San Diego Unified officials have shut off some drinking fountains at district headquarters after high levels of lead were discovered in the water. Bottled water is being provided to employees and the public at the Education Center, a district spokesman said. Water was discovered at 18 parts per billion (ppb) at the Education Center in the 4100 block of Normal Street where the school board meets, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
This afternoon starting at 2 p.m., MWD will hold a workshop to discuss the release of their financing plan and the projected cost to Los Angeles ratepayers. “Ratepayers will converge at today’s meeting today to protest this unfair rate and tax hike,” according to Brenna Norton of Food & Water Watch in a news advisory. The average L.A. customer would see their water bills rise from $200 to over $393 annually for up to 75 years, according to an independent analysis by EcoNorthwest.
After years of planning for one of the biggest California water projects in decades, a key question remains unanswered: Who exactly will pay for it? Decision time is approaching for the agencies that will have to pick up the nearly $17-billion tab for building two massive water tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the heart of the state’s water works.
Is your backyard a dirt lot? Do you have a front lawn but would like something more drought-tolerant? If you’re thinking of landscaping as a DIY project or with the help of professionals, check out the San Diego County Water Authority’s WaterSmart Landscape Makeover Program before getting started. Even though this winter’s rain relieved California’s severe drought, saving water is still essential in our dry climate. Water-smart gardens will not only save money by yielding lower water bills, they will be easier to maintain.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) released its final white paper on paying for the California WaterFix project yesterday. Based on my initial review, as discussed below the white paper relies on two inaccurate assumptions, which significantly bias the analysis and conclusions and provides the Board of Directors with misleading and inaccurate information.
San Diego County released a draft climate plan on Thursday, pledging to dramatically reduce greenhouse-gas emission by limiting backcountry sprawl and using at least 90 percent renewable energy by 2030. The proposed blueprint for fighting global warming comes five years after the San Diego chapter of the Sierra Club first sued the county over an earlier version of the plan. Lawyers for the environment group argued in court that the county’s original vision lacked specificity on how it would realize deep cuts in climate-warming emissions.
If California ratepayers were asked whether residents and businesses should be forced to pay more than the reasonable cost of delivering water to their taps, I’d bet my bottom dollar that virtually all of them would respond in the strongest possible terms: That’s not fair or legal. Essentially the same question is at the heart of the San Diego County Water Authority’s July 31 petition for review by the state Supreme Court: Can the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California charge San Diego County more than the cost of providing the services we purchase?
Having access to nature is a gift these days. In a time when our environmental protections are being threatened at a federal level, it’s more important than ever to get involved locally and make our voices heard. That’s why I encourage community members to join the effort to restore the northeast corner of Mission Bay and its wetlands. I grew up in San Diego and I remember running like a mountain lion through the Mission Bay wetlands, surrounded by tall cord grass, pickleweed and California sunflowers.
Developers in the city of San Diego are facing tougher government enforcement at construction sites that have the potential to pollute rivers and streams — including fines and even stop-work orders. That’s the result of a settlement San Diego officials entered into with water quality regulators that will require the city to pay $3.2 million and step up policing of development. The agreement was reached after the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board brought a civil liability complaint against the city for alleged violations of its stormwater permit last year.
Federal and state regulators will allow San Diego to avoid upgrading its outdated wastewater treatment plant as long as the city continues to pursue a $3 billion water recycling program. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board on Monday approved the city’s permit application to operate the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant for another five years despite it being the only facility of its kind not to meet federal standards.
