Count the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) among the many factions that recognize the significant, positive impact that the local brewing industry has on the county. Enough that the governmental organization has declared February as San Diego Brewing Month in an effort to spotlight local brewing companies and coffee roasters, both of which benefit—as do their end customers—from having clean, healthy and reliable water resources.
A storm that’s far brawnier than the one that hit San Diego County on Thursday will blow ashore Saturday, dropping an inch or more of rain in San Diego, 1.50 inches across inland valleys and up to two inches in the mountains, says the National Weather Service. Strong gusts of wind are expected in East County, especially along the eastern stretch of Interstate 8. Wind speeds could reach 45 mph to 50 mph. The leading edge of the system will produce scattered showers late Friday night and on Saturday morning. Forecasters say the brunt of the storm will hit on Saturday afternoon and evening.
A legal effort to get oil companies to pay for damage linked to climate change is getting a boost this week from California. Imperial Beach and Marin and San Mateo counties filed suit, hoping to force oil companies to pay for climate change impacts caused by their products. The municipalities argue the companies knew about the climate change their products would cause. The state is asking the court to keep the legal challenges in state court, where they stand a better chance of winning. More than a dozen suits around the country argue the energy firms spent years denying climate change impacts they knew would happen.
High levels of lead were found in drinking water on the campus of an elementary school in Mira Mesa and on Friday, parents will get more information from school officials on what’s being done to fix the issue. Principal Tobie Pace sent a letter to students’ homes detailing that lead levels higher than the standard set by the school district were found in the drinking water at Hickman Elementary School on Montongo Street. More than 400 children attend the school in grades transitional Kindergarten to 5th grade.
California’s Imperial Irrigation District will get the last word on the seven-state Colorado River Drought Contingency Plans. And IID could end up with $200 million to restore the badly polluted and fast-drying Salton Sea. Thursday, as the clock ticked toward a midnight deadline set by a top federal official, all eyes had been on Arizona. But lawmakers there approved the Colorado River drought deal with about seven hours to spare. IID, an often-overlooked southeastern California agricultural water district, appears to have thrown a last-minute monkey wrench into the process.
The San Diego County Water Authority on Tuesday secured nearly $18 million in savings on future debt payments for the region’s water ratepayers by refinancing bonds used to build a major pipeline connected to the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. Savings achieved this week topped earlier projections of $13.6 million through June 2046 on a net present-value basis due to strong demand for the $185 million issuance. Forty-five investors made orders for the bonds that totaled nearly $2 billion. The Water Authority benefitted from having one of the only deals of its kind on the market this week – after waiting for more than a year for market conditions to improve – and ongoing investor interest in the Carlsbad project.
The death of a couple thousand birds of an infectious disease at the Salton Sea earlier this month has helped underscore the impact of diminished quality and quantity of the habitats there. A large number of ruddy ducks, as well as gulls and other birds, migrating to the sea for the winter were killed between Jan. 8 and Jan. 17 by avian cholera, an infectious bacterial disease that spreads through direct contact.
The San Diego County Water Authority announced Wednesday that it has saved nearly $18 million in debt payments by refinancing the bonds used to construct part of the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. The savings topped prior projections of $13.6 million through June 2046, according to the Water Authority. A total of 45 investors, including J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Goldman Sachs, made nearly $2 billion in orders for the bonds. Investors were attracted to the water authority’s strong credit and history of providing a reliable water supply, according to the agency.
Even with last week’s rains increasing Lake Cachuma elevations by more than five feet, the available supply for South Coast water agencies has remained the same. Under the complex legal arithmetic by which Cachuma is divvied up, all the additional water accrues to agencies downstream; that will remain the case until there’s enough runoff in the Santa Ynez River to generate a live stream.
The first of three back-to-back winter storms will arrive in Southern California Thursday morning, bringing the potential for heavy rain along with a chance of debris flows and flooding in areas recently ravaged by wildfires, the National Weather Service said. The first storm, arriving by noon Thursday, will be fairly light — dropping a quarter of an inch to an inch of rain in Los Angeles County. Possible thunderstorms, however, could bring heavier rain to some regions, said Lisa Phillips, a meteorologist intern with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
