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Harris Headlines Fall Conference for Women in Finance

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

For Lisa Marie Harris, serving as the director of finance for the San Diego County Water Authority is far more than a job. It’s part of a calling that started in college. As an undergrad, Harris secured a fellowship to study public policy at the University of Michigan, which confirmed her desire to pursue a career in government finance. Today, she is responsible for overseeing the Water Authority’s $2.3 billion debt portfolio, developing the agency’s bi-annual $1.5 billion operating budget, and setting the agency’s annual rates and charges.

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Wildfire Watch: Santa Ana Winds Put Southern California on Alert

/in , /by /USA TODAYby Kristin Lam

The winds notorious for fueling Southern California wildfires were expected to kick up for the first time this year on Sunday night, putting the region on alert, according to the National Weather Service. The season’s first major Santa Ana winds may reach gusts of up to 75 mph in the region’s mountains, creating critical fire weather conditions through Tuesday night. Last year, the winds drove the Thomas Fire, which destroyed more than 280,000 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. and took more than a month to contain.

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Metropolitan Water District Board Elects First African American Woman, Gloria Gray, as Chairwoman

/in , /by /California Water News Daily

Water veteran and community advocate Gloria D. Gray was recently elected chairwoman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California. She has vast experience in state, regional and local water issues and has served as West Basin Municipal Water District’s (WBMWD) representative on the 38-member Metropolitan board since April 2009. “I am excited to help lead Metropolitan into the next era, as we work collaboratively to overcome challenges to our imported water supplies brought by climate change, invest in local resources and continue providing a reliable water supply to Southern California,” Gray said.

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Cyanobacteria Found in Salton Sea

/in , /by /KYMA (Yuma, Ariz.)

The Imperial County Public Health Department announced Friday that cyanotoxins were found in the Salton Sea. In recent months, low levels of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, were detected blooming along the northern shore of the Salton Sea in Riverside County.  Water testing conducted by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board have confirmed the presence of three cyanotoxins: Anatoxin-a, Saxitoxin and Microcystin at the Desert Shores Harbor of the Salton Sea.

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Why SDG&E’s Rates are Higher than Other California Utilities

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Rob Nikolewski

For more than a few San Diego Gas & Electric customers, a summer of discontent has just wrapped up. Record heat in the San Diego area resulted in some residents seeing their monthly bills balloon and their complaints were compounded by a “high usage charge” the California Public Utilities Commission recently put in place. But that’s not the only issue. A year-over-year review by the Union-Tribune of electricity rate charges by the three investor-owned utilities shows SDG&E’s rates are not only higher than their cohorts but they have also been rising faster.

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San Diego Offers Landscape, Rain Barrel Rebates For Water Customers

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Debbie L. Sklar

The city of San Diego offers money-saving ways for water customers to conserve water. The city’s Public Utilities Department provides rebates through grant funding by the Department of Water Resources for removing lawns and installing rain barrels. Homeowners can apply now for financial rebates to convert their lawns into a drought resistant landscape. The city is offering a $1.25 per square foot rebate for all lawns that are converted. Converted areas must be designed to capture rainfall for reuse.

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October 6-14 Is Water And Wastewater Professionals Week

/in , /by /Valley Roadrunnerby Gary Arant

Valley Center Municipal Water District Board of Directors has taken formal action to declare October 6-14 as “Water and Wastewater Professionals Week,” along with hundreds of water and wastewater agencies statewide. Water and wastewater has long been described as the “silent service.” These systems providing these services are “out of sight, out of mind” as long as they work well, and the water comes out with the turn of the tap or the unmentionables are quickly taken away with a flush.

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Metropolitan Water District Board Selects New Chair

/in , /by /Los Angeles Business Journalby Howard Fine

The board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a downtown-based water wholesale cooperative, selected local water official Gloria Gray as its new chair. Gray, who has represented the West Basin Municipal Water District on the 38-member Metropolitan board since 2009, will serve a two-year term beginning Jan. 1; she will succeed Randy Record, who has held the post since May 2014. Gray is the first African-American to lead the board and only the second woman to do so in the district’s 90-year history.

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OPINION: Hard Lessons At The Salton Sea From The First 15 Years Of The Massive QSA Water Deal

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Michael J. Cohen

Oct. 10 marked the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA). The QSA created the nation’s largest transfer of water from agriculture to cities, building resilience and buffering Southern California from the impacts of the state’s recent drought while decreasing California’s reliance on the increasingly stressed Colorado River.

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North County Water Symposium Highlights Efforts To Ensure Reliability

/in , /by /Water News Network

The 2018 North County Water Symposium on Wednesday highlighted efforts by the San Diego County Water Authority to ensure regional water reliability for a crowd of about 100 North County business and industry leaders. Keynote speaker Jim Madaffer, the Water Authority’s newly elected board Chair, reviewed the Water Authority’s historic achievements in water supply diversification. He also discussed continued regional development of water recycling capacity and investments in technology to maintain billions of dollars worth of water infrastructure.

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