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Schools Find Lead In Filtered Water

/in , /by /Voice Of San Diego

San Diego Unified found lead in water where it definitely should not be: coming from faucets with water filters on them. Last year, San Diego Unified found 38 schools with elevated levels of lead in their water. The district began replacing plumbing and fixtures and, in some cases, installing new water filters designed to remove lead. Lead is unsafe at any level and is especially damaging to children’s brains. Recently, though, the district has gotten results that show lead in newly filtered water. Samer Naji, a spokesman for the school district, said the results are a “head-scratcher.”

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Water Board Considers Budget For Coming Year

/in , /by /Rancho Santa Fe Review (Solana Beach)by Joe Tash Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Santa Fe Irrigation District board got a look on Thursday, May 17, at the water agency’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, a spending plan that calls for $30.8 million in operational costs and $10.4 million in capital projects. A public hearing is set for June 21 when the board can approve the final budget for the coming year. The budget anticipates an 8 percent increase in water sales, to 10,170 acre feet. The total includes 450 acre feet of recycled water. (An acre-foot is equivalent to 325,851 gallons).

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City Councilmember Suggesting Changes To Water Department After High Water Bill Concerns

/in , /by /NBC San Diegoby Tom Jones, Consumer Bob, Erica Byers and Dorian Hargrove

A San Diego City Councilmember is looking to build a bridge of trust over the troubled water meter controversy. This after hundreds of customers came forward, claiming they were overcharged, some by hundreds of dollars for water they never used. In addition to complaints, NBC 7 Responds obtained public records showing property owners who filed claims for damages from the city, stating they were overcharged for water services.

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Environment Report: San Diego Searching For New Solar Sites

/in , /by /Voice Of San Diegoby Ry Rivard Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

As it tries to find ways to get more green energy, San Diego is studying spots to install new solar arrays across the city. Clean Coalition, a Menlo Park-based nonprofit, is spending the next year and a half looking for places that can host “meaningfully-sized” solar projects. The effort is paid for by a federal grant meant to help the city reach its goal of receiving only clean energy by 2035. Environmentalists have argued that smaller, local solar projects can help the city wean itself off power from big companies with big projects, like San Diego Gas & Electric.

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OPINION: Yes On Proposition 68’s $4 Billion Bond

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Proposition 68, which was placed on the ballot by the California Legislature, would authorize the sale of $4 billion in bonds to establish and rehabilitate state and local parks and to pay for environmental, water infrastructure and flood protection projects. Opponents raise fair questions about the wisdom of new state borrowing in a year in which the state is running a big surplus. Supporters respond by saying it’s traditional to use bonds to pay for capitol improvements and by emphasizing the bond responds to real needs, starting with its focus on adding parks to neglected poor communities.

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California’s Only Sea Is Dying And Now Threatening Children

/in , /by /SF Gateby Ted Andersen

The Salton Sea is steadily disappearing, and communities near it are literally being left in the dust. California’s largest body of water — located in Imperial County near the Mexico-U.S. border — has been sinking for years, and dust clouds containing heavy metals, agricultural chemicals and fine particulates connected to asthma and other diseases are harming young people in that area. Children living in Imperial Valley have higher rates of respiratory problems compared to children elsewhere in the United States, according to a recently released government-funded survey conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California.

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Water Authority’s Proposed Rate Hikes Smallest In Years

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

Water rate increases proposed by the San Diego County Water Authority staff for 2019 are among the smallest in the past 15 years due to financial benefits secured through litigation against the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Water Authority’s planned use of its Rate Stabilization Fund, the agency reported Thursday. Rates charged to the Water Authority’s 24 member agencies would increase by 0.9 percent for treated water and 2.9 percent for untreated water in calendar year 2019, according to a proposal to be presented to the Water Authority’s Board of Directors on Thursday, May 24.

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Rate Increases For Water Agencies Across San Diego ‘Smallest’ In 15 Years

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Toni McAllister Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water agencies across the San Diego region are expected to see rate increases for 2019 that are “among the smallest in the past 15 years,” according to the San Diego County Water Authority. Rates charged to the Water Authority’s 24 member agencies would increase by 0.9 percent for treated water and 2.9 percent for untreated water in calendar year 2019, according to a proposal to be presented to the Water Authority’s Board of Directors on May 24.

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Successful Litigation And Rate Stabilization Fund Benefit Ratepayers

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

Water rate increases proposed by the San Diego County Water Authority staff for 2019 are among the smallest in the past 15 years due to financial benefits secured through litigation against the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Water Authority’s planned use of its Rate Stabilization Fund. Rates charged to the Water Authority’s 24 member agencies across out region would increase by 0.9 percent for treated water and 2.9 percent for untreated water in calendar year 2019, according to a proposal to be presented to the Water Authority’s Board of Directors on Thursday, May 24.

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As Salinity Grows And Toxic Dust Spreads, Patience Wears Thin At Salton Sea

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia watched with ill-disguised frustration as a hearing aimed at expediting state projects to restore habitat and control dust storms at the shrinking Salton Sea instead dissolved into discussion of why the efforts were falling further behind schedule. “We have a plan, we have money, there is additional money lined up, and we have a constituency — myself included — that is running out of patience,” Garcia (D-Coachella), chairman of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife, said.

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