Nearly 112 acres of habitat and old agricultural lands in the Carmel Valley area will be restored into wetlands starting in September, the San Diego Association of Governments announced Friday. SANDAG acquired the land, referred to as Deer Canyon East, in June, shortly after state and federal agencies claimed successful rehabilitation of the adjacent 31-acre Deer Canyon West site.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer Thursday called for “sweeping reform” within the Public Utilities Department following widespread complaints of inaccurate water billing from late 2017 into this year. Reports by City Auditor Eduardo Luna‘s office and business consulting firm West Monroe Partners found that meter reading employee errors, lack of oversight and insufficient quality control led to billing complaints, in addition to scheduled rate increases, higher water use after drought restrictions were lifted as well as a longer billing cycle between September and December.
So can you live on 55 gallons of water a day? No one can. But legislation just enacted broadens authority of the state Water Resources Control Board, an unelected, unaccountable board to require this. The new mandates establish an indoor water use budget of 55 gallons per day for all Californians until 2025, reduced to 50 gallons/day after 2030. Civil penalties apply to water districts that are unable to meet the new guidelines. I opposed both Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668, which created these regulations.
San Diego County homeowners can receive $2.75 per square foot to replace their water-wasting turf lawns with sustainable landscaping under a new program in Southern California. The new Landscape Transformation Program was announced this week by both the San Diego County Water Authority and the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District. “Over the past few years, the water authority has helped foster sustainable landscaping through financial incentives, a demonstration garden, hands-on classes and publication of a detailed guidebook,” said Mark Muir, chair of the water authority’s board.
The water authority’s board last week approved a 0.9 percent increase in the wholesale rate it will charge 24 member agencies, including the City of San Diego, for treated water in 2019. The authority noted that it’s own supplies from the Colorado River are now less expensive that the water it buys from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District.
Water agencies across the San Diego region are expected to see rate increases for 2019 that are “among the smallest in the past 15 years,” according to the San Diego County Water Authority. Rates charged to the Water Authority’s 24 member agencies would increase by 0.9 percent for treated water and 2.9 percent for untreated water in calendar year 2019, according to a proposal to be presented to the Water Authority’s Board of Directors on May 24.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and two other water districts that agreed to fund the California Waterfix tunnel project announced Monday the formation of a public agency that will be charged with its design and construction. The $17 billion project is designed to divert water from the Sacramento River as it enters the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and carry it to existing federal and state pumping stations in the southern part of the delta through one or two 35-mile tunnels.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
