Like a patient waiting for heart bypass surgery while the insurance company dickers with the hospital over the numbers, California has been stuck in pre-op for decades, awaiting approval of an aqueduct or tunnel bypass from the Sacramento River around (instead of through) the state’s hydrological heart — the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The city of San Diego is expanding its probe into complaints over mysteriously high water bills by checking the 250,000-plus meters across the city. City spokesman Jerry McCormick said the expanded investigation has already begun into both smart and manually-read water meters. The announcement comes less than a day after the city divulged that more than 300 families were overbilled by an average $300 in four neighborhoods – Carmel Valley, Rancho Bernardo, Mira Mesa and Rancho Penasquitos.
The city overcharged residents by more than $100,000 in January for water they didn’t use, officials said Thursday following a months-long public outcry over skyrocketing bills. The findings are the result of an internal review by the Public Utilities Department this week that officials said traced the billing errors back to a single worker who had misread 343 meters in November and December.
Scientists regularly look for the formation or absence of the system when predicting weather in the American Southwest. La Niñas are driven by changes in ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, as is the El Niño climate system that typically brings wetter, cooler winters to Southern California. This winter, La Niña predictions of less rain and snow have been spot on as counties across SoCal have dipped back into to moderate-to-severe drought conditions.
State water officials announced Wednesday they will pursue staged construction of a proposed multibillion-dollar water-delivery project, leaving water agencies in Southern California to decide if they want to continue supporting the effort. The $16.3 billion project, known as California WaterFix, would divert water from the Sacramento River as it enters the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and carry it to existing federal and state pumping stations in the southern part of the delta through two 35-mile tunnels.
Oceanside has agreed to join three other North County cities sharing the costs of a study to determine the feasibility of forming a renewable-energy alternative to San Diego Gas & Electric Co. The study, expected to be completed by mid-summer, will look at the possibility of creating a nonprofit joint-powers authority to purchase electricity at a lower cost and higher percentage of renewable sources than that provided by SDG&E. The program is called a Community Choice Aggregation, or community choice energy.
San Diego officials are taking on the mystery of why residents from across the city are receiving water bills for thousands of dollars. City Councilwoman Barbara Bry has asked the city auditor to examine the Public Utilities Department to determine the cause. She made the request after getting almost 100 complaints from constituents and hearing from other councilmembers that they had received reports of high water bills as well.
Council President Pro Tem Barbara Bry has called for temporary relief for San Diegans who continue to claim the city has charged them for water they didn’t use. Customers fighting high bills should continue to have access to water as long as they pay an amount equal to their average usage or what they were charged in the previous year during the same time period.
State officials Wednesday said they will press ahead with a smaller version of a long-planned water delivery project, initially building one, instead of two, massive tunnels in the heart of California’s vast waterworks. The decision to downsize California WaterFix boils down to money. The urban and agricultural water districts that are supposed to pay for the multibillion dollar project have only committed to enough funding for one water tunnel that would extend 35 miles under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
After the driest January on record, 44 percent of California is now experiencing moderate drought conditions. But, the city of Torrance has taken steps toward its goal of 100 percent water independence. At the center of the plan is an expansion of a system that removes salt from the city’s groundwater. “Our water is provided through our water department to our citizens at about 50 percent cheaper than other cities,” Mayor Patrick Furey said.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
