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Spiking Water Bills Anger Rancho Bernardo Residents

/in /by /NBC7by Omari Fleming

Crowds swarmed the Rancho Bernardo library Monday night to confront city officials about spiking water bills. NBC 7 Responds found that thousands of residents face sky-high water bills after rates began soaring in July 2017. Caryn Cooper was among the 100 people who packed the library to ask the Public Utilities Department about what they’re doing to remedy exorbitant bills. She helps a friend living on a fixed income whose bill increased by nearly $200.

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Up To 18 Inches Of Snow To Fall In San Diego County Mountains

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

A storm out of the Gulf of Alaska will blow ashore in San Diego County late Monday, dropping up to 18 inches of snow on mountain peaks and up to three-quarters of an inch of rain in some areas at and near the coast. The system also will extend San Diego’s week-long cold spell. On Tuesday, the temperature won’t get above 57 degrees — which is almost 10 points below average. “It doesn’t look like the temperatures will get above 60 anywhere in San Diego County on Tuesday,” said Brandt Maxwell, a forecaster at the National Weather Service. “That’s including the desert.”

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Rain And Low-Elevation Snow Expected With Cold Winter Storm

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hailey Branson-Potts

A cold winter storm is expected to bring light rain and low-elevation snowfall to Southern California beginning Monday evening, forecasters said. The system is expected to bring only about a quarter-inch of rain or less to the region, but driving conditions in mountainous areas could be precarious with snow levels potentially dropping as low as 1,700 feet in some areas, said Andrew Rorke, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

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Environment Report: Slow Rollout For San Diego’s Smart Meters

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

For years, San Diego has wanted to install 280,000 “smart meters” across the city. The goal was to improve meter accuracy, provide real-time data on water use and eliminate the need for human meter readers. That’s all behind schedule. In 2016, the city guessed it could complete the project by the beginning of 2018 at the cost of about $60 million. So far, the city has installed only about 90,000 meters that it considers “ready” to begin transmitting water use data. Of those, less than a fifth actually are.

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San Diego Faces Another Week Of Cold, Damp Weather

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

San Diego County is going to be unusually cold for a second straight week as a pair of low pressure systems bring showers and possibly light snow to the region, says the National Weather Service. The first system will arrive on Monday and will prevent the daytime high from rising above 62 in San Diego, which has an average high of 65 this time of year. The temperature will be 57 on Tuesday and 60 on Wednesday. Inland valleys and foothills will mostly be in the 50s, with some areas 5 to 10 degrees below average.

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Will California’s Water Wars Create A Constitutional Conundrum?

/in /by /KQEDby Amel Ahmed Quoted: Jeff Stephenson

With nearly half the state back in drought, California’s water regulator held a contentious hearing in Sacramento on Tuesday on whether to make permanent the temporary water bans enacted by Governor Jerry Brown during the 2014-2017 drought. The board announced it will revisit the proposed measures in March while it makes some minor revisions to the draft proposals.

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Alarming Dry Conditions In California Setting New Records

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rong-Gong Lin II

California is headed to a dry finish to February, historically one of the state’s wettest months. The state has been getting cold storms in recent days, which have been responsible for plunging temperatures, but the systems have been dry because they’ve been coming inland, from Canada, instead of over the Pacific Ocean, where they can soak up moisture.

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Water Department To Refund Customers For Water Meter Tests

/in /by /NBC 7 by Tom Jones, Consumer Bob and Erica Byers

Less than a week after an expert told NBC 7 Responds the city’s water meter testing procedures had “inadequacies” and past testing results were incomplete, the Public Utilities Department announced Wednesday they will be refunding customers who paid for meter tests during the past seven months. The policy change will only cover tests performed in the current fiscal year, going back to July 1, 2017.

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Officials Break Ground On 1.6 Billion Gallon Recycled Water Reservoir In South Orange County

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby Nathaniel Percy

A reservoir capable of holding 1.6 billion gallons of recycled water is set to sustain south Orange County by the end of 2019. Once completed, the Trampas Canyon Reservoir will store enough excess treated water in the winter months to meet irrigation demands in the region during the summer. It will also be the largest surface water reservoir in south Orange County, with the capacity to hold more than one-half of the recycled water the district will generate from its nearby Chiquita Water Reclamation Plant, officials said.

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OPINION: Rain? We Don’t Need No Stinking Rain!

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Michael Smolens Quoted: Tim Bombardier

They say we could use some rain. Why? Let the deluge happen up north. Root for a huge snowpack in the Sierra. Pray for 40 days and 40 nights of rain in the Colorado River Basin. But must we be guilted into acting like we want downpours that wash away parts of the county? Come now. We like sunshine, every day. That’s why we love it here. That’s why so many songs about Southern California feature sunshine.

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