You are now in San Diego County category.

State Moves to Revise its Water Conservation

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by By Matt Stevens and Bettina Boxall

Gov. Jerry Brown and top water regulators on Monday laid out a revised game plan for dealing with California’s persistent drought, making some conservation rules permanent while also moving to give communities more of a say in deciding how much water they must save.

Brown issued an executive order enshrining a conservation ethic in state regulations — banning permanently some wasteful water practices and ordering regulators to develop new water-efficiency standards designed to drive down long-term urban use.

Full Story

Water Recycling Deal Stalls at National Level

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

With broad local support for San Diego’s envisioned water recycling program, Mayor Kevin Faulconer touted the plan again last week — this time as one of his top-funded efforts to fight climate change.

However, his strategy for pulling off the so-called Pure Water program isn’t a done deal. An agreement between local green groups and government officials that threaded the way for the project’s approval has hit a snag in recent months — one that could unravel regional backing for the program or end up costing residents billions of additional dollars.

Full Story

Nestle: Forest Service shouldn’t infringe on water rights

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by By Ian James

Nestle is objecting to the U.S. Forest Service’s terms for issuing it a new permit to continue piping water out of a national forest, saying the agency is overstepping its authority and infringing on the company’s water rights.

Nestle Waters North America detailed its concerns publicly for the first time in a 79-page document submitted to the Forest Service. The company, the largest producer of bottled water in the country, has long drawn water from the San Bernardino National Forest to produce Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water.

Full Story

San Diego’s Multi-Million Dollar Treatment Plants Stand Idle

/in /by /Water Onlineby By Sara Jerome Quoted: Mike Lee

San Diego has built out massive water infrastructure systems over the years that are now standing idle as water demand drops.

“This winter, demand for water was so low that the San Diego County Water Authority temporarily idled a $160 million plant in San Marcos that it built less than a decade ago. Water agencies that went into debt building treatment plants still have to pay up, whether the plant is needed every day or not,” Voice of San Diego recently reported.

Full Story

Water Resilience Project Wins 2016 Excellence in the Constructed Project Award

/in /by /AZoBuild (Cheshire, U.K.) Mentioned: Sam Diego County Water Authority

More than 80 percent of the water used in San Diego County is imported from Northern California and the Colorado River. The $1.5 billion E&CSP project, owned by the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA), is a system of reservoirs, interconnected pipelines and pumping stations that provide water system resilience and reliability to the San Diego region if imported water deliveries are interrupted due to events such as a prolonged drought or damaging earthquake.

Full Story

Sally Jewell Sees Progress in Colorado River Talks

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by By Ian James

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the United States and Mexico are making important progress in talks on a new accord to share water from the Colorado River, which is badly over-tapped and approaching critical shortage levels.

American and Mexican officials have been negotiating an agreement to replace their current five-year accord, which expires in 2017. Jewell said she is optimistic about those talks, and also about recent negotiations between states on sharing cutbacks if the levels of reservoirs continue to drop.

Full Story

Sanford in Runoff for LAFCO Special Districts Alternate

/in /by /Village News (Fallbrook) Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Rainbow Municipal Water District board member Dennis Sanford is in the runoff election for the alternate special district member seat on San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO).

Four special district board members sought the four-year term as the special districts alternate, but none received the necessary majority and a runoff between the two candidates with the most votes is now taking place. Judy Hanson of the Leucadia Wastewater District received 15 votes while Sanford received nine votes to qualify for the runoff election.

Full Story

Chula Vista Man Appointed to California Fish and Game Commission

/in /by /ABC10 (San Diego)

Gov. Jerry Brown Friday announced the appointment of a Chula Vista man to the California Fish and Game Commission.

Peter Silva, 63, has been president and chief executive officer at Silva-Silva International since 2011. He served as assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2009 to 2011, senior policy advisor at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from 2005 to 2009 and vice chair at the State Water Resources Control Board from 2000 to 2005.

Full Story

Free Landscaping Videos Bring Water Savings

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by By Karla Peterson Quoted: Joni German
When newcomers to the San Diego County Water Authority’s WaterSmart landscaping program tackle the prospect of giving their yards a water-saving makeover, their first questions aren’t about what they should tear out and what they should plant instead. It turns out their first questions are much more basic. Primal, even.
“Who can do this for me? Who can I hire? Can I really do this myself?” said Joni German, assistant water resources specialist for the San Diego County Water Authority.
Full Story

California Water Storage Projects Receive Awards

/in /by /civil + structural ENGINEER (Fayetteville, Ark.) Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The Emergency & Carryover Storage Project (E&CSP) in San Diego is one of the most important infrastructure projects constructed in the United States in the last century. In the naturally dry and arid regions of southern California, 80 percent of the water is imported from hundreds of miles away from more abundant resources in Northern California and the Colorado River.  This leaves all of southern California, especially the San Diego region, susceptible to disruptions in the water delivery system, namely from earthquakes, statewide system failures, or extreme droughts and other water shortages.

Full Story