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Funding is still available in 2024 to install water-efficient toilets and smart irrigation controllers in underrepresented communities across the region. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority low-flow upgrades

Funding Still Available in 2024 For Free Low-Flow Upgrades

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Income-qualifying residents in the San Diego region can still benefit from a grant-funded program replacing outdated toilets with high-efficiency models in 2024.

More than 6,000 high-efficiency toilets have been installed free of charge to date in under-represented communities across the region through a grant-funded program run by the San Diego County Water Authority.

Funding remains available to replace about 4,000 more outdated toilets with professionally installed, high-efficiency models at no cost. Eligible communities include mobile home communities, multi-family units, and income-qualifying single-family homes.

Qualified applicants for low-flow upgrades include mobile home communities, multi-family housing, and income qualifying single family homes. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Qualified applicants for low-flow upgrades include mobile home communities, multi-family housing, and income-qualifying single-family homes. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Smart irrigation controllers are also available at no cost through the program. Participants must be residential customers within the Water Authority’s service area.

Learn more about the program, including eligibility requirements and the application process at Direct Install Program.

Free upgrades conserve water, save money

High efficiency toilets and smart irrigation controllers conserve water while saving costs. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority low flow upgrades

High-efficiency toilets and smart irrigation controllers conserve water while saving costs. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

“This is a great way for residents to get a free home upgrade that conserves water and saves on water bills,” said Mel Katz, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “Water affordability is a top priority for the Water Authority, and this program is one of many ways we are combatting inflationary pressures on water prices.”

Through the Direct Install Program, toilets that use 1.6 gallons or more per flush are replaced with premium, high-efficiency models that use half the water. The program is entirely funded by more than $4 million in grants from the California Department of Water Resources Integrated Regional Water Management and Urban Community Drought Relief programs and through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Water Authority pursues funding for region’s water system

In addition to the Direct Install Program, the Water Authority is taking numerous other steps to enhance affordability. For instance, the agency helped secure $25 million to cover overdue residential water bills resulting from the economic impacts of COVID-19.

The Water Authority also operates an industry-leading asset management program designed to avoid the extreme costs of emergency repairs on large-scale water pipelines.

In 2024, the Water Authority is working with Washington, D.C. officials to secure federal funds to defray the cost of generational upgrades to local dams and reservoirs.

Lake Hodges Reopens to San Diego Community After Yearlong Closure

/in , , /by /KPBS-FM/TVby Jacob Aere

The Lake Hodges dam is old — over 100 years old, in fact. It opened in 1918, so it has dealt with some wear and tear over the years, and recently needed critical repair work to keep it up and running.

Now, it has been reopened to the community.

“It opened yesterday and will remain open through October. We’re open for recreation Wednesday, Saturdays and Sundays, sunrise to sunset,” the San Diego Public Utilities Department’s Drew Kleis said on Friday.

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Getting Answers: Why Are Dams Releasing Water in a Drought?

/in , , /by /CBS Sacramentoby Andrew Haubner

Folsom Lake is letting the water flow while rains pick up across the valley. December has provided higher-than-average precipitation for the capital region giving way to cautious optimism about just how much longer the state will be in a drought.  But the rainfall also prompted questions about why, in a drought, dams and reservoirs are letting water out instead of holding it in.

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Opinion: Biggest Illusion in California is What Water Use and Development Does and Doesn’t Do

/in , , /by /Turlock Journalby Dennis Wyatt

Water is a mirage in California. We tend to see what we want to see. In my case, the biggest illusion was Auburn Dam.

If you were a resident of Placer County in the 1960s to 1980s you viewed it as almost as a birthright that the American River be dammed in the canyon below Auburn.

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FERC Endorses Nation’s Largest Dam Removal Project

/in , , /by /Greenwireby Jennifer Yachnin

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has advanced the nation’s largest dam-removal project, which could restore flowing water to more than 400 miles of the Klamath River near the California-Oregon line.

FERC’s release Friday of its final environmental impact statement reiterated its support for removing the Lower Klamath Project’s four hydroelectric dams.

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Opinion: A Vote on Water Storage May Be Near

/in , , /by /The OC Register

A proposed ballot measure would force the state to dedicate 2% of the general fund to building more water storage for California’s urban areas and farms. The Water Infrastructure Funding Act of 2022 would require the transfer of the funds into a trust account every year until the projects funded by the account have created an additional 5 million acre-feet of additional water supply that can be reliably delivered to Californians every year thereafter.

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‘Deadbeat Dams’ and Their Impact on Cold-Water Ecosystems

/in , , /by /High Country Newsby Theo Whitcomb

As drought-stricken California considers constructing new dams, a new study finds that many of the state’s existing structures— despite efforts to prioritize healthy water temperatures— are failing the cold-water ecosystems that depend on them.

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Can Retrofitting Dams for Hydro Provide a Green Energy Boost?

/in , , /by /Yale Environment 360by James Dinneen

In 1969, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished construction of the Red Rock Dam on the Des Moines River in Marion County, Iowa. One of thousands of U.S. dams built that decade, its purpose was to moderate seasonal flooding, allowing the Corps to release the million-and-a-half acre feet of snowmelt it impounded each spring at will. And for more than 50 years, aside from providing locals with a reservoir in which to fish and go boating, that’s all it did.

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At Shrinking Lake Mead, a New Coalition says Status Quo on Colorado River is Failing

/in , , /by /Arizona Republic by Ian James and Anton L. Delgado

With the concrete towers of Hoover Dam in the background and the depleted waters of the nation’s largest reservoir below, an unlikely group of allies — conservation activists, businesspeople and officials representing cities and farming communities — on Thursday called for halting all plans that would take more water from the shrinking Colorado River.

The 10 people who spoke at the news conference said they’re part of a new coalition demanding a moratorium on new dams and proposed pipelines, including a proposal to transport Colorado River water to sustain urban growth in Utah.

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Plan to Raze 4 Dams on California-Oregon Line Clears Hurdle

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Gillian Flaccus

A proposal to bring down four hydroelectric dams near the California-Oregon border cleared a major regulatory hurdle Thursday, setting the stage for the largest dam demolition project in U.S. history to save imperiled migratory salmon.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission action comes after the demolition proposal almost fell apart last summer, but then a new agreement and additional funding revived it. Thursday’s ruling will allow the utility that runs the dams, PacifiCorp, to transfer its hydroelectric license jointly to the nonprofit Klamath River Renewal Corporation, Oregon and California.

Regulators still must approve the actual surrender of the license. Dam removal could start in 2023.

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