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The City of San Diego has awarded a $50,000 grant to Blue Tech trade group The Maritime Alliance to fund a new incubator for start-ups working on ocean and water-based technologies. Mayor Kevin Faulconer said the grant aims to bolster the region as a hub for Blue Tech innovation. “This new business incubator is going to provide the tools needed to spur the development of young companies with the potential to harness the ocean to create a cleaner and more sustainable planet for us all,” said Faulconer in a statement.

Health officials in San Diego County said Monday they won’t be looking for hepatitis A in the San Diego River and that such an effort wouldn’t be a wise use of resources. The response comes after City Councilman David Alvarez sent out letters to regional water-quality researchers and Mayor Kevin Faulconer calling for testing in the watershed — which officials have recently identified as significantly polluted with human feces.

The plant, to be built by Boston-based Poseidon Water, would produce 50 million gallons a day of drinking water, enough for about 400,000 people. Poseidon’s plant of the same size in Carlsbad is currently the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. The state lands lease, which runs through 2026, lets Poseidon use pipes from a coastal power plant to suck seawater into reverse osmosis pipes and spit back concentrated brine after the water is desalinated.

A proposed Huntington Beach seawater desalination plant passed a major regulatory hurdle Thursday when a marathon session at City Hall concluded with an endorsement from the California State Lands Commission. After more than four hours of public comment, the three-member panel unanimously approved amendments to a 2010 environmental impact report on Poseidon Water’s $1-billion project. The additions, recommended by commission staff, are expected to make the proposed plant at Pacific Coast Highway and Newland Street less harmful to ocean life and ensure its compliance with the California Ocean Plan, passed in 2015.

The Santa Fe Irrigation District announced the resignation of Augustus (Auggie) Daddi from the Board of Directors, effective Nov. 1, due to personal reasons. Daddi represents Division #5 within the district that covers the southwest area of the City of Solana Beach. For more detailed information on the Division #5 boundaries, please visit www.sfidwater.org/Division5. As a result of Daddi’s resignation, a vacancy on the board of directors exists and the board of directors may fill the vacancy through appointment.