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Padre Dam Board Tells CWA It Can’t Accept Any Water Rate Increase

/in , /by /East County Magazineby Mike Allen Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Padre Dam Water District’s board is fed up with having to pay higher rates for the water it purchases from the San Diego County Water Authority, and voted unanimously not to go along with any rate hike unless the CWA gets serious about its long-range planning.

The five-member board took the vote after listening to a presentation by CEO Kyle Swanson (photo, right)about CWA raising the wholesale rate charged to member water agencies next year by a range between 8.2 to 12.7 percent. At one point, CWA was considering increasing to about 13 percent, but the range is ever-changing and unknowable at the current time, Swanson said.

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Water Awareness Artwork Wins Escondido 2023 Student Poster Contest

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Twelve students have won the 2023 City of Escondido Student Poster Contest by illustrating the theme, “Love Water, Save Water.”

Winners have the opportunity to have their work featured in a regional North San Diego County water agencies calendar. First, second, and third-place winners will be featured in next year’s regional calendar.

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These Southern California Water Projects Received Millions in Grant Funding to Combat Drought, Floods

/in , , /by /KTLA 5by Travis Schlepp

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Thursday that 44 statewide drought and flood projects will receive millions of dollars in Department of Water Resources grants.

In total, $217 million will be directed to increase water supply, combat flooding, and expand new water storage and conservation initiatives. An additional $71 million will be used to respond to local drought impacts.

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Commissioners Discuss Hikes to Long Beach Water Rates; Vote Expected June 22

/in , , /by /Long Beach Postby Jason Ruiz

Long Beach Utilities commissioners met again Thursday to discuss a potential rate hike for water, which could be as high as 10% next year as the department deals with declining sales due to customer conservation, increasing costs and an expanding capital investment plan that could, in the long term, increase the city’s supply of less expensive groundwater.

A staff-recommended hike of 10% for water rates next year would amount to a $5.69 monthly increase for the average customer, according to the department. However, an alternate increase of 9% that was requested at the commission’s last meeting would add about $5.13 to the monthly bill.

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Imperial Beach Seeks Federal Assistance in Ceasing Ongoing Pollution from Tijuana River Sewage Spill

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Karla Rendon

Imperial Beach urgently needs federal funding to put an end to the Tijuana River’s ongoing sewage spill that’s kept portions of the city’s beaches closed, Mayor Paloma Aguirre wrote in a letter to the White House.

Seeking a federal state of emergency status for the continued pollution, Mayor Aguirre called on the Biden administration to declare the emergency for the shoreline of Imperial Beach and the Tijuana River Valley. Such a proclamation would expedite funding and projects across federal agencies to tackle the source of the issue.

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As Salton Sea Shrinks, Potential for Earthquakes Reduced, New Study Finds

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Debbie Sklar

The shrinking and drying out of the Salton Sea has reduced stress on the San Andreas Fault, possibly reducing the frequency and severity of earthquakes in Southern California, according to research from San Diego State University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, found that the reduced stress on the fault from a significantly lesser amount of water may be delaying the next “big one.”

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Military Moves to Clean Chemicals Out of Well Water on Camp Pendleton

/in , /by /KPBS FM/TVby Andrew Dyer

Officials at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton are bringing two new water filtration facilities online by the end of the year to address so-called “forever chemicals” in base drinking water.

Per- and poly fluoroalkyl substances, or “PFAS,” are a family of man-made compounds used for more than 70 years in all manner of consumer products. Non-stick cookware, stain-wicking clothing and even fast food wrappers are just some of the many items in everyday use worldwide containing the compounds.

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Student Artists Show Water Conservation Through Winning Art

/in , , /by /Water News Network

The Sweetwater Authority selected 10 elementary school students as the winners of its  “Being Water Wise Is…” 2023 Student Art Poster Contest. The annual contest is open to kindergarten through sixth-grade students in the Authority’s service area. The contest encourages students to think about the importance of water in their everyday lives, and how they can help protect and conserve water in their homes and community.

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Fallbrook, Rainbow Water ‘Divorce’ Decision Delayed Until August

/in , /by /KPBSby Alexander Nguyen Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A local government body on Monday delayed the decision on whether two North County water districts can leave the San Diego County Water Authority to buy cheaper water elsewhere.

Fallbrook Public Utility District and Rainbow Municipal Water District want a divorce from the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) because they say the water rate is too high. They want to move to the Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside for its cheaper water. It’s a process called detachment.

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Los Angeles Steps Into San Diego’s Water Divorce

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

In their efforts to break away from the San Diego County Water Authority, two small farming communities have run into a powerful and unexpected foe: The Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

At least, they ran into the man who chairs Metropolitan’s board: Adán Ortega Jr., a water policy consultant and former lobbyist elected in October to lead at Met.

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