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Gov. Newsom asks Californians to Voluntarily Cut Water Use Amid Deepening Drought Conditions

/in , , , /by /CBS 8 San Diego by CBS News 8 Team, Richard Allyn Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked people and businesses Thursday to voluntarily cut how much water they use by 15% amid a drought. Newsom’s request is not an order. But it demonstrates the growing challenges of a drought that will only worsen throughout the summer and fall and is tied to recent heat waves.

Sandra L. Kerl, general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority, issued the following statement following the governor’s announcement:

“While the San Diego region is thankfully drought-safe this summer due to sound planning and decades-long ratepayer investments in new water supplies and storage and adoption of water conservation as a way of life, we must also be part of the statewide movement now underway to address water supply challenges created by drought and climate change in other parts of California.

“The Water Authority strongly supports the governor’s call for the public to voluntarily cutback water use by 15% in order to allow local, regional and state water agencies to plan and take the steps necessary under these changed conditions to maximize the availability of limited water supplies going forward, through the investment of state funding and implementation of other provisions of the Governor’s Proclamation of a State Emergency and Executive Order N-10-21 calling for water conservation. 

“The Water Authority will be working closely with our member agencies and with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California over the next several days, weeks and months, to design and implement strategies to maximize water supply development in collaboration with Governor Newsom and state agencies, in order to protect California.”

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Positioned for the Future: San Diego County Water Authority General Manager Sandra L. Kerl

/in , , /by /California Water & Power (California Municipal Utilities Association) by Matt Williams Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

There have been many surprises and unanticipated outcomes in the long wake of the pandemic. Like most workplaces, the San Diego County Water Authority had to quickly adapt a year ago, and that process continues to evolve under the leadership of General Manager Sandra L. Kerl. In a conversation with California Water & Power, Kerl discusses how her organization has embraced change and continues to prepare for the future.

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Carlsbad Desalination Plant Celebrates 5th Anniversary

/in , /by /Water News Networkby Ed Joyce Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant is celebrating its fifth year of operation this month. More than 65 billion gallons of water from the plant have provided a sustainable and reliable supply to businesses and residents of San Diego County since December 2015.

The Carlsbad Desalination Plant produces more than 50 million gallons of high-quality, locally controlled, water every day. It’s a foundational water supply for the San Diego region that minimizes the region’s vulnerability to drought or other water supply emergencies.

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San Diego County Water Authority Partners with Scripps Institution of Oceanography

/in , , /by /The Coast News Group Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority announced today it is partnering with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego to better predict atmospheric rivers and improve water management before, during and after those seasonal storms.

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CWA Sets June 25 Rate Hearing

/in , , /by /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority hearing to approve calendar year 2021 rates and charges will be June 25.

The May 28 motion to set the rate hearing date along with the proposed rates and charges passed with 78.139% of the SDCWA weighted vote. Twenty-one CWA board members supported the motion. Fallbrook Public Utility District general manager Jack Bebee, who is also FPUD’s representative on the CWA board, cast one of the eight votes against the action. Tom Kennedy, who is the Rainbow Municipal Water District general manager and Rainbow’s CWA representative, abstained as did Lois Fong-Sakai, who is one of the city of San Diego’s representatives on the CWA board.

A non-voting presentation earlier in the day addressed proposed changes to the CWA’s two-year budget which covers fiscal year 2019-2020 and fiscal year 2020-2021; the June 25 CWA board meeting will also include consideration of the budget adjustments. If the rates and charges are approved June 25, the action will also allocate the pro-rata shares of total fixed charges to each CWA member agency.

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Water Authority Distributes Protective Masks to SoCal Water Agencies

/in , , /by /Water News Networkby Ed Joyce Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority is distributing 25,000 cloth masks to water and wastewater agency employees in six Southern California counties as part of the national effort to ensure essential workers have enough protective gear during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The masks are available to public and private water and wastewater utilities in Mono, Inyo, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego and Imperial counties. Water Authority staff created a drive-through operation to maintain physical distancing while handing out the facemasks.

“It’s a tall order, but one that leverages our core values of collaboration and communication on behalf of our community,” said Water Authority General Manager Sandra L. Kerl. “It’s part of our duty as water and wastewater professionals to continue ensuring a clean, safe, and reliable water supply for our region – and beyond.”

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Carlsbad Desalination Plant-WNN-primary

Water Utilities Aim to Keep Specially Trained Employees Healthy and Working

/in , /by /NPRby Clay Masters Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Some municipal water utilities are taking emergency measures to sequester some employees to assure that they can keep the water flowing as the coronavirus spreads.

In this country, millions of Americans can follow advice to stay at home so long as the electricity stays on and the water and the phone service. Utility workers need to keep moving about. And to stay on the job, they also need to stay safe. Iowa Public Radio’s Clay Masters reports that some utilities are taking extraordinary measures, including locking in employees at work.

Water utilities take special steps to keep water flowing

MASTERS: I’m standing next to Fleur Drive, which leads into downtown Des Moines. And normally, this is a pretty busy road. It’s not right now because, well, a lot of businesses are shut down. And right next to it is the Des Moines Water Works treatment facility. And what’s different about the grounds right now is that there are 10 campers just parked out front on the lawn.

Water treatment process effective

TED CORRIGAN: At our three treatment plants, we have a total of 21 people who will be living onsite 24/7 in those campers that we’ve placed.

MASTERS: That’s Ted Corrigan. He’s the interim CEO for the Des Moines Water Works that provides drinking water for more than half a million customers. He says they’ve gone deeper into their contagious disease response plan than ever before.

CORRIGAN: But the treatment process is unchanged. It’s unaffected by what’s going on. And it is very effective against viruses, to be sure.

MASTERS: Behind the tall, barbed wire fence, a skeleton crew of operators is doing things like running the control centers and testing the water. Kyle Danley heads water production here. He’s part of the crew that’s putting in at least 12 hours a day before leaving the facility and walking to his isolated camper for the night. He says while some of the workers aren’t used to camper life, the utility can’t take the risk that they get sick. And he says most of the jobs require unique skills and licenses.

KYLE DANLEY: We’re in a specialty field. There’s always a shortage of operators throughout the country, trying to get people interested in this field, but it certainly is something that takes months and years to be able to get those licenses needed. And then just even if you have a license, every plant is specific.

Workers sequester-in-place at Carlsbad Desalination Plant

MASTERS: After two weeks, a new group of workers with the same set of skills, who are currently sitting at home, will switch with the current onsite crew. Something similar is happening at a desalination plant in Carlsbad, California, that produces 50 million gallons of water a day. Ten workers are living there for three weeks. Sandy Kerl is general manager for the San Diego County Water Authority.

SANDY KERL: “These are critical services, highly trained individuals, not easily replaceable, so they have to be protected to ensure that water continues to flow.”

CWA Approves Shutdown Schedule for Pipeline 5 Work at Moosa Creek

/in , , /by /Village News by Joe Naiman Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

In 2019, the San Diego County Water Authority repaired a leak to a pipeline in Moosa Canyon. That repair was followed by an assessment of the other two SDCWA pipelines in the area, and one of those was found to be at risk so the CWA will be making repairs to that pipeline.

A CWA board vote, Feb. 27, authorized CWA general manager Sandra Kerl to take the necessary contracting and other actions for the repairs on Pipeline 5 in Moosa Creek. The current schedule includes shutdowns March 30 through April 5 for the installation of isolation bulkheads and May 18 to May 24 for the removal of the bulkheads as well as carbon fiber lining work expected April 6 through May 15.

May 24 is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, and the actual shutdown schedule will likely be revised as the repair work progresses.

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IRWM - SD Wild Animal Park Biofiltration Wetland

Projects Create Wetlands, Improve Water Quality in San Diego Region

/in , /by

Since 2005, the San Diego Integrated Regional Water Management Program has supported and funded water conservation, water quality and resource projects throughout San Diego County.

Program partners, including staff of the San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies, the California Department of Water Resources, and regional water industry leaders, met at the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College Monday to celebrate 15 years of achievements.

The program facilitates collaboration on water resources planning and projects in the region by water retailers, wastewater agencies, stormwater and flood managers, watershed groups, the business community, tribes, agriculture, and nonprofit stakeholders.

Collaboration improves regional water quality

Projects supported and funded by the program, or IRWM, have increased long-term water supply reliability, improved water quality, created wetlands and increased local water supply sources. Funding for the IRWM projects is provided from several propositions approved by voters and administered through the California DWR.

“Since it started, the Water Authority has been a strong supporter of the IRWM, partnering with the City and County of San Diego to develop the program,” said Water Authority General Manager Sandra L. Kerl, in a keynote address at the Monday meeting. “Bringing diverse stakeholders together through collaboration funds water reliability projects throughout the San Diego region.”

The collaboration has resulted in improved water supply reliability through the successful funding of conservation, water reuse, and other supply projects throughout the region, she said.

Another benefit of collaborating through the program is it brings traditionally underrepresented communities to the table to have projects funded.

Environmental health and safety, open space

The San Diego IRWM program has helped fund 25 projects in disadvantaged and underrepresented communities supporting the improvement of water reliability and water reliability in all parts of the region.

A project in Encanto to improve Chollas Creek was funded under the IRWM Program and sponsored by the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovations Project.

The restoration of Chollas Creek was intended to improve environmental health and safety, surface water quality, and availability of green open space for Encanto, a disadvantaged urban community in San Diego.

IRWM Program - Chollas Creek - WNN

A project in Encanto to improve Chollas Creek was funded under the IRWM Program. Photo: Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovations Project

Wetlands, educational opportunities

Another project funded under the IRWM program, created wetlands to improve water quality at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The biofiltration wetland project, sponsored by the San Diego Zoo Global, has also served to educate thousands of students, teachers, and park visitors through various programs.

The IRWM continues to identify opportunities to fund projects to bring multiple benefits to the region.

The program is included in California’s draft Water Resilience Portfolio, released in January. Three state agencies created the portfolio, which proposes recommended actions to help California cope with more extreme droughts and floods, rising temperatures, declining fish populations, aging infrastructure and other challenges.

Several state officials visited San Diego County on July 18, 2019 to assess the region’s water projects as part of their role in developing a water portfolio strategy for the state.

Water Fight About to Kick Into High Gear; Fallbrook, Rainbow to Take on County Water Authority

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Within the next few weeks, two water districts will be filing unprecedented applications to detach from the San Diego County Water Authority.

Instead, they intend to buy water directly from the Metropolitan Water District via the Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside County, thereby saving both districts millions of dollars annually.

The Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District say they are in a unique position to divorce themselves from the Water Authority because Metropolitan pipes run right past their geographic areas.

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