California’s new state budget includes nearly $25 million for a variety of projects and programs across the city of San Diego, including upgrades in Balboa Park, a new Lake Hodges dam, a gun violence task force and a Mission Valley nature center.
The money also helps with housing projects, human trafficking prevention, libraries, lifeguard operations and lighting for sports fields.
Lake Hodges Dam has received the state’s worst possible safety rating, leaving the city with another delay in making repairs some say are decades overdue.
Last month, the state’s Division of Safety of Dams downgraded its condition from poor to unsatisfactory due to seismic issues, rating the hazard “extremely high.” The 105-year-old city dam is at the end of its lifespan.
Santa Fe Irrigation District customers will see an increase in water rates this spring as the board voted on March 28 to approve the new rate hike. In the 4-1 vote, Director Sandy Johnson representing Rancho Santa Fe was opposed. The new rates went into effect on April 1 and customers will see the impacts on bi-monthly bills in June.
San Diegans are facing a tidal wave of rate increases in coming years for so-called drought-proof water — driven in large part by new sewage recycling projects coupled with the rising cost of desalination and importing the Colorado River.
While many residents already struggle to pay their utility bills, the situation now appears more dire than elected leaders may have anticipated.
The discovery of previously unknown cracks and other concrete defects in the Hodges Dam will extend ongoing repair work by several months, forcing San Diego officials to restrict recreational activities on Lake Hodges and keep its levels low for longer.
The newly discovered defects could prompt state regulators to lower the 104-year-old dam’s rating from “poor” to “unsatisfactory” and order all water removed, but city Public Utilities Director Juan Guerreiro said he hopes the ongoing repairs will prevent that.
While repairing parts of Hodges Reservoir Dam, city workers found additional defects that need to be addressed, likely delaying the completion of repairs by several months, the city announced Monday.
During a prior inspection, city workers identified areas in the dam wall that required repair and needed to be sealed. To access areas on the dam for repair, the water level of the reservoir was lowered 18 feet to an elevation of 275 feet by transferring water to other reservoirs and treatment plants, officials said.
The lower water levels people might be seeing at Lake Hodges are not drought-related but instead are due to the ongoing work repairing the 100-year-old Lake Hodges Dam. The emergency work on the dam began in May and is expected to be completed by October.
The San Dieguito Water District celebrated its 100th anniversary this month, marking a century of supplying water to more than 38,000 residents in coastal Encinitas, including Leucadia and Cardiff.
“I’m really happy and excited to be celebrating this amazing milestone,” said Deputy Mayor Joe Mosca, president of the San Dieguito Water District. “It’s been a pleasure serving on the [water district] board.”
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
