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Column: Ellen DeGeneres Picks on the Wrong Guy to do the Dad Dab

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Diane Bell

“You with the purple shirt,” said Ellen DeGeneres, pointing at Jim Madaffer in her studio audience on Tuesday’s show. “We’re going to give you some music.” His assignment, as one of only a handful of “dads” in the talk host’s audience that day, was to do the “Dad Dab” dance. Thus, the chairman of the San Diego County Water Authority Board and California Transportation Commission member squeezed out to the center aisle and gamely gyrated to the music, earning a thumb’s down from the show host.

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Farmers Threaten Legal Action Over DCP

/in , /by /Imperial Valley Pressby Richard Montenegro Brown

A group of farmers could be threatening a new lawsuit against the Imperial Irrigation District over its participation in the drought contingency plan meant to bolster water supplies at Lake Mead and help restore the Colorado River, according to IID officials. At the core of the threat, district officials said Wednesday night, is what IID General Manager Kevin Kelley termed the “elephant in the room” — who holds the water in trust for all water users: the IID or the farmers/landowners? This threat, Kelley said, addresses similar points with the lawsuit grower Mike Abatti filed against the district over its Equitable Distribution Plan. That case is now being appealed by the IID.

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OPINION: With Disasters Rocking The State, California Needs To Remember The St. Francis Dam Failure

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Erik Altenbernd and William Deverell

There is a quiet campaign underway in northern L.A. County that deserves the support of people across California. lThe Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society is pushing for the site of the St. Francis Dam to be declared a national memorial. The designation would commemorate both the dam and the more than 400 lives that were lost when it collapsed, the worst man-made disaster in California history.

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Project to Turn Wastewater Into Drinking Water To Begin Construction in Spring 2019

/in , /by /NBC7 San Diegoby Christina Bravo and Artie Ojeda

The San Diego City Council voted Thursday to move forward with the Pure Water San Diego project, which intends to provide one-third of San Diego’s water supply by 2035. The vote allows the city to award contracts for the first phase of the project, which will involve pipeline construction to move wastewater from a planned pump station in the Morena area to the North City Pure Water Facility in Miramar. The water will then be stored at the Lake Miramar Reservoir before it’s sent to the nearby treatment plant. Next, the water will be blended with other imported water before making its way to taps.

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Robert Kephart Selected To Fill Division 4 Vacancy On OMWD Board Of Directors

/in , /by /The Del Mar Times

Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors selected Robert Kephart at its Nov. 7 meeting as the new director representing Division 4 of OMWD’s service area. Kephart fills the seat left vacant by the resignation of Jerry Varty. Kephart has 20 years of service on the County of San Diego Service Area 107 Fire Advisory Board and currently serves on the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Foundation board. A volunteer firefighter for the Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove Fire Department for 19 years, he achieved the rank of captain and chaired the department’s facilities committee.

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City To Begin Construction Of Revolutionary Drinking Water Recycling Plant In Spring

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

San Diego’s revolutionary project to ensure an adequate supply of drinking water by recycling it received the final go-ahead on Thursday. The City Council authorized Mayor Kevin Faulconer to award construction contracts for the $614 million first phase of the project, which will produce 30 million gallons a day beginning in 2021. “This will be one of the most important infrastructure projects in city history and puts San Diego on the path to water independence for the first time,” Faulconer said. “Pure Water will deliver a safe, reliable and sustainable source of water for all San Diegans for generations to come. It’s just the latest example of how we’re leaving a cleaner San Diego than the one we inherited.”

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City, SDG&E In $120 million Disagreement

/in , /by /10 Newsby Jonathan Horn

San Diego Gas and Electric and the city of San Diego are in a disagreement that could be worth up to $120 million. The controversy is over San Diego’s Pure Water project, which would turn sewage into high treated drinking water. The city’s goal is to have a third of its water supply be reclaimed water by 2035.  To accomplish that, the city plans to build a $1 billion pipeline to pump sewage from the Morena area to the North City Water Reclamation Plant on the edge of Miramar.

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San Diego Has The Ingredients For An Explosive Fire

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Diana Leonard

Fire weather arrived in San Diego this weekend, traveling southward from Butte County via Ventura and Los Angeles. Its journey here gave us snapshots of a grim new reality: the unbelievable speed and scale of California wildfires. A line of burned-out cars in the Sierra foothill town of Paradise, and social media accounts of desperate attempts to outrun the Camp Fire. Four one-way lanes on the Pacific Coast Highway during a mass evacuation of Malibu to escape the Woolsey Fire.

 

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Tearing Out The Turf: 1 Million Square Feet Targeted For Removal

/in , /by /Water News Network

San Diego County residents have targeted more than 1 million square feet of turf grass for replacement with WaterSmart landscaping through free landscape makeover classes sponsored by the San Diego County Water Authority over the past five years. While not all the targeted turf has actually been removed, post-class surveys show that many participants end up taking out more turf than they initially planned after seeing the benefits of their work, said Joni German, who coordinates the Water Authority’s award-winning WaterSmart Landscape Makeover Series.

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Contract Change Order Approved For Erosion Control Project

/in , /by /Village News (Fallbrook) Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority approved a change order for their Moosa Canyon Erosion Control project. The CWA board approval Oct. 25, adds $351,000 to the contract amount and is the third change order associated with the dewatering system needed to address groundwater, which was encountered at a higher level than expected. The newest change order increases the total contract amount with Granite Construction from $1,445,889 to $1,806,889, while changing the contract end date from Oct. 31 to Dec. 31.

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