The Montecito Water District is set to be drought-proof by the summer, the district announced Monday.
The progress is due to desalination and new rates, which the district’s board of directors received a status report on as well as a water supply agreement with the city of Santa Barbara during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday.
San Diego’s infrastructure needs, which have ballooned over the past decade, have been a top priority of Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s administration. But as Faulconer enters the last eight months of his term, COVID-19 has thrown city finances off track and slowed his ability to tackle a long to-do list.
That means many of San Diego’s urgent needs may have to be put on hold. Among the items that need fixing: repairs and updating to park buildings, coastal erosion work and replacement of sewer pipes. The city’s streetlight program is underfunded by $195 million, and its sidewalks are in disarray with about 81,000 needing repairs or replacement.
“It’s an unbelievable challenge,” said former San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, now president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. “I faced some budget problems when I was at the city, and this is just bigger than I’ve ever seen.”
Re “California water war re-ignited”; Dan Walters, April 20, 2020, CalMatters
Dan Walters’ column does a good job describing a potential water battle that all Californians should want to avoid.
The COVID-19 pandemic has rendered uncertain many things we used to take for granted. When can we next go to a restaurant, plan a vacation or go to a baseball game? We can’t afford to add to that list, “will there be food at the grocery store?” Our food supply has been one of the few things we’ve been able to count on in recent months and we need that to continue.
The EPA has been too busy responding to the deadly coronavirus to work on its long-awaited proposal to manage huge volumes of pathogen-infested sewage and stormwater during heavy rains, the agency’s top wastewater official said Wednesday.
“We think we have a potential path forward,” said Andrew Sawyers, director of the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Wastewater Management, said in a webinar on water priorities for the year.
But “with Covid-19, there are a lot of things under consideration,” he said, referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus.
“We will provide additional information on timing and potentially when we can move this forward,” Sawyers said about the wastewater rule.
Wastewater in sewage systems could provide a quicker and earlier indication of the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the Covid-19 virus, claim scientists working with Northumbrian Water and global partners.
The coronavirus pandemic forced the City of Escondido’s Water Quality Laboratory to rethink its lab operations without compromising community health or employee wellbeing while ensuring the clean, safe, and efficient operation of the city. Through teamwork and creative thinking, the lab found success in maintaining its essential work.
“Whether we have a pandemic or not, people still want to open their taps and have clean drinking water,” said Ralph Ginese, supervising chemist with the City of Escondido.
Hale Avenue Resource Recovery Facility Laboratory Superintendent Nicki Branch says employee safety was addressed first.
“We immediately enforced the six-foot social distancing requirement and frequent handwashing,” said Branch. “The facility cleaning staff increased disinfection wipedown of all surfaces. We stopped having group staff and safety meetings by switching to online. We have changed our work schedule, essentially cutting it in half on a rotating schedule and allowing all employees to be able to telecommute from home periodically.”
The 14 employees have been provided additional personal protective equipment including facemasks.
“Staff is able to do administrative work, lab paperwork, study for exams, safety training, research on the industry and attend webinars,” said Branch.
Half of the staff members remain at the lab facility full-time, where they conduct analyses to verify the quality of wastewater treatment processes to safeguard community health, as well as required monthly and quarterly testing.
As part of ongoing monitoring at the Escondido Water Quality Lab, Associate Chemist Sarah Shapard performs tests analyzing for ammonia. Photo: City of Escondido
Recent heavy rains in Escondido complicated the testing process. Branch said several lab staff were placed on call in the event additional testing was needed due to a possible emergency-permitted tertiary discharge to nearby Escondido Creek due to high flows after five days of rain.
“They were all game to come in if needed on a Saturday to assist, but fortunately the operations staff worked miracles to keep us from discharging,” said Branch. “Heavy rains also caused a situation where additional sampling of lakes for drinking water analysis occurred, and the lab staff responded immediately to help the drinking water division with sampling and analysis.”
The Escondido lab routinely tests six sample sites along the outfall line.
“It’s a full-blown scan, so getting samples to contact labs would have been a real challenge,” said Ginese, crediting the work of the city’s operations staff to prevent any discharge into the creek.
“I am so proud of all the staff at the HARRF Laboratory for responding to this Covid -19 pandemic in a professional manner, adapting quickly to our City policies requiring social distancing, and for offering to come in on emergency situations when needed,” said Branch.
The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies have increased regional coordination and communication to ensure the coronavirus pandemic does not impact safe and secure water service for San Diego County.
The San Diego County Water Authority is making progress on the construction of a new 5 million gallon underground reservoir in Mission Trails Regional Park. The underground reservoir is also known as a flow regulatory structure.
Classified as a “critical or essential” infrastructure project during the COVID-19 response, the project is moving forward to stay on schedule.
California regulators are seizing on a chance to study the public health effects of air pollution, as stay-at-home orders and drops in freight traffic related to the coronavirus pandemic have presented a unique research opportunity.
While restaurants, gyms, schools and other buildings are closed indefinitely to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the quality of water left sitting in pipes could change.
In buildings nationwide, water left sitting for long periods of time could contain excessive amounts of heavy metals and pathogens that are concentrated in pipes, say researchers who have begun a field study on the impact of the pandemic shutdown on buildings.
The problem of stagnant water may not be confined to buildings recently closed. Water could have been bad for months or years in old hospital buildings that cities are reopening to accommodate a potential influx of COVID-19 patients.
Name: Austin Casey
Job: San Diego County Water Authority system operator
Family: Wife, Mina; three children
Task during the pandemic: “As systems operators we are here to ensure the aqueduct system keeps water flowing safely and reliably throughout San Diego County. We maintain our daily tasks of operating, water quality sampling, and station checks to ensure all equipment is functioning properly. During the pandemic, we have been reminded of how critical it is to be efficient and effective with our normal duties, so we are ready to take on unforeseen challenges.”
How has pandemic changed the job? “I feel our job is the same during the pandemic. It’s more of adjusting to a new normal and being able to staff the department in a way where everyone feels safe.”
How are you keeping safe? “We say the control room and surrounding office has never looked so clean because of all the sanitizing we are doing. We are also getting used to social distancing and being aware of personal space, because we do work in close quarters. Hand washing and sanitizing all our office equipment, field instruments and trucks has been key to staying healthy.”
“The role we play as critical infrastructure operators may go unseen to many, but we are here to ensure the public receives a safe, secure, reliable supply of water without having to worry about it at all.”
San Diego County Water Authority System Operator Austin Casey is one of the essential workers keeping the region’s water supply safe, reliable and plentiful. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
The Union-Tribune wants to recognize workers who are still on the job serving the public during the coronavirus crisis.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
