While San Diego has a reputation for beautiful weather in a sunny seaside setting, its growing population in the southernmost area of rain-starved California is a recipe for trouble in paradise. That challenge has spurred the creation of Pure Water San Diego — a multi-phase, multi-year program with the goal of using recycled water for up to one-third of San Diego’s water supply by the year 2035.
Michael Bardin is retiring after a 40-year career in the water industry, the past 14 years as general manager of the Santa Fe Irrigation District, but he won’t be avoiding the wet stuff. In retirement, Bardin plans to spend more time with his family and also indulge his hobby as a saltwater angler. Retirement will free him up to ply local coastal waters in his boat. “Hopefully I’ll have more time to get out there and catch some fish,” said Bardin, who will continue to live in Oceanside with his wife after retirement. His last day on the job was Wednesday, Dec. 5.
The promise to improve security at San Diego Unified School District schools and fix the problem of lead in the drinking water were the main topics of conversation Tuesday as the board met to discuss the district’s first steps after the passage of Measure YY.
Since Solana Beach launched its own power-buying agency to compete with San Diego Gas & Electric in June, the city’s 7,000 electricity customers have already saved about $200,000.
But the city is also already looking ahead to a rough patch where it expects the new agency to lose money until 2022. The amount is relatively small – about $350,000 over three years – but an early sign of how hard it is to predict what will happen in the energy business.
The Río Nuevo flows north from Mexico into the United States, passing through a gap in the border fence. The murky green water reeks of sewage and carries soapsuds, pieces of trash and a load of toxic chemicals from Mexicali, a city filled with factories that manufacture products from electronics to auto parts.
Santa Monica is three years behind schedule for water independence due to delays in obtaining permits for some of the proposed plans. The city is using about 20 percent less imported water than it did in 2011, when City Council set a goal of achieving water self-sufficiency by 2020. At a recent Council meeting, staff said changes to state laws have also presented a challenge. Staff has redesigned parts of the plan because new state regulations require the removal of certain chemicals from drinking water making treatment more difficult and expensive, said Alex Navarchuk, the City’s principal engineer.
A cold front moved through San Diego County before dawn Monday, dropping temperatures into the 30s across some inland areas and into the 40s and 50s at and near the coast, says the National Weather Service. San Diego International Airport fell to 50 before dawn, Montgomery Field dropped to 45, Oceanside and Imperial Beach dropped to 48, Julian hit 37.
Keep an umbrella at the ready, Californians, because more wet weather is on the way. A cold front moving through the state will bring up to an inch of rain to Northern California from Monday night through Thursday. “It’s expected to be a really weak and light system,” said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. “We don’t anticipate any impacts over any of the burn scar areas up here.”
Every home in the city of San Diego could soon have a smart water meter, eliminating the human error that led to thousands of erroneous water bills reaching homes. On Monday, the San Diego City Council authorized up to $25 million to buy more than 250,000 smart water meters from company Itron Inc. The move comes after an audit earlier this year found nearly 3,000 erroneous water bills reached households, some spiking to upwards of $1,000. The audit largely blamed human error from water-meter readers, who are charged with reading hundreds per day.
The National Weather Service has trimmed projected rainfall from the storm that’s expected to hit San Diego County on Wednesday and Thursday. But forecasters say a substantial system will hit the region, further lowering wildfire danger throughout the county.
