The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors today approved wholesale water rates for 2024 following a public hearing and approved the recommended budget for the next two fiscal years. The budget and rates support continued work on numerous agency priorities, including capital projects critical for maintaining safe and reliable water supplies.
Images from seven photographers were selected as the winners of the 16th annual Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve photo contest. The winning photos were recognized at the June 21 Olivenhain Municipal Water District board meeting.
The contest offers amateur photographers an opportunity to connect viewers with wildlife and the outdoors. Submissions support the reserve’s efforts to protect wildlife and natural resources.
Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas and Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer are asking the board to declare a local state of emergency over cross-border pollution that has fouled San Diego beaches, in hopes of to expediting cleanup and prompting a federal emergency declaration.
The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors will have a public hearing and vote Thursday about proposed increases of 8.2% or 9.5% in wholesale water rates for 2024. Citing “extraordinary inflationary pressures and depressed water sales,” the board said the proposals are a way to manage cost increases while still protecting ratepayers, ensuring water reliability and maintaining the authority’s credit ratings.
The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors will have a public hearing and vote Thursday about proposed increases of 8.2% or 9.5% in wholesale water rates for 2024. Citing “extraordinary inflationary pressures and depressed water sales,” the board said the proposals are a way to manage cost increases while still protecting ratepayers, ensuring water reliability and maintaining the authority’s credit ratings.
If you’re ready to move ahead with plans to create a water-efficient landscape, the San Diego County Fair is a good place to start. There are several award-winning examples of creative low-water use and native plant gardens at the fair’s popular Paul Ecke Jr. Garden Show exhibit area. (The San Diego County Water Authority has partnered with the state’s Save Our Water to sponsor a booth at the exhibit area).
After 18 months of negotiating—and bickering amongst themselves—the three lower Colorado River basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada reached an agreement on how to best conserve the river’s valuable water supply in the near term.
San Diego officials say they must raise water rates more than previously announced — 19.8% instead of 17.6% — but a smaller portion of the increases would fall on typical single-family homeowners.
City water officials told the City Council Tuesday that the bump up in the proposed increases is being driven primarily by costs for imported water, which makes up 85% to 90% of the city’s supply.
The Helix Water District has been awarded $10.3 million in grant funds by the California Department of Water Resources for the district’s drought resilience and drinking water supply reliability project. The district was one of 26 California agencies, and the only one in San Diego County, to receive a portion of the $217 million in grants awarded in this round of funding.
Council voted unanimously to continue the 20 percent reduction in water use per the 2020 Water Shortage Contingency Plan last week despite an abnormally wet winter that pulled much of the state out of drought. The decision was part of the Annual Water Shortage Assessment Report that is due each year by July 1 to the California Department of Water Resources and also requires formal adoption by Santa Monica City Council.
