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OPINION: Regional Investments to Provide Regulatory Relief Under New State Rules

/in /by /Seaside Courier (Encinitas)

Strategic efforts by the San Diego region to secure safe and reliable water supplies over the past 25 years are expected to provide significant drought relief to local water agencies and water users under rules adopted in May by the State Water Resources Control Board.

State regulators replaced state-mandated conservation targets with a supply-based approach that considers each agency’s specific situation and water supplies — an approach the San Diego County Water Authority and others have sought for more than a year.

 

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U-T, Voice of San Diego Among Media Nominees for SDCTA Awards

/in /by /Times of San Diegoby Ken Stone Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Three city of San Diego programs were nominated Wednesday for Golden Watchdog Awards, which are handed out annually by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. Nominees for the Media Watchdog Award are Ashly McGlone of the Voice of San Diego for “Several Years and $1 Billion Later, San Diego Schools Are Actually in Worse Shape,” a story on the impact of a pair of voter-approved construction bonds on facilities in the San Diego Unified School District; and Lauryn Schroeder of The San Diego Union-Tribune for “How One Firefighter Made $210K in OT,” which details city of San Diego overtime expenses.

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Drought Sparks Larger Wildfires Throughout California

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Veronica Rocha

Firefighters are tackling larger and more aggressive wildfires as drought conditions continue for a fifth year in California, drying out swaths of forest land.

Raging wildfires in Northern and Southern California kept firefighters busy over the weekend, pushing the number of acres burned so far this year to well over 20,000. In the north, crews tackled the 3,200-acre Coleman fire as it tore through Los Padres National Forest, threatening several homes. Farther south in Calabasas, residents left their homes as flames consumed more than 500 acres.

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Water Conservation Has Saved Energy, Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Study Finds

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Joshua Emerson Smith Quoted: Bob Yamada

As debate continues in San Diego County and around the state over how aggressively to conserve water amid a historic drought, a new study finds that reductions in urban water use have saved significant amounts of electricity and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

The analysis, published by UC Davis, capitalized on the unique circumstances created by California’s drought. It culled statistics that electric utilities and water districts statewide were required to submit because of Gov. Jerry Brown’s unprecedented order for residents and businesses to lower water consumption by an average of 25%.

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Desalination test facility in the works

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant
Quoted: Bob Yamada and James Palen

Water managers are taking the next steps in exploring whether to increase the amount of drinkable water produced from desalination in San Diego County by up to four times the current level.

Construction of a test facility at Camp Pendleton is scheduled to start this fall. There are no plans at this point to build a full-scale plant, but officials could approve such an undertaking to begin as early as 2020 if various factors exist.

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Agency That Bet on Desalination Stands Out in Crowded Primary

/in /by /The Bond Buyer (New York) Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

In the latest installment of Muni Minute – The Bond Buyer’s 60-second video series that examines a top municipal market story that will impact the coming week – we look at how the San Diego County Water Authority is reaping the benefits from the nation’s largest seawater desalination plant and is expected to hit market with a triple-A rating for the first time ever.

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Saving water saved a lot of power, too

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

As debate continues in San Diego County and around the state over how aggressively to conserve water amid a historic drought, a new study finds that cuts in urban water use have saved significant amounts of electricity and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The analysis, published by UC Davis, capitalized on the unique circumstances created by California’s drought. It culled statistics that electric utilities and water districts statewide were required to submit because of Gov. Jerry Brown’s unprecedented order for residents and businesses to lower water consumption by an average of 25 percent.

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Israeli Water Tech Cos to Tackle California Drought

/in /by /Globes (Israel)by Yuval Azulai Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant

Representatives of 26 water purification, desalinization, wastewater treatment, piping, irrigation, and other companies will travel to Los Angeles at the end of June. Seeking US money, Israeli water companies are turning to drought-stricken California. Representatives of no fewer than 26 water purification, desalinization, wastewater treatment, piping, irrigation, and other companies will travel to Los Angeles at the end of the month in an effort to slake the thirst of Californians, while making a few dollars in the process.

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OPINION: California’s drought: How Trump’s blustering caricatured a genuine crisis

/in /by /Los Angeles Times by Michael Hiltzik

Of all the mistakes, misstatements, and assorted bloviations issuing from Donald Trump during the current presidential campaign, surely one of the leading head-scratchers is his May 27 assertion to the effect that “there is no drought” in California.

 

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California Water Savings Increased Despite Eased Mandates

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith Quoted: Bob Yamada

Residents and businesses in San Diego County and around the state continued to save large amount of waters in April, even as regulators have eased a mandate for cutting back on urban water use — and are poised to eliminate such targets altogether for many water districts in coming weeks.

State officials reported Monday that water use in California dropped by an average of 26.1 percent in April compared with the same month in 2013, the benchmark year set by Gov. Jerry Brown’s emergency water conservation order. That program began in June, got eased in March and is being downscaled again.

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