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Federal cuts are threatening to close down the Tijuana Estuary Visitors Center, and supporters are writing letters to local Congress leaders urging them to restore funding to save a vital piece of California’s coast.  In President Trump’s budget, he is proposing to cut $250 million in grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Mr. Trump had previously said “these programs are a lower priority than core functions maintained in the budget such as surveys, charting and fisheries management.”

Yes, fellow citizens, there is something that both major political parties agree on: the need for infrastructure investment to get the country’s water systems, highways and other major public facilities rebuilt in order to avoid major failures in the near future. Our politicians are not the only ones working to accomplish this. A growing number of water districts and companies are hard at work on major water supply and wastewater initiatives.

Today the Poway Unified School District is testing water for lead at 12 campuses. The district sent a letter to parents to notify them of the testing, which will run through mid-June. The affected campuses include: Chaparral, Garden Road, Midland, Painted Rock, Pomerado, Tierra Bonita, and Valley Elementary schools, Meadowbrook and Twin Peaks middle schools, Abraxas and Poway high schools, and the CTE/Adult Education campus. The PUSD will also be requesting lead testing for its remaining schools served by the City of San Diego and Olivenhain Municipal Water District.

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.”