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The Metropolitan Water District of California has authorized the preliminary design to replace the wastewater system at Lake Mathews. A May 9 MWD board vote authorized the preliminary design process, appropriated $350,000 for that phase, and found the preliminary design phase to be categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act review. The preliminary design activity will include data collection, resource evaluation activities, and potential inspections. In the late 1930s MWD built the Colorado River Aqueduct which runs from Parker to Lake Mathews, and MWD’s Colorado River supply is distributed from Lake Mathews.

A multi-million-dollar expansion means millions of more gallons of clean drinking water for San Diego’s South Bay.  The Sweetwater Authority dedicated the expansion of its Richard A. Reynolds Groundwater Desalination Facility Thursday. The $42 million expansion doubles the plant’s output to 10 million gallons of water a day.  Sweetwater Authority had to dig five new wells for the desal plant, which is located in Chula Vista. “It’s a day to celebrate,” said Sweetwater’s Director of Engineering Ron Mosher.

When Southern California needs water, it takes a big gulp from the streams and waterways of Northern California. One of those is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and a multi-billion dollar plan years in the making could overhaul how we get our water from there. And officials have announced that it will make a decision on that plan by September. Jeffrey Mount, senior fellow of the Water Policy Center at the Public Policy Institute of California, joins Take Two to explain what’s at stake.

A groundwater basin monitoring contract between the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and GeoPentech, Inc., to monitor the Domenigoni Basin has been approved. The $160,000 contract was authorized as part of a May 9 MWD board vote. GeoPentech, which is headquartered in Irvine, will monitor the basin west of Diamond Valley Lake. Water first flowed into Diamond Valley Lake in 1999. MWD approved the project, including an Environmental Impact Report, in 1991. The EIR identified a need to mitigate groundwater flows after the reservoir’s construction, and MWD currently mitigates downstream impacts with engineered seepage from Diamond Valley Lake and from the San Diego Canal.

From lead contamination to sewage spills, concerned neighbors say they are fed up with water problems in San Diego, and on Saturday, they took their frustrations straight to the source. Dozens packed the California Regional Water Quality Control Board meeting, arguing for what they say needs to fixed. Several neighbors took to the open mic to raise issues over industrial waste, toxic medical waste and sewage contaminating local waterways. Many residents were still angry about millions of gallons of sewage pumping in from Mexico spills and forcing the closure of local beaches.