologically unconnected to the Bay Area and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which supplies water for so much of the state’s agricultural and residential use. It is a disaster in the making, yet it is an afterthought.

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Safe Drinking Water A Deep Subject

/in , /by /The Acorn (Agoura Hills, Calif.)by Ian Bradley

Running water is often taken for granted. Thirsty? Grab a glass and turn on the tap. But the delivery of safe drinking water across mountains and desert to millions of Southern California residents isn’t as easy at it seems. The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District serves 75,000 customers in Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Westlake Village, as well as unincorporated areas of western Los Angeles County. But LVMWD is just the middle man. The district buys 100 percent of its drinking water from the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies water districts from Oxnard to the Mexican border. MWD supplies water to 25 million Californians.

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Water Dept. Updates City On Its Reform Policies: ‘We developed Standard Operating Procedures That We Did Not Have Before.’

/in , /by /La Jolla Lightby Ashley Mackin-Solomon

Just over a year after the San Diego Public Utilities Department (PUD) held a meeting in La Jolla to talk with residents about implausible spikes in their water bills, PUD provided the City Council’s Audit Committee with a “progress report” on its activities to ameliorate the concerns. The morning of March 20, PUD representatives addressed changes to water billing operations and the water meter cover replacements program, and told the committee that the majority of City Auditor recommended adjustments to department operations have been implemented. The rest, they said, were expected to be in effect by June.

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New Recycled Water Purification System Coming To Oceanside

/in , , /by /The Coast News by Samantha Taylor

The city is suiting up for construction of a new facility later this year that will purify recycled water to create a new, local source of drinking water for residents by 2022. Pure Water Oceanside is a water purification system that aims to reduce the city’s reliance on imported water, improve groundwater resources, increase local water supply and strengthen the city’s resiliency to drought and climate change in an environmentally sound process.

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Colorado River Drought Plan Gets First Congressional Hearing

/in , , /by /The Associated Press

A plan that outlines how seven states will deal with declining flows in a major river in the U.S. West is getting its first hearing in Congress. The drought contingency plan aims to keep two Colorado River reservoirs from crashing. Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming recently agreed to push for federal legislation to implement the plan. Their goal is to have a bill approved by April 22 so that Mexico’s water contributions also kick in next year, though nothing’s been introduced yet.

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Some Backers And Foes Of Bill Seeking IID Remake Have Financial Connections

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

A battle over a controversial state bill that seeks to remake the Imperial Irrigation District board is exposing political connections and payments to key players on both sides. Elected officials, business and labor groups are staking out sides on Assembly Bill 854, which would wrest control of the water and power district from Imperial County where it’s headquartered and shift it north to Riverside County, home to a majority of its electricity customers.

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Western Groups Push For Water Infrastructure

/in , /by /Capital Press (Salem, Oregon)by Dan Wheat

More than 100 Western water and agricultural organizations are urging Congress to include rebuilding and improving water infrastructure in any construction legislation it considers. The group sent a letter March 25 to key committees and Western senators, saying investments are needed to meet current and future water demands. The group is led by the Western Growers Association, California Farm Bureau Federation, Family Farm Alliance and the Colorado Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. The group noted that President Donald Trump has said rebuilding highways, roads and bridges is an area both political parties should be able to work on together. The Democratic party’s list of priorities includes an ambitious infrastructure program.

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