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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.

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%.

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.

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.

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.