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Paper Outlines How L.A. County Can Adapt Its Water Supply For Climate Change

The climate is changing, Earth’s population is growing and more people are living in cities. That means urban areas—particularly those in arid or semiarid regions—need to update their water supply systems. The world was reminded of this earlier in the year with the water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa, which has a climate almost identical to that of Los Angeles. At the peak of the crisis, residents were required to limit daily water consumption to 50 liters (about 13 gallons), taking two-minute showers and letting their lawns and gardens dry up.

City’s Big Lead Revelation Doesn’t Seem To Be Impacting Schools

When schools officials began to find lead in drinking water at several San Diego schools in 2016, parents from across the region scrambled to understand the danger posed to their children by the toxic metal. At the time, we thought the lead was coming from inside schools because the city of San Diego sounded certain that its pipes were no longer made of lead. But it turns out, as we reported last week along with NBC San Diego, the city does not know what 192,000 of its water pipes are made of. Nor does it know what 16,000 pipe fittings are made of.

High-Surf Warnings Issued As Pacific Swell Brings Big Waves To California Coast

Powerful and potentially destructive waves are expected to hit California’s coast through Tuesday, bringing dangerous conditions that have prompted forecasters to urge surfers and swimmers to stay out of the ocean. A deep low-pressure center in the Gulf of Alaska and storm-forced winds are generating the Pacific swell, creating the potential for spectacularly large — and potentially dangerous — waves, said Tom Fisher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

International Water Investigators To Meet Over Tijuana River Valley Sewage Spill

International water investigators will meet with Mexican counterparts Monday to discuss clean-up and repair efforts after a huge sewage spill in the Tijuana River Valley. The meeting is expected to last most of the day and will mainly cover funding for continued repair of Mexico’s sewage infrastructure. “It’s reached its life cycle,” explained Lori Kuczmanski, the Public Affairs Officer for the IBWC. “The pipes are 50 to 60 years old. They’re outdated and just old and ruptured.”

Federal Officials Say Sewage Spill Stopped At U.S-Mexico Border Friday Morning

While a ruptured pipe in Mexico continues to spill sewage into the Tijuana River, federal officials said that as of Friday morning the effluent was being captured at the border and diverted to a wastewater treatment facility. Over the last few days, efforts to remove sediment and debris from pumps in the Tijuana River helped restart a diversion system that effectively ended the cross-border impacts at 7 a.m., which reportedly started Monday night from a broken pipe that leaked millions of gallons and shuttered South Bay beaches.

Tijuana Sewage Nightmare A Grim ‘Groundhog Day’ For San Diego County

Broken sewage infrastructure in Tijuana early this week sent roughly 7 million gallons a day of sewage into the Tijuana River, leading to beach closures along the south San Diego coast. The cause was a ruptured collector pipe in a part of the sewage system that has already received millions of dollars in upgrades in recent years, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), a joint U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees binational water issues.

Mark Muir Says Farewell To City Council

The seven-year Encinitas councilman, who was defeated in his bid for a third term in office, is prepared to leave office this week. But after 42 years of public service — 35 as a firefighter and seven with the City Council — Muir, 60, said he isn’t ready to say that service is over. “You never know, there are elections every two to four years,” the former fire chief said. “But I am looking forward to taking a break and challenging myself.”

Carlsbad Desalination Plant Celebrates 40 Billion Gallons Served

San Diego County marked a significant milestone in regional water supply reliability Thursday at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant – the delivery of 40 billion gallons of drinking water during its first three years of commercial operations. This is enough water to fill 800 million bathtubs, or 1,820 Bellagio Las Vegas fountains. The plant, which launched its commercial operations in December 2015, provides San Diego County with 50 million gallons of locally-controlled, climate-resilient and high-quality water a day, helping to minimize the region’s vulnerability to droughts.

County Desalination Plant Celebrates 40 Billionth Gallon Of Water

Representatives from San Diego County and Poseidon Water held a celebration Thursday for the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant producing its 40 billionth gallon of drinking water. The celebration also correlated with the third anniversary of the plant opening. The Carlsbad plant produces more than 50 million gallons of desalinated water each day and is the largest and most technologically advanced desalination plant in the U.S., according to the county.

Carlsbad Desalination Plant Celebrates 40 Billionth Gallon Of Water

The newest source of drinking water in our county just reached a major milestone. Around 100 million gallons of seawater are pumped through the filters at the Carlsbad desalination plant every day. Within about three hours that water is purified and sent to the taps. After three strong years, the plant just produced its 40 billionth gallon of drinking water. That’s enough water to fill a billion bathtubs, or fill every floor of the empire state building, 145 times. “We have a ticker in the control room that just spins away as gallons of water go out the door,” said Jessica Jones, a spokesperson for Poseidon, the company that operates the plant.