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The San Diego Unified School District is trying to calm concerns of parents at Alice Birney Elementary School in University Heights after high levels of lead were found in the drinking water. At the same time, it was suggested that parents have their children tested for exposure to lead by their family doctors.

The drinking fountain near the lunch area of Birney Elementary School was one of the sources sampled in the district’s effort to test all schools for lead levels in drinking water.

A plan to use floating solar panels at the Olivenhain Reservoir has been moving forward. The first solar array of its kind has been billed as a triple technology threat by producing energy saving water and cutting costs all at the same time. “I think the technology has matured. There are more companies in the US. doing this,” said Kelly Rodgers, San Diego County Water Authority energy program manager. “It was a great opportunity for the Water Authority to reduce our costs.”

The Carlsbad City Council met in closed session Tuesday to discuss litigation. In open session, the council held a hearing and approved a plan to demolish three office/commercial buildings and build 33 residential condos on three floors at 800 Grand Ave. A resolution to start the process for by-district council elections was approved 3-2. The council discussed transparency in how it appoints people to the Historic Preservation and the Planning commissions, which differs from the way appointments are made to other boards and commissions. The council agreed to add information explaining the process to applicants.

When you’re trying to generate a lot more solar power, you’re limited by the size and heft of those big solar panels. Where can you put them? The answer so far has been the desert, or on rooftops. There have even been efforts to put panels on top of landfill sites. Solar entrepreneur Troy Helming of the San Francisco-based solar company Pristine Sun has a new idea: floating on water.

On Wednesday, a state appeals court expressed skepticism about a San Diego County Water Authority’s court victory over the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. At stake is up to $7.4 billion in San Diego ratepayer money. The Water Authority’s earlier victory is “in jeopardy,” according to the Daily Journal. Last year, a San Francisco judge handed the Water Authority a major win by ruling that Metropolitan, which supplies most of San Diego’s water, had been overcharging the Water Authority to deliver some water from the Colorado River. The two water agencies are locked in a series of expensive and high-stakes legal and political battles.