The Poway City Council has approved the construction of a 300-megawatt battery energy storage system facility on 10 acres in the Poway Business Park.
The proposed Nighthawk Energy Storage Project will help the local power grid capture solar and wind energy, then store the power in batteries and discharge it when needed most, said Josh Coon, vice president of development for the owner of the facility, Arevon Energy.
For more than 15 years, a pair of sewage treatment plants in eastern Tijuana have presented an opportunity – and a challenge.
The plants, Arturo Herrera and La Morita, raised hopes for a major wastewater reuse effort in the city – for irrigation, construction and industrial use. U.S. and Mexican authorities celebrated their opening, saying the effort would benefit both sides of the border.
The City of San Diego is repairing a major leak in a 36-inch water main off Black Mountain in Rancho Peñasquitos.
City workers had to bring in heavy equipment to dig down and locate the break in the water transmission line of Carmel Valley Road.
Sweetwater Authority held its San Diego Women in Water meeting at is Robert A. Perdue Water Treatment Plant on Aug. 14. Co-sponsored by the Authority, Otay Water District, Santa Fe Irrigation District, and Olivenhain Municipal Water District, the event brought more than 150 water professionals and elected officials together to share ideas and connect with industry professionals.
Guest speaker Dr. Maria-Elana Giner, P.E., shared her career journey that led her to be appointed by President Joe Biden as Commissioner of the United States International Boundary Commission in 2021. Giner is the second woman, and first Latina, to hold this position. Attendees were also provided with an in-depth tour of the Authority’s treatment facility, given and insider-look at the agency’s operations.
Shortly after the California Coastal Commission’s stunning rejection of Poseidon Water’s $1.4 billion ocean desalination plant proposal for Huntington Beach, Poseidon’s long—time VP of development, Scott Maloni, quipped on Facebook about the “unjust decision,” which put an end to big ocean desal in California for the foreseeable future.
“The silver lining,” he wrote, “San Diego has a water unicorn. The Carlsbad Desalination Plant is a one-of-a-kind treasure that will never be replicated again in the state of California.”
While the process of paving over underground repairs and refilling the feeder main line brought a collective sigh of relief in Calgary, critical water quality tests loomed as workers focused on the finish line in the dwindling days of June.
The more than three-week ordeal of repairing the nearly 50-year-old, 11 kilometre-long, two-metre diameter feeder main was a significant challenge for Calgary’s Water Services Director, Nancy Mackay, her team, and other municipal departments, not to mention the city’s 1.6 million residents.
Mexico is facing a growing water shortage, leading to unpredictable, often lengthy water shut-offs in Tijuana.
Meanwhile, millions of gallons of wastewater are dumped from Tijuana into the Pacific Ocean each day. In the future, that water could be recycled, putting a significant dent in the country’s water supply issue.
Amy Harris’ backyard has a stunning view of Black Mountain in Rancho Peñasquitos. She and her husband mountain bike on the trails.
“I’ve been mountain biking since I was a teenager. I’ve been living here 26 years,” said Harris. This year, they’ve noticed water where it normally would not be flowing.
The Colorado River’s biggest single user – farmers in Imperial Valley – made another agreement with the federal government to cut their take of the overused, threatened river for the next two years, with help from San Diego.
The Imperial Irrigation District’s board announced this week it’d pay farmers to skip some harvests in the coming two years in order to keep around 700,000 acre feet of water (an acre-foot is two California households’ annual water use) in the river’s biggest reservoir, Lake Mead.
Carlsbad Aquafarm is leaving Agua Hedionda Lagoon for other environmental enterprises after the property owner, NRG Energy, discontinued the lease on the site.
“We have other things,” owner Tom Grimm said Tuesday. “We are pivoting our business model to living shoreline projects … such as using oyster shells to create reefs and nesting areas.”
