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Local Concerns Are Threatening San Diego’s Global Climate Priorities

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Carefully chosen words, tedious negotiations, lines in the sand. At stake: the continued release of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change. But this isn’t diplomacy at the United Nations we’re talking about, it’s San Diego politicians struggling to work together to buy and sell green energy. Last fall, the city of San Diego decided to start its own utility to buy and sell power. That’s because the city’s “climate action plan” says all electricity sold to city residents must come from renewable sources within the next two decades.

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San Diego Explained: An Earthquake Could Impact San Diego’s Water Supply

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Adriana Heldiz

Earthquakes could have a major impact on San Diego’s water supply, even if they happen far away. That’s because San Diego’s water comes from hundreds of miles away, through threads of metal and concrete that connect us to distant rivers and reservoirs. Our biggest source of water is the Colorado River, which is diverted into Southern California from the Arizona border through a 242-mile water system that includes 92 miles of tunnels. On this week’s San Diego Explained, Voice of San Diego’s Ry Rivard and NBC 7’s Catherine Garcia lay out three worst-case scenarios that could affect San Diego’s water when an earthquake hits.

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OPINION: Environmental Laws Don’t Impede Development

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby JP Theberg

San Diego County, like the rest of California, is facing an affordable housing crisis of unprecedented proportions. But in the push to build more housing, officials should be careful not to throw out laws that have long served the state and our region. Developers and polluters have for years pointed to the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, as an impediment to development and industry. Instead of cleaning up their act to serve the people of California, they continue to push the same misinformation intended to weaken one of California’s most successful environmental laws.

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Environment Report: Officials Worry Water Notices Are More Confusing Than Informative

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Two weeks ago, the San Diego County Water Authority notified thousands of customers across the region that San Diego’s main drinking water treatment plant wasn’t doing everything it was supposed to do to kill viruses and parasites.

We reported on this and rounded up other violations issued to local water agencies by state drinking water regulators.

A few water officials worried that the notices were likely to cause more alarm than necessary. Federal law requires that water agencies notify customers of drinking water issues.

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Audit Reveals Major Lack Of Planning On Multimillion-Dollar ‘Smart Meter’ Project

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

The city of San Diego’s plan to replace every water meter in the city is more than two years behind schedule, millions of dollars over budget and probably won’t be finished for at least another three years, according to a city audit released Thursday. The audit, prompted in part by a Voice of San Diego and NBC 7 Responds investigation, gives new insight into the city’s outrageous lack of planning for a multimillion-dollar project involving one of the most basic municipal services: water. For years, the city has wanted to install over a quarter-million new “smart” water meters, which are supposed to increase billing accuracy, provide real-time data on water use and eliminate the need for city employees to go to homes and offices across the city to read each meter.

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Local Water Providers Have Racked Up Dozens of Violations

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

In theory, because water is hard to come by in the arid West, it should be well taken care of.

But the West sometimes squanders its limited water. We have contaminated creeks, polluted rivers, broken bays, fouled beaches and, even today, hundreds of thousands of people across California who lack reliably safe drinking water.

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The State Cited San Diego Water Officials for Water Treatment Failure

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

For the better part of a day this April, San Diego’s main drinking water treatment plant wasn’t doing everything it was supposed to do to kill viruses and a nasty parasite known as Giardia before reaching taps across parts of the city, North County, East County and South Bay.

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Environment Report: The Earthquake Risk No One’s Talking About

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

San Diego faces a hidden earthquake threat — to its water supply. A quake, even one so far away that nobody in San Diego feels it, could cause an emergency and force mandatory water-use restrictions. That’s because most of San Diego’s water comes from hundreds of miles away through threads of metal and concrete that connect us to distant rivers and reservoirs.

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Contractors See Pure Water Case As A Test For Big Projects Across The Region

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

Scientists suspect hydrogen first met oxygen and formed water amid interstellar clouds as the earliest stars began to die, a billion years after the creation of our universe. With that perspective in mind, the city of San Diego’s plan create a third of the city’s drinking water from recycled sewage isn’t taking that long. But it is definitely delayed. That’s thanks to a dispute between non-union contractors and the city. In November, the City Council required builders looking to work on a big part of the water recycling project, known as Pure Water, to agree to union-friendly contracts.

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Morning Report: Pure Water Up In The Air Amid Labor Dispute

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diego

A project that is supposed to eventually provide a third of the city’s drinking water is now held up in court because of a dispute between anti-union contractors and a union-friendly city government.The city was about to open bids from contractors who want to work on the Pure Water project, which will take sewage and make it drinkable.

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