Posts

County’s Wet, Weird May Was Wonderful Out On The Farm

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Robert Krier

It was wet, but it wasn’t San Diego’s wettest May. In fact, it didn’t crack the city’s top 10. It was cool, but many other Mays have been cooler, including last year. But May 2019 was certainly among the city’s all-time weirdest. And to San Diego County’s $1.77 billion agricultural industry, it was nothing short of wonderful. “We haven’t had a recent May where we’ve had something like this,” National Weather Service forecaster Miguel Miller said. “In the 20 years I’ve been here, I cannot think of another May that was inclement the entire month.”

Full Story

Naturalists Say Changing Water Levels At Lake Hodges Are Disrupting Nesting

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Ernie Cowan Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A coalition of wildlife and conservation groups has contacted the City of San Diego with concerns about sudden changes in water levels at Lake Hodges that are destroying spring nesting sites for Western and Clark’s grebes. Lake Hodges is a city-owned water storage facility that has become a prime nesting location for the large aquatic birds. Spring nesting season attracts birders from all over to monitor and observe the courting, nesting and rearing of chicks. Grebes build their nests on partially submerged sticks and branches at water level. Brian Caldwell is a resident of Del Dios, a neighborhood adjacent to the lake and operator of Lake Hodges Photo Tours.

Full Story

Report: Carlsbad Desalination Plant Bought For $1B

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Rob Nikolewski Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The massive desalination plant in Carlsbad that accounts for about 10 percent of the drinkable water in San Diego County is reportedly about to be sold for more than $1 billion to a subsidiary of an investment company based in Scotland, but the San Diego County Water Authority it does not expect a potential sale to affect customers in the area. Bloomberg News on Thursday quoted “people with knowledge of the matter” who said an affiliate of Aberdeen Standard Investments, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, is about to buy the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant and the deal may be announced as soon.

Full Story

Escondido, Tribe Reach Agreement On Easement For Water Pipeline

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

A plan to underground about 2.5 miles of the Escondido Canal through and near the San Pasqual Indian reservation has moved forward with an agreement reached recently for Escondido to pay the tribe for an easement through its land. The 14-mile-long Escondido Canal transports water from Lake Henshaw to Lake Wohlford where it is stored for use by Escondido and Vista Irrigation District consumers. Back in 1969, a lawsuit was filed by the federal government and five local Indian tribes along the San Luis Rey River contending that Escondido and Vista had stolen the tribes’ water by construction of the canal. After nearly 50 years of litigation, a complicated settlement was finally reached a few years ago.

Full Story

RMWD Considers Water And Sewer Service Rate Increases

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Julie Gallant Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Proposed water and sewer rate increases for Ramona Municipal Water District customers will be discussed, with possible action taken by the board of directors, at a public hearing set for 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 9, in Ramona Community Center, 434 Aqua Lane. The RMWD last reviewed and adjusted water rates in 2015 and sewer rates in 2017. Rising costs were considered by the RMWD Board of Directors May 14 when they voted 3-0, with directors Jim Hickle and Bryan Wadlington absent, to notify the public of proposed five-year rate increases. The notices to affected property owners are required to be postmarked 45 days in advance of the public hearing under Proposition 218, “The Right to Vote on Taxes Act.”

Full Story

OPINION: Beware: Stealth Water Tax Hike Still Alive In Legislature

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribune

It’s disgraceful that 1 million residents statewide do not have regular access to safe water supplies — a problem that is concentrated in rural agricultural communities in the Central Valley and Southeast California with little or no water infrastructure. But Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to impose a first-ever tax on water to respond to the problem was never the right answer. The state is running a surplus of more than $20 billion and sitting on billions of dollars in water bonds that state voters approved in 2014 and 2018. Fortunately, the proposal now appears dead. Unfortunately, Assembly Bill 217, by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, is very much alive, having passed two committee votes.

Full Story

OPINION: Never-Ending Tijuana Sewage Nightmare A Failure Of Leadership

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diego County residents have in recent days had yet another reminder of the utter failure of the local, state and federal governments in the United States and Mexico to solve an awful ongoing problem. That reminder came in the form of nearly 57 million gallons of water tainted by sewage, carcinogenic chemicals and pesticides pouring into the United States last week via the Tijuana River because of broken, inadequate sewer infrastructure on the Mexican side of the border. This has become a terrible fact of life. Sewage spills from Tijuana have fouled San Diego’s coastal waters for years, and the southern shoreline of Imperial Beach has been closed since November.

Full Story

Controversial North River Farms Development Postponed Again

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

Angry residents shouted, cursed and booed the Oceanside City Council after its 3-2 vote Wednesday to again postpone a decision on whether Integral Communities should be allowed to build hundreds of homes, a hotel and retail shops in the city’s last remaining agricultural region. The city’s planning staff and Planning Commission have three times recommended the council deny the North River Farms project, most recently on a 6-0 vote May 6. Each time, the developer has subsequently pulled the project off a City Council agenda to rework it in hopes of getting an approval. “Please do not postpone this,” said resident Jane Marshall before Wednesday’s decision.

Full Story

Water-Rights Dispute Between Fallbrook, Camp Pendleton Ends After Nearly 70 Years

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

After 68 years of litigation and more than a half-century of settlement talks, a dispute between the water district that serves Fallbrook and Camp Pendleton has officially ended. The agreement settles a lawsuit filed in 1951 and lays out how the Fallbrook Public Utility District and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton will share water rights to the Santa Margarita River. A federal judge last month signed off on what is known as the Santa Margarita River Conjunctive Use Project, which will capture locally available water that flows through the river and into the ocean. The settlement, agreed to by both sides in late 2017, creates a local supply that will reduce Fallbrook’s dependence on expensive imported water.

Full Story

California had a wet winter. But a satellite photo shows the state is drying out fast

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

NASA released a satellite image over the weekend that showed what a large swath of California look like during the winter, when the Sierra Nevada was heavily covered with snow. A second image shows what the same region looks like now. It’s a classic good news, bad news story. Reservoir conditions are good throughout virtually all of California. In April, the snow level in the Sierra was 162 percent of average. The reservoirs will be well stocked for a long period of time.

Full Story