Posts

Ramona Water District Pursues Grant Funding for Climate-Related or Other Projects

/in , , /by /Ramona Sentinelby Julie Galliant

Ramona Municipal Water District directors agreed to apply for a state grant for up to $750,000 to help pay for a staff grant writer position and launch climate-related programs.

The Regional Climate Collaboration Program Grant, made available through the California Strategic Growth Council, makes about $5.4 billion in bond funds available for safe drinking water, water quality and supply, flood control, natural resource protection and park improvements.

Full Story

California Set To Become First in Nation to Test Drinking Water for Microplastics

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

Microplastic is everywhere.

The tiny particles that shed from clothing, food packaging and tires are in the air, the soil, the ocean and, almost certainly, your drinking water.

Full Story

San Diego Lifts Boil Water Notice for Tierrasanta Neighborhood

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Elizabeth Ireland

The city of San Diego Monday lifted a boil water notice for about 600 residential customers in a portion of the Tierrasanta neighborhood who were affected by fluctuating water pressure issues following a burst pipeline last week.

Multiple tests showed no quality issues with water coming from the tap. The California Division of Drinking Water reviewed the findings and approved the lifting of the notice.

Full Story

‘Very Expensive Error’ Hikes Cost of San Diego Sewage Recycling System, May Delay Whole Pure Water Project

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

A major hiccup during the early construction stages of San Diego’s Pure Water sewage recycling system will cost the city at least $20 million — and potentially much more if it delays completion of the interdependent system’s other key components.

Constant flooding of a site off Morena Boulevard where a contractor is trying to build a large sewage-pump station has forced the contractor to halt work while city officials make plans to build a large dam-like structure around the area being flooded.

Full Story

Audit: California Too Slow to Fix Contaminated Water Systems

/in , /by /AP Newsby Kathleen Ronayne

The water that comes out of the tap for more than 900,000 Californians is unsafe to drink and the state isn’t acting fast enough to help clean it up, state auditors said in a report released Tuesday.

Thousands of water systems supply the state’s 39 million people, and about 5% of them have some type of contaminant, like nitrates or arsenic, in them, according to the audit. That means people can’t safely drink the water or use it to cook or bathe. Most of the 370 failing systems are in economically disadvantaged communities, many in the Central Valley, the state’s agricultural heartland.

Full Story

California’s Department of Water Resources Plans for Future Drought With Salinity Barrier Study

/in , , /by /KCRAby Heather Waldman

On Monday, California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) released a draft Environmental Impacts Report, which looked into the benefits and potential negative impacts of repeated use of a temporary drought salinity barrier in the delta.

This drought barrierCalifornia’s Department of Water Resources is in the West False River. It is a wall of earth that helps to keep salt water from the Bay Area from infiltrating into the freshwater delta system during times of severe drought.

Full Story

Residents Complain San Diego Drinking Water Is ‘Stinky’ and ‘Smells Like Mold’

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Karen Kucher

Earthy, musty smelling water coming out of faucets in some San Diego neighborhoods will be around for a couple more days — but city officials say it presents no safety issues.

Officials said the odd smell of the water comes from a naturally occurring organic compound called 2-methylisoborneol, or MIB — caused by algae blooms in reservoirs that tend to happen during hot weather.

Full Story

Catalina Island Uses SoCal Edison Desalination Plant to Avoid Drought

/in , , /by /ABC 7by Jaysha Patel

If you take a boat ride to Catalina Island, you’ll notice it’s surrounded by the ocean.

“We’re about 4,000 people on a year-round basis, but we get up to a million visitors a year, and so of course that impacts a lot of our infrastructure because we have these visitors and thank God we do because we’re an entirely tourist-based community,” said Avalon Mayor Anni Marshall.

Full Story

State Budget Proposes to Buy Water Rights From Farmers

/in , /by /The Sun Gazetteby Reggie Ellis

State lawmakers are proposing to set aside $2 billion to buy up water rights and repurpose farmland to rebalance the water supply amidst the state’s second drought in the last decade.

Most of the money being proposed in the 2022-23 budget, $1.5 billion, will be used to buy land with senior water rights to secure surface water from state and federal water projects as drinking water for disadvantaged communities struggling with contaminated groundwater and enhance stream and river conditions for habitats. Senior water rights are those that predate the state’s regulation of water use in 1914, which often supersede other rights to water supply during dry years.

Full Story

Crews Break Ground on $950M Water Purification Plant in East County

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diego

The East County Advanced Water Purification Program broke ground Wednesday, marking an important milestone for the project, which could purify up to 11.5 million gallons of water per day when it’s completed.

Program representatives, elected officials and water industry leaders gathered Wednesday at the future site of the treatment facility in Santee. The project was approved on May 19 by the East County AWP Joint Powers Authority, which owns and operates the program, and is a collaborative partnership between four agencies: Padre Dam, the city of El Cajon, the county of San Diego and the Helix Water District.

Full Story