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Desal Plant Hits 40B Gallon Mark

/in , /by /The Coast News by Steve Puterski

Three years and 40 billion gallons later the Carlsbad Claude “Bud” Lewis Desalination plant is humming along. The facility is touted as the largest and most technologically advanced in the Western Hemisphere and on Dec. 13, VIPs and various stakeholders gathered in celebration of the plant supplying about 10 percent of drinking water to San Diego County. The desalination plant opened three years ago to much fanfare, and some criticism, as one of the crown jewels for Poseidon Water, which owns the facility. It pumps in about 50 million gallons of water per day and is a source for protection against severe drought.

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California Utility Regulators Failed To Properly Oversee Water Suppliers, State Audit Finds

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Jeff McDonald

State utility regulators have not provided the public clear information about water-rate increases or made sure that suppliers notified customers about hearings related to those rate hikes, a new state audit has found. The California Public Utilities Commission also failed to conduct audits of private water utilities as required by law, according to findings released Tuesday by the California State Auditor.

 

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Small Water Systems In LA County Struggle To Provide Clean Water, Report Say

/in , /by /NBC4 (Los Angeles)

Small water systems in Los Angeles County often struggle to provide their customers with clean drinking water at an affordable rate due to groundwater contamination, financial management problems and other issues, according to a report from UCLA Law released Monday. The report’s authors look at the challenges facing L.A.’s small water systems, which have fewer than 10,000 customers but are numerous in the county and service more than 250,000 customers.

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

/in , /by /PHYS.orgby David Colgan

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.

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

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

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.

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

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Alene Tchekmedyian

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.

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International Water Investigators To Meet Over Tijuana River Valley Sewage Spill

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Megan Tevrizian

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.”

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

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

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.

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

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

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.

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Mark Muir Says Farewell To City Council

/in , /by /The Coast Newsby Aaron Burgin

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.”

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