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Western Municipal Boosts Water Rates for Riverside, Murrieta Customers

/in /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside)

The nearly 24,000 Western Municipal Water District customers can expect to see their water bills rise on average about $15 to $20 a month after this week’s approval of phased rate increases. Residential customers in the Riverside area should see bills climb an average of $14.63 per month by early 2020, with a first incremental bump of $4.64 in January, a district report states. Customers in Murrieta are in for a hike of $19.24 over that period, starting with a $5.98 increase in January.

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Why Gov. Brown’s Water Tunnels Plan May Be Doomed

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

Gov. Jerry Brown’s bold $17 billion plan to build two gigantic 35-mile, 40-foot-wide tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to make it easier to move water from Northern California to Southern California and to stabilize the state’s water distribution system always seemed like a tough sell. Critics were far more energized than supporters. Then last month, a huge new obstacle emerged. That’s when the Central Valley’s Westlands Water District — the nation’s biggest irrigation district — came out against the project. It had been expected to pay nearly a quarter of the $17 billion cost.

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Padre Dam’s East County Water Purification Program Moving Forward

/in /by /WaterWorld Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Padre Dam Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a contract for the next phase of work on the East County Advanced Water Purification Program. The project, which is expected to produce up to 30% of East County’s water by 2023, is a collaboration between Padre Dam, Helix Water District, the City of El Cajon and the County of San Diego.

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L.A. City Councilman Wants Water Board to Call Off Delta Tunnels Vote

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

A Los Angeles city councilman is calling on the council and Mayor Eric Garcetti to oppose a crucial vote by a Southern California water board on a $17-billion project that would be funded in part by Los Angeles ratepayers. Councilman Paul Koretz introduced a resolution Friday that asks the city and Garcetti to formally object to a vote by the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on the project, known as California WaterFix. The 38-member board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to commit $4.3 billion in MWD funds to the project.

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City Council Plans To Sue Federal Government Over Tijuana Sewage Spills

/in /by /NBC San Diegoby Cassia Pollock

The San Diego City Council has announced plans Wednesday to sue the federal government over millions of gallons of raw sewage that poured into the Tijuana River. City Councilmember David Alvarez said that the City of San Diego will join forces with the cities of Chula Vista and Imperial Beach, along with the Port of San Diego, in taking the first step to prevent sewage spills in the future. The city will file a Notice of Intent to sue the federal government and the International Boundary and Water Commission, he announced.

 

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Clear The Air Coalition’s Ties To Sempra Aren’t Always Clear To The Public

/in /by /Voice Of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

A new group known as the Clear the Air coalition has risen up to discourage the city of San Diego from taking on San Diego Gas & Electric. The city wants 100 percent of electricity sold within city limits to come from renewable sources by 2035. SDG&E argues that it’s too risky and too expensive to abandon natural gas-fired power right now. So, the city is thinking about buying energy for its 1.4 million residents by becoming a community choice aggregator, or CCA. The City Council could vote on the switch in the next several months.

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Poseidon Water To Collaborate With Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory To Research And Develop New Water Technologies

/in /by /Orange County Breeze Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant

Poseidon Water announced a collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to support the development of new water technologies to lower the energy requirements, environmental impacts, and costs of water
treatment. Poseidon has offered to share access and operating data from the Carlsbad and proposed Huntington Beach desalination facilities to allow for the development and testing of new water technologies.

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Bad Taste, Smell of Water Draws Complaints in Vista, Escondido

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

An equipment glitch at a North County water treatment plant is most likely behind the disagreeable taste and smell some have noticed in Vista and Escondido tap water for more than a week — but the unpleasantness should taper off in a day or so, water officials said Tuesday. Officials with the water districts that serve the two cities underscored that the water has been and remains safe and that the problem was aesthetic only.

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OPINION: Editorial: San Diego’s Filthy Water Woes: Enough is Enough

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Union-Tribune Editorial Board

The pollution coming from the Tijuana region that has fouled the waters and beaches of San Diego County shouldn’t be accepted as the price of living next door to a nation with weaker environmental enforcement than the United States. That’s why area residents should welcome news that the Port of San Diego, Imperial Beach and Chula Vista have filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government for failing to address the problem adequately.

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Water Authority Forecasts Adequate Supply, Continuing Conservation in 2018

/in /by /Times of San Diego Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority is forecasting adequate supplies and expecting continued conservation efforts as California begins the 2018 water year on Sunday. “Thanks to remarkably wet conditions last winter, the 2018 water year will begin with improved supply conditions at the water authority’s two imported water sources – the Colorado River and the Sierra Nevada,” the authority said in a statement. In addition, the region can count on the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, and is prepared with high storage levels in many local reservoirs.

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