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San Diego Water Authority Celebrates 20 Years of Secure, Clean Water Through Landmark Pact

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Elizabeth Ireland / City News Service Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority announced that Sunday marks 20 years since water officials across the Southwestern U.S. signed the largest water conservation-transfer agreement in the nation’s history, enabling two decades of sourcing clean water from the Colorado River.

Known as the Colorado River Quantification Settlement Agreement, or QSA, the agreements settled decades of dispute over Colorado River water.

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Reservoirs Are So Full Long Beach Will Buy Water at a Discount, Save its Groundwater

/in , , /by /Long Beach Post by Jason Ruiz

With California reservoirs full after a historically wet winter, the Long Beach Utilities Commission has signed off on a plan to buy more imported water at a discount to help other cities clear space to capture more rain during the upcoming winter season.

Long Beach typically pumps over 60% of its customers’ water from local ground aquifers and is able to avoid paying for more expensive water piped in through the State Water Project or the Colorado River.

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September Was Hot in the US, But Not So Much in San Diego

/in , /by /KPBS-FM/TVby Erik Anderson

September was one of the warmest ever in the United States, with records falling in 111 counties, but conditions were moderate in Southern California.

Most of the country baked under record heat in September as large swaths of hot air covered the Midwest and East. The final tally put September 2023 as the seventh warmest in the last 129 years.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) said it was also the third-driest September ever recorded in the lower 48 states.

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Traces of COVID-19 in Point Loma Wastewater Reach Highest Levels in More Than a Year

/in , /by /Times of San Diego by Editor

Health officials reported Sunday that Point Loma has reached the highest concentration of COVID-19 viral load in local wastewater since August 2022.

According to the San Diego Epidemiology and Research for COVID Health Alliance, a partnership between Scripps Research and UC San Diego, scientists measure concentration of the virus at the Point Loma, Encina and South Bay wastewater treatment plants to understand how the virus is evolving and being transmitted.

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QSA: Landmark Conservation Pact Marks 20 Years of Water Security for San Diego

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Twenty years ago, in October 2003, water officials from across the Southwest signed the largest water conservation-and-transfer agreement in U.S. history, the QSA, or Quantification Settlement Agreement. The agreement has provided decades of water security for San Diego County and benefits for numerous partners across the Southwest. In total, that pact supplies more than half of the water that sustains San Diego County’s 3.3 million residents and $268 billion economy.

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IID Dedicates New Lloyd Allen Water Conservation Operational Reservoir

/in , , /by /Imperial Valley Press Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors conducted a formal dedication of its newest water conservation and operational reservoir located just east of here on Wednesday, October 11, named after longtime Division 3 Director Lloyd Allen.

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Escondido Prepares for Proposed Water Rate Hikes

/in , , /by /FOX 5 San Diego by Kasia Gregorczyk Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

One week away from the city of Escondido voting on a potential double-digit water rate increase, council members received a presentation about the rate increase already decided on by San Diego County Water Authority.

“The board ultimately chose to go with a smoothing approach for the rate increases with an effective rate increase of 9.5% for calendar year 2024,” said Tish Berge, deputy general manager for SDCWA.

Berge explained the smoothing approach meant projected future increases wouldn’t be as steep. The county water authority cites several similar factors as the city for needing to raise the rate like inflation and maintaining infrastructure, but they also say they’ve lost money as a result of more frequent rainfall.

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Supervisors OK Ordinance Amendment Tied to Borrego Springs Groundwater

/in , , /by /Times of San Diego by Debbie L. Sklar

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 Wednesday to align county regulations with a court ruling allowing users in the Borrego Springs Subbasin to pump groundwater.

In 2021, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled that users in the Borrego Springs Subbasin have the right to pump groundwater. In connection with that ruling, a required 70% reduction in groundwater use to comply with the state Sustainable Groundwater Management Act must be achieved by 2040.

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Newsom says Tijuana Sewage Crisis is a Federal Issue. Coastal Commission Will Look to Biden for a Declaration

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Tammy Murga

Gov. Gavin Newsom says the sewage crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border does not qualify as an emergency under state statute and that is why he has not issued a declaration. So members of the California Coastal Commission, following a visit Wednesday to the South Bay area affected by the ongoing toxic pollution, agreed to consider asking President Joe Biden to proclaim one.

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IID Dedicates New Lloyd Allen Reservoir

/in , /by /Holtville Tribune

The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors conducted a formal dedication of its newest water conservation and operational reservoir located just east of Calipatria on Wednesday, Oct. 11, named after longtime Division 3 Director Lloyd Allen. The new reservoir is expected to help IID conserve 400 acre-feet of water a year and features a storage capacity of 40 acre-feet.

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