An undersea oil pipeline that for more than 50 years supplied Carlsbad’s Encina power plant with fuel and helped keep the lights on across San Diego County soon will be history.
NRG/Cabrillo Power has applied to the California Coastal Commission for permission to remove the 20-inch-diameter steel-and-concrete pipeline that extends out from beneath the power plant on Carlsbad Boulevard more than half a mile into the ocean at a depth of roughly 60 feet.
The San Juan Water District showed the rest of California how to save water when the state needed the savings most. The supplier for eastern Sacramento and southern Placer counties cut consumption 41% from 2013 levels during the summer of 2015 — the height of a years-long drought. District residents let their acre-sized properties fade, livestock went thirsty, vineyards decayed. Then, the rain arrived. Regulators relaxed the rules and on went some spigots. This summer, the district used almost 600 million more gallons than it did last summer. Lacking a state mandate to conserve, residents’ daily consumption climbed to more than 500 gallons per person.
The San Diego Sustainable Landscapes Program partnership is offering a new grant-funded financial incentive for qualified participants who upgrade residential turf lawns to landscapes that provide multiple environmental benefits. Incentive recipients are required to comply with a set of rigorous design criteria that includes water-efficient plants and irrigation equipment, rainwater capture and detention features, and soil amendments to improve water efficiency. Qualified applicants can receive up to $1.75 per square foot toward eligible project costs for upgrading 500 to 3,000 square feet of existing turf areas.
hree San Diego political consultants have formed a new advertising and PR agency offering public affairs consulting, strategic planning, coalition building and crisis communications services.Tony Manolatos, principal of Apex Strategies, has joined with Bob Nelson and Kelly Murphy Lamkin, principals of BNA Communications, to form Manolatos Nelson Murphy Advertising & Public Relations. The firm’s current list of clients includes 7-Eleven, Community Housing Works, the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors, the San Diego County Apartment Association and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association.
It’s a good deal if you can get it: Some North County water customers are paying less for their water than it’s worth.
The Vallecitos Water District – which provides water to 97,000 people in and around San Marcos – has kept rates so low it’s now selling water at a loss.
The shenanigans within the small district offer a window into the lengths some California water officials will go to avoid raising rates.
In Vallecitos, the low rates have become an issue in this fall’s water board elections.
San Diego County’s reliance on imported water is among the highest in California. Despite previous and planned local investments in desalination and recycling, most of this region’s water will continue to come from distant watersheds for decades to come as far as any water planner today can see. In fact, by 2040 the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) estimates 80 percent of their supply will be imported even with water efficiency savings and increased local supplies. Nearly half of that water will come from Metropolitan Water District which gets its supply from the Colorado River and Sierra Nevada.
San Diego’s landmark water recycling system took several key steps forward this week when the City Council approved an accelerated timeline and a comprehensive environmental analysis.
The council also approved $52 million in projects to kick start the program, and endorsed plans to use methane from the Miramar landfill as a power source for water purification, making the process more environmentally friendly.
Leaders from several communities in the region that share San Diego’s sewer system complained that accelerating the $3 billion program will unfairly increase sewer rates for them more quickly than expected.
A storm system from the north is expected to make its way through Southern California Thursday night and into Friday morning, bringing with it rain and the potential for flash floods and mudslides.
A flash flood watch has been issued for most of Southern California until noon on Friday. Los Angeles and Orange counties will have mostly cloudy skies with the chance of late-night rain Thursday as highs reach 80 degrees. The bulk of the rain is expected to fall Friday morning.
A much-anticipated rainstorm is set to move into Southern California on Thursday evening and move out by Friday afternoon.
According to the National Weather Service, the rain will be heaviest late tonight and will continue into the Friday morning commute.
A flash flood watch has been issued for burn areas in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
The storm has already hit Central California, prompting some evacuations in areas that were burned by the Sherpa Fire earlier this year.
Officials expect less than a half-inch of rain in Los Angeles but more to the north, including 2 inches in San Luis Obispo.
As the state enters its sixth year of drought, Northern California is seeing some significant relief thanks to a series of powerful storms, while Southern California remains mired in record dry conditions.
Despite a rainstorm set to hit the Southland this week, the region continues to face an unprecedented lack of precipitation, recording only 60% of average rainfall this month. By contrast, communities from the Bay Area north to the Oregon border have recorded 200% to 300% of the average this month, according to the National Weather Service.
