Water is a top priority in California, and Cuyamaca College is hoping to help young women tap into a career in the field, offering tips and information at a daylong symposium on Thursday. “Women in Water: Exploring Career Pathways” is expected to draw nearly 100 high school students and an equal number of water industry officials from throughout California as Cuyamaca aims to bolster the numbers of women in the water industry.
On Tuesday, La Mesa Mayor Mark Arapostathis delivered an optimistic State of the City, in which he cited low crime, a 2017 survey that said 91% of La Mesa residents rate the quality of life in La Mesa as being excellent or good, and $8.5 million in local infrastructure improvements, plus further investments from SDG&E and San Diego County Water Authority that strengthen the “long-term stability for the infrastructure under our streets.”
West Shores High School principal Richard Pimentel slips on a cowboy hat before stepping outside. It is a nod to fashion as a response to the region’s harsh desert sun. The school sits about halfway up the western side of California’s Salton Sea. Modern buildings, concrete patios and walkways and an artificial turf sports field stand in stark contrast to the desert community that surrounds the campus. Tumbleweed and sand are common fixtures of the town’s yards. “We are about 30 miles from anywhere,” Pimentel said.
A piece of Carlsbad history will disappear this month — and with it a small chunk of the beach. Utility company contractors have begun the removal of an underwater pipeline used by ships to offload fuel oil for the Encina power plant for more than 50 years. The pipeline and the rock jetty that covers it across the beach are being removed because they are no longer needed.
Riverside County officials on Thursday unveiled a possible $400-million remedy for some of what ails the shrinking Salton Sea: record-high salinity levels, die-offs of fish, fewer birds and an immense “bathtub ring” of smelly playa prone to toxic dust storms. The so-called North Lake Vision proposed by Riverside County Supervisor Manuel Perez calls for creation of an in-lake barrier, or dam, on the north end of the sea that would be filled with enhanced flows from the White Water River to create what he described as “a 4,200-acre healthy lake within a much larger not-so-healthy one.”
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will be undertaking comprehensive assessments of the spillways and dam structures at Lake Mathews and Lake Skinner along with preliminary design of upgrades to the dam monitoring systems at both lakes. The MWD board vote, Dec. 12, also approved an agreement with AECOM, an international design firm, for technical support of those activities. The $2.86 million appropriation for the project covers $2,000,000 for the study and $860,000 to upgrade the monitoring systems and includes $1.53 million for AECOM’s consultant work.
“The people in Western Chula Vista and National City are getting ice age, prehistoric water that is incredibly good,” said Michael Garrod, the engineering manager at the Sweetwater Authority during a tour of the Richard A. Reynolds Groundwater Desalination Facility. “It’s 16,000-year-old water that hasn’t been touched by man’s hands. No pesticides. Nothing in it.”
Over the holidays, I had a chance to get out my crystal ball and look at water issues for the year ahead. Of course, it’s impossible to know exactly what will happen, but here are my predictions about the water-related topics to watch 2018: The return of the water tax proposal. Last summer, an 11th-hour effort emerged in the Legislature to impose – for the first time – a new statewide tax on residential and business water bills. The “water tax” was part of a bill that aims to improve access to safe drinking water for disadvantaged communities.
Here’s a sample of the staggering amount of rain that fell across San Diego County from late Monday to early Wednesday. Most of the rain came on Tuesday. Forecasters say San Diego isn’t likely to get more rain for the next 7-10 days.
A surprisingly strong storm swept through San Diego County on Tuesday, causing scores of traffic accidents, leaving thousands without power, shuttering beaches and sinking at least one boat. While property damage and flooding were limited, the downpour flushed sewage-tainted pollution from Tijuana into South Bay beaches as far north as Coronado. The first major storm of season brought more than 2 inches of precipitation and winds up to 55 mph along parts of the coast and as much as 4 inches in the mountains with 70 mph gusts.
