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Del Mar Expects State To Accept Its Rejection Of Managed Retreat

/in , /by /Del Mar Times by Phil Diehl

Del Mar is optimistic that its rejection of “managed retreat” for adapting to sea-level rise will be accepted by the state Coastal Commission, City Councilman Dwight Worden said last week.

“Rejecting managed retreat is central to our plan, and having the coastal staff agree with our position is very significant and encouraging,” Worden said by email.

Managed retreat can take several forms. In some cases, a public agency will buy coastal structures and move or demolish them to leave open space for the advancing ocean.

Otay Student Poster Contest Winners Illustrate Importance Of Water-Use Efficiency

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Six talented elementary school students were recognized on August 7 by the Otay Water District Board of Directors as the winners of the District’s “Water is Life” Student Poster Contest. As one of the Otay Water District’s educational programs, the contest offers an opportunity for students to showcase their creativity while reflecting on the importance of using water efficiently in their daily lives. Students were encouraged to illustrate the value of water used both inside and outside the home as an informational poster intended to educate others. “We’re proud to offer students this opportunity to have fun and be creative, while at the same time thinking and learning about water conservation,” said Otay Water District General Manager Mark Watton.

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Toxic Groundwater Lies Beneath Phoenix, And A Cleanup Has Been Delayed For Years

/in , , /by /The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Ariz.)by Andrew Nicla

The water beneath a large swath of Phoenix isn’t fit to drink. A plume of toxic chemicals has tainted the groundwater for decades, and it’s now at the center of a bitter fight over how the aquifer should be cleaned up and what should happen to the water in the future. At issue are questions about why the cleanup has proceeded slowly, which government agency should lead the effort, and whether the polluted water, which isn’t flowing to household faucets, is releasing chemicals into the air at levels that may pose health risks for people in the area.

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Directors To Consider Revising Untreated Water Rate Increases

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Julie Gallant

Ramona Municipal Water District (RMWD) Board of Directors will consider adjusting its rates for general untreated water at a Sept. 10 public hearing set for 2 p.m. at the Ramona Community Center, 434 Aqua Lane. RMWD directors already approved four types of rate increases at their July 9 meeting. The increases apply to treated and untreated water rates and fees, sewer service charges, capacity fees and connection fees, and emergency services fees. Increased water rates and fees were approved by the board on a 3-2 vote with President Jim Robinson and directors Thomas Ace and Bryan Wadlington in favor, and directors Jim Hickle and Jeff Lawler opposed. The recently approved rate for general untreated water was set to increase from $4.88 to $5.46 per unit — the equivalent of 748 gallons — beginning Aug. 1. Subsequent general untreated water increases were expected to follow effective July 1 of each year for the next four years. Those rates per unit are $5.85 in 2020; $6.26 in 2021; $6.70 in 2022; and $7.17 in 2023.

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OPINION: Common Ground Must Be Reached On Border Sewage Spills

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Serge Dedina

Over the past several months, and with his recent inflammatory comments on immigration, President Donald Trump has made the United States-Mexico border a point of contention in American political discourse. Yet while the nation focuses on the immigration battle at the Southern border, constituents in California are more concerned about pressing environmental issues that affect them every day. Over the past 30 years, the blue-collar beach town of Imperial Beach has battled a pollution crisis that poses a significant economic and public health threat to residents, visitors and communities on both sides of the California-Mexico border.

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Brown And Caldwell Begins Work On Allen-McColloch Pipeline Rehab For Metropolitan Water District Of Southern California

/in , /by /Water World Magazine

Brown and Caldwell, a leading environmental engineering and construction firm, was selected by Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) to provide engineering design services for the rehabilitation of the prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) portion of the Allen-McColloch Pipeline. Metropolitan is a regional wholesaler that provides water to 26 member public agencies that, along with their retail providers, serve 19 million people in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties. Metropolitan’s mission is to provide its service area with adequate and reliable supplies of high-quality water to meet present and future needs in an environmentally and economically responsible way.

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New OCWD Director’s Poseidon Alternative

/in , , /by /Surf City Voice (Huntington Beach, Calif.)by John Earl

Kelly Rowe of Costa Mesa stunned the Poseidon underworld when he soundly defeated two-term Orange County Water District board-member Shawn Dewane in the 2018 election. Since 2013, Dewane and OCWD directors Cathy Green, Steve Sheldon, and Denis Bilodeau have fought hard for Poseidon Resources to build a $1 billion ocean desalination plant in Huntington Beach and sign a water purchase agreement with OCWD. Rowe will try to end that obsession by refocusing OCWD’s efforts. The remaining members of Poseidon’s coterie still obsess over Poseidon’s proposed desal deal: buy 56,000 AF of desalinated water every year for 30 years, regardless of need, at 3 or more times the price of imported water sold by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MET) for groundwater basin refills.

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Plan To Stabilize Del Mar Coastal Bluffs Moves Forward

/in , /by /KPBSby John Carroll

Work to stabilize the coastal bluffs through Del Mar is moving forward, following a vote Monday by the Del Mar City Council. Council members approved an encroachment permit Monday night, allowing SANDAG to work on a 1.6 mile stretch of coastline. This is Phase 4 of SANDAG’s bluff stabilization project, which began 18-years ago. Work has already been completed along the bluffs at the end of 11th Street. The circles seen in the dirt to the west of the train tracks are actually the tops of 65-foot tall pilings that stabilize the bluffs.

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Innovative Pipeline 5 Relining Completed

/in , /by /Water News Network

San Diego County Water Authority crews completed relining a segment of Pipeline 5 in Fallbrook and San Marcos in late July, reaching a milestone in a strategic, multi-decade pipeline relining program. The 2.3-mile segment of Pipeline 5 was relined with new steel liners that are planned to last for more than 75 years. The proactive pipeline relining program is a crucial part of asset management efforts that improve the reliability of San Diego County’s water supplies. Since the relining program began in 1991, nearly 47 miles of pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe have been rehabilitated. This constitutes more than half of the total PCCP in the Water Authority system.

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OPINION: Tax On Bottled Water Puts California’s Most Vulnerable At Risk

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Raoul Lowery Contreras

On Aug. 12, California state senators will vote on Assembly Bill 792, which could essentially force all of us to pay millions of dollars more for plastic bottled water or sodas. A nickel here…a nickel there; it won’t be much per bottle. But because there are so many plastic bottles, it quickly adds up to millions of dollars. Consumers will inevitably shoulder the costs, and legislators will inevitably blame corporate greed or environmental measures when confronted about it. Higher-priced bottled water won’t affect average Californians much; either they can afford to not think about the price hike, or they have access to safe tap water.

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