Chula Vista, Calif. – At its June 13 meeting, the Sweetwater Authority Governing Board adopted its preliminary budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year and accepted and filed a Five-Year Water Rate study. Over the next five years, the Authority will invest $72 million in water quality improvements, a new 36-inch transmission main pipeline, and necessary safety work to the Sweetwater and Loveland Dams.
La Mesa, Calif. – Helix Water District’s Water Quality Report for calendar year 2017 has been published and posted to the district’s website. A Spanish version is also available. The annual Water Quality report contains important information about the source and quality of consumers’ drinking water.
Dozens of partners from the San Diego region’s second largest industry, tourism, joined the San Diego County Water Authority for a special event aboard the USS Midway on the first day of summer, June 21, kicking off a new education and outreach campaign called ‘Brought To You By Water.’
The Water Authority program underscores the importance of water reliability to the region’s core industries, focusing on examples including tourism, manufacturing, agriculture, and craft brewing.
The event also showcased the release of a new San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. (EDC) report highlighting the multi-billion-dollar economic impact of safe and reliable water supplies.
The EDC report underscores the importance of regional investments in clean, reliable water supplies to the San Diego region. It focused on more than $2.4 billion invested by the Water Authority in five major water reliability projects over the past two decades. Those projects generated $4.8 billion in total economic impact, supporting an average of 1,475 jobs annually over two decades and creating more than $1.8 billion in local wages and salaries. The report also found that access to safe and reliable water supplies supports $482 million in total regional sales of goods and services daily. “This figure is equivalent to the economic impact of nearly three Comic-Cons a day,” said Janice Brown, EDC board chairperson.
In addition, the report shows more than 2,800 people work in the water and wastewater sectors at the Water Authority and its 24 member agencies. The water industry provides career opportunities across all levels of educational attainment, in everything from customer service to engineering.
The Water Authority’s yearlong Brought to You by Water educational program explains how San Diego’s thriving economy and quality of life are all made possible by the safe and reliable water supply provided by the Water Authority and its 24 retail member agencies.
San Diego’s $17.9 billion tourism industry took center stage at Thursday’s event on the popular USS Midway Museum, with representatives and displays from the San Diego Tourism Authority, San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, LEGOLAND California, Balboa Park, Living Coast Discovery Center, the USS Midway, and additional attractions.
San Diego County attracts 35 million visitors annually, including 17.3 million hotel nights a year, more than 100 major conventions, and 194,000 tourism jobs. “Think about the pools, think about all of the attractions, think about the great parks. Balboa Park would not be Balboa Park without the opportunity to use water,” said Joe Terzi, President and CEO of the San Diego Tourism Authority.
In addition, the Water Authority is partnering with leaders in additional key economic sectors to showcase the significance of safe and reliable supplies to those industries. The outreach and education program includes a series of videos about the region’s iconic industries, which can be viewed and shared on social media, and a targeted advertising campaign. To watch the videos, go to: b2ubyh2o.org
Manufacturing: Nearly every one of the San Diego region’s groundbreaking 4,000 manufacturing facilities relies on water for washing, fabricating, cooling and other processes, which generate $23 billion in economic activity across 300 industries from world-famous guitars to Navy ships.
Craft Brewing: San Diego is justifiably proud of its $870 million a year craft brewing industry. But no one would enjoy a single pint wouldn’t be possible without safe and reliable water.
Coffee: Beer isn’t the only beverage making an impact in San Diego. The region is also home to a burgeoning coffee industry – another sector that values water as a core ingredient.
Agriculture: San Diego County’s farms produce nearly $2 billion annually in sales. Our region’s temperate climate and reliable water supplies support 5,500 local farms on more than 250,000 cultivated acres – plus numerous farmers markets, restaurants and grocery stores stocked with our local bounty.
The ‘Brought to You By Water’ beach ball will travel to public events and gather more signatures this summer. Photo: Charlie Neuman for Water Authority
The “Brought To You By Water” program will be covered on the Water Authority’s newly created Water News Network, a regional online hub for water news and information at WaterNewsNetwork.com
“Over the next year, the Water Authority and its member agencies will make a special effort to highlight how our safe and reliable water supplies are critical to our economy, and quality of life,” said Mark Muir, Water Authority board chairman.
The Water Authority will participate in regional events for industry sectors, along with street fairs, farmers markets and other opportunities to talk about water with residents in the coming months. These events will feature a highlight of today’s kickoff, a giant beach ball – eight feet in diameter – branded with the Brought to You by Water logo and signed by guests at the conclusion of today’s event.
For more information about Brought to You by Water, visit B2UbyH2O.org
Encinitas, Calif. — Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s Finance Manager, Rainy Selamat, presented the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada at the June 20 board of directors meeting. This award recognizes OMWD’s comprehensive annual financial report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017 and is the twenty-third consecutive year OMWD has received the award.
In a vote that was as important for its message as the funding it appropriates, California voters on June 5 supported Proposition 68, the $4.1 billion water bond that specifically included $200 million for Salton Sea restoration. That funding will support the ten-year phase one list of projects under the state’s Salton Sea restoration plan known as the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP).
Coupled with $80 million for the sea from a previous bond, the $200 million moves the state closer to achieving its ten-year target of addressing 30,000 acres of exposed playa. Another water bond scheduled for the November election includes an additional $200 million for the sea to completely fund phase one of the SSMP.
Passage of Proposition 68, which voters in San Diego and Imperial County both supported, advances the SSMP at a time when there is growing concern on the state’s ability to build air quality and habitat projects to meet annual targets for playa coverage. In fact, the state has acknowledged the 2018 target of 500 acres will not be met. However, that delay is mainly due to finalizing land liability issues rather than a lack of funding. State officials working on the sea have indicated they are close to settling those issues and anticipate progress will be expedited once the necessary legal agreements are resolved. The passage of Proposition 68 means the state will be in an even better position to make up for lost time so targets can be achieved going forward.
The “yes” vote by California voters also sends an important message to the state that since additional resources have been allocated for restoration at the sea, better progress on meeting the established milestones is expected more than ever. Voters have armed the state with funding to push the SSMP forward, and it now falls upon the state to meet its responsibilities. According to the state’s SSMP ten-year planning committee meeting last week, there is a solid list of projects ready to move forward toward meeting annual targets. Those projects include ones that have been touted before, plus new projects state officials have added, at least one of which they say can be accomplished at a faster rate. Long heralded projects include the state’s Species Conservation Habitat (SCH) project. Phase one of that project, which is already funded, will address 640 acres, but with the funding from Proposition 68, additional phases of the SCH are expected to move forward. At total build-out, the SCH would address nearly 4,000 acres along the southern shore of the sea. Another project set to move forward by the year’s end is the 500-acre wetlands at Red Hill Marina on the southern shore.
According to state officials, a new 290-acre project on the southern shore will be developed as wetlands on the site of a planned geothermal project. Additional projects are planned for the northern shore under a perimeter lake proposal from Riverside County, and at least one project is under development near the communities closest to the sea.
The passage of Proposition 68 also comes as the state has begun the effort to consider longer term projects as well. Part of that effort has included a request for proposals for importing a new source of water supply to the Salton Sea. As many as 11 conceptual proposals were submitted, most of which involve importing water from Mexico, and were introduced during a recent public forum in Imperial County. Proposition 68 funding is not expected to go toward water importation projects. While the state plans to evaluate water importation proposals as a possible long-term effort, the current focus is on implementing the first ten years of the SSMP and getting projects on the ground to address air quality and habitat.
While it is likely concerns about the state’s progress will continue, thanks to California voters, the state now has the opportunity to prove the delays of the past will not continue and that there will be real headway toward addressing restoration. Additionally, state officials indicated at last week’s SSMP ten-year planning committee meeting that they intend to apply lessons learned thus far to other projects to help expedite implementation of the SSMP, understanding though, that each project is distinct as well. Now is the time for stakeholders to remain even more vigilant to make sure the pendulum swings toward greater progress.
Sweetwater Authority presented a $5,000 award check to the Living Coast Discovery Center at its June 13 board meeting as part of the Authority’s Water Efficiency Education Program (WEEP) grant program. The grant helped fund three events highlighting both organizations’ mutual goal of educating the public about water conservation.
San Diego, Calif. – A beauty shot of an East Count reservoir and a portrait of a young couple at Sunset Cliffs took the top prizes in the San Diego County Water Authority’s “Brought to You by Water” photo contest during Water Awareness Month in May.
Major construction activities have concluded at a pipeline relining project in La Mesa and Spring Valley, and the entire project is on track for completion by the end of June.
The Lake Murray to Sweetwater Reservoir Pipeline 3 Relining Project rehabilitated 4.3 miles of 66- and 69-inch diameter pipes, extending the pipeline’s service life by several decades and helping ensure continued water system reliability.
The timely success of the project underscores the value of collaboration by the Water Authority’s project team; public agency stakeholders such as the city of La Mesa and Helix Water District; and the contractor, L.H. Woods & Sons, Inc.
Construction began in September 2017. The bulk of the work was performed underground, through portals, which allow easy access to the pipe. This process is about half the cost of a conventional pipeline replacement project and is less disruptive to the environment and surrounding communities.
The 4.3-mile project is part of a larger effort by the Water Authority to rehabilitate 82 miles of its pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe installed between the early 1960s and 80s throughout the county. This type of pipe has been found to be less reliable than previously thought. In response, the Water Authority launched the Pipeline Relining Program to reinforce these pipes with steel liners, increasing their service life by 75 years or more.
With the last of the new steel liners installed, welded, grouted and lined with cement mortar, the remaining work includes site restoration – such as re-paving and re-striping roadways – and demobilizing.
With the completion of the Lake Murray to Sweetwater project, the Water Authority has rehabilitated more than half of its pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe.
Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. – On May 30, 2018, the Santa Fe Irrigation District and the San Dieguito Water District celebrated the San Dieguito Reservoir Dam’s 100 year anniversary and the dedication of the new San Dieguito Reservoir Pump Station. Jointly owned by the Santa Fe Irrigation District and the San Dieguito Water District, the San Dieguito Reservoir Dam and the San Dieguito Pump Station are important assets providing local water for over 60,000 customers in the North Central Region of San Diego.
El Centro, Calif. – U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda W. Burman delivered a sobering message about the risks facing the Colorado River system and the need for action considering long-term drought conditions during an Imperial Irrigation District Board meeting on May 22.
In her first presentation to the IID Board of Directors since her confirmation as commissioner in November, Burman said it’s time to restart the stalled basin-wide drought contingency planning talks to address the threat of shortage on the river. Her discussion was filled with stark predictions for the river system should drought conditions continue, along with hopeful notes that worst-case shortage scenarios could be averted through conservation efforts.
Terry Fulp, the bureau’s regional director of the Lower Colorado River Basin, joined Burman at the IID meeting. Fulp said Lake Mead and Lake Powell – which provide storage for the Lower Basin states of Nevada, Arizona and California – are about 51 percent full.
Both lakes were near capacity in 1999, then dropped by half in just five years. That sudden loss of storage led to the development of the interim guidelines for managing a shortage on the river in 2007. In the years since, Fulp said, the river system has met demands despite the ongoing drought.
However, a shortage declaration may be triggered in the next two years because Lake Mead is barely over 1075 feet above sea level, the point at which a shortage could be declared. Fulp said Lake Mead would likely already be below the 1075-foot mark if not for conservation efforts across the Colorado River Basin.
Burman said she recognizes that drought contingency discussions have “fallen off,” but she said they need to start again with the goal of expanding conservation efforts throughout the river system. She said actions taken now will benefit water users today and serve the needs of the river system decades into the future, just as water users today benefit from the actions of the pioneers who built the system under the Boulder Canyon Act of 1928
“There absolutely needs to be action on the Colorado River,” she said. “The risk is too great.”
Under questioning from IID board members, Burman said “there is room” in drought contingency discussions to include additional storage for IID in Lake Mead (which IID has advocated for), and there could be flexibility in how that storage water is created.
When pressed on the Salton Sea, Burman said a memorandum of understanding between the state and federal governments remains in effect to address issues at the sea. She added that the federal government remains committed to the MOU even though the state is leading ongoing Salton Sea restoration efforts.
Burman said time will tell if drought contingency talks restart and whether agencies can reach agreement on the critical issues related to conservation and storage. To the extent that there is additional water conservation in the Imperial Valley, that likely would reduce flows to the Salton Sea – and that in turn would raise important questions about how reduced inflows would be mitigated to minimize impacts on sea levels.
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