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Water Authority Hands Out First Water-Use Efficiency Award

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Debbie L. Skylar Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority Friday honored Japanese ceramics and electronics manufacturer Kyocera for reducing the annual water usage by its San Diego plant by nearly 20 percent since 2014. The Water Authority presented Kyocera with the Water Innovation & Efficiency Award at the Industrial Environmental Association’s 34th annual Environmental Conference at the San Diego Convention Center. The award is the agency’s inaugural recognition of San Diego companies that are mindful of their water usage. Kyocera has reduced its water usage by more than 6 million gallons since 2014, resulting in an annual reduction of $62,500 in water costs, according to the Water Authority.

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Plug Pulled On Seawater Desalination Plant At Camp Pendleton Over Costs, Permits

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Ken Stone Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority announced Friday it would cease work on a seawater desalination plant at Camp Pendleton because of excessive permitting and cost hurdles by the State Lands Commission. The Water Authority’s Board of Directors approved a $4.05 million contract to develop the desalination pilot facility in 2015, with additional funding from state and federal agencies. However, the necessity for the plant has lessened as local municipalities like the City of San Diego developed their own water purification programs. The Water Authority claims that the State Lands Commission added additional permitting hurdles as the need for the plant dropped.

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Daily Business Report- Jim Madaffer Elected Board Chair Of San Diego County Water Authority

/in , /by /San Diego Metro Magazine Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

New officers for the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors were unanimously elected on Thursday, with Jim Madaffer starting his two-year term as board chair on Oct. 1. Madaffer, vice chair of the board for the past two years as a representative from the city of San Diego, will serve with incoming Vice Chair Gary Croucher, a board representative from the Otay Water District, and incoming Secretary Christy Guerin from the Olivenhain Municipal Water District.

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MWD Extends Greenland Farm Lease On Diamond Valley Lake Property

/in , /by /Valley News (Fallbrook)by Joe Naiman

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California does not currently use a 72.5-acre parcel which was acquired to construct MWD’s Diamond Valley Lake reservoir. Five years ago MWD leased that parcel to Greenland Farm Inc., and a MWD board vote extended the lease, Sept. 11. The lease will be on a year-to-year basis through 2023. During the 2018-2019 lease term Greenland Farm will pay the water district $14,137, and the lease includes a 3 percent annual rent increase. The year-to-year basis allows MWD to end the lease before 2023 if the water district needs the land for reservoir or other use, and termination for cause can be given with a 30-day notice.

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OMWD Board To Honor Outgoing Director, Appoint Replacement

/in , /by /Del Mar Times

The Olivenhain Municipal Water District Board of Directors will honor outgoing Division 4 Director Jerry Varty at the board’s Oct. 17 meeting. Varty announced his resignation from the board on Sept. 12, as he is moving out of OMWD’s service area. Upon receipt of the resignation, OMWD Board President Larry Watt thanked Varty for his nine years of dedicated service to OMWD and its ratepayers.

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First Rain Of Season Possible Next Week

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

San Diego County could get its first substantial rain since March early next week. Or not. The remains of Hurricane Rosa, a major hurricane with 125 mph winds southwest of the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula on Thursday night, are expected to drift northward. By Monday, Rosa should be downgraded to a tropical storm. By Tuesday, much of its moisture, if not its tropical-storm-force winds, should move into or close to Southern California.

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OPINION: L.A. Is Reopening Deep Wounds From The California Water Wars In The Eastern Sierra

/in , /by /Los Angeles Times

Before the 20th century, much of the Owens Valley on the eastern edge of California was uninhabitable swampland, which shows how much water the Sierra Nevada are capable of producing. Starting in 1913, the city of Los Angeles began draining the Owens Valley, resulting in the high, dry desert we have become.

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Council OKs $614 Million For ‘Cutting Edge’ Recycled Drinking Water Project

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

The San Diego City Council has approved borrowing $614 million to begin construction of the city’s innovative recycled drinking water project. The first phase of Pure Water — scheduled to begin construction in 2019 and open in 2021 — would use proven purification technology to recycle wastewater into 30 million gallons a day of drinking water. The loan comes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and will cover 49 percent of the $1.25 billion project. There will be a second reading of the ordinance by the council in two weeks to officially authorize the loan.

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OPINION: Huntington Beach Desalination Project Would Help Meet Region’s Water Needs

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Dr. Allan Bernstein

As the price of imported water continues to rise, and technological advances for seawater desalination improve efficiencies, California’s time to turn ocean water into drinking water has come. Orange County is poised to integrate purified ocean water into its drinking water portfolio, just as San Diego has successfully done by producing 35 billion gallons of drinking water from the Pacific Ocean in just three short years. The ocean is the world’s largest reservoir; it’s always full and sits on our front doorstep. At the cost of a half-penny per gallon, seawater desalination is cost-competitive with the development of other new water supplies.

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Water Deal Provides Less Costly, More Reliable Supplies

/in , /by /The Daily Transcriptby Mark Muir Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A historic achievement for San Diego County passed mostly under the radar this summer when the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors approved wholesale rates for 2019. The rate increases were among the lowest in 15 years — but that’s just part of the story. The critical long-term accomplishment highlighted by the rate-setting process was that the Water Authority’s independent water supplies from the Colorado River are now both less expensive and more reliable than supplies from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. That’s a goal the region’s water officials started working towards two decades ago, and one that will bear fruit for decades to come.

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