Tag Archive for: Water Infrastructure

Opinion: Water District Must Expand Supply by Reconsidering Desalination Plan

/in , , /by /Marin Independent Journalby Richard Ruben

What exactly is being done to solve Marin County’s drought crisis, which is now entering its fourth year? The simple answer is: Not Enough.

Don’t be fooled by the spate of blessed and brief rains. More severe droughts are practically guaranteed and this one is not yet finished despite rising reservoir levels.

Let’s focus on the bottom-line questions: What can be done to make Marin drought-proof and how much will that cost?

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Opinion: With Budget Surplus, Now is the Time to Fund Vital Water Projects

/in , , /by /Cal Mattersby Jim Nielsen and Andreas Borgeas

Over the past 40 years, California has not completed a major water storage project of statewide significance despite the state’s population nearly doubling.

Without substantial new investments and commitments to capture, store and move water throughout the state, whole communities will be subject to water scarcity and farmers will be unable to produce adequate food supplies, threatening food and national security.

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Los Angeles Is Building a Future Where Water Won’t Run Out

/in , , /by /Bloombergby Brian Eckhouse and Laura Bliss

A helicopter whisks off a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles, climbs above a thin layer of haze and soars over barren mountains past the city’s edge. Soon, scars of climatic stress are evident to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and Martin Adams, general manager and chief engineer of the city’s water and power department, as they peer out the windows. Trees torched years ago by wildfire. Flats parched by sun and little precipitation.

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San Vicente Potential Energy Storage Facility Project Moves Ahead

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

As partners, the City of San Diego and the San Diego County Water Authority will begin negotiations on a project development agreement with the BHE Kiewit Team to develop Phase 1 of the potential San Vicente Energy Storage Facility Project, which could generate enough energy for about 135,000 households.

The proposed project is subject to a full environmental review and regulatory approvals.

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Touring Friant Dam in Fresno and Yolo Bypass, Assistant Secretary Trujillo Highlights Infrastructure Law Investments in Water Management and Drought Mitigation

/in , , /by /Sierra Sun Times

Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Tanya Trujillo wrapped up a three-day trip to California today where she highlighted President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $8.3 billion investments in water management and drought resilience. During her visit, Assistant Secretary Trujillo met with elected officials, water managers, scientists, and local leaders to hear about the impacts that the climate crisis is having on the region and the Department’s commitment to investing in Western communities’ water infrastructure.

“As the West continues to face the impacts of the climate crisis and aging infrastructure, the Department of the Interior is working closely with local and federal partners to deploy critical resources to drought-stricken communities,” said Assistant Secretary Trujillo.

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White House Expands Digital Regulations for U.S. Water Supply

/in , , /by /NBC Newsby Kevin Collier

The White House launched a new cybersecurity initiative for the U.S. water supply Thursday after a handful of worrisome hacks against the sector last year.

The new initiative is designed to create a system that shares information about cyberthreats with the water sector and industry-wide basic security practices, though water facilities will not be forced to adopt any new practices.

Bryson Bort, a cybersecurity consultant for industrial systems, said it was an important first step toward more secure water infrastructure.

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Pasadena Water and Power Official Explains Need for Rate Hikes Despite Reduced Water Usage

/in , , /by /Pasadena Nowby Keith Calayag

Pasadena Water and Power Interim General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger on Tuesday stressed the need to increase water rates in the city despite reduced water usage by local residents and businesses complying with conservation efforts in light of current drought conditions in California.

PWP is recommending an increase in water rates by an average of 7.1% on April 1, 2022. A second increase of 7.2% would take effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

The water rate adjustments would help pay for rising costs for purchasing and treating water, and to provide funding for critical improvements to reservoirs, treatment facilities and other water infrastructure.

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Proposed Ballot Measure to Build More California Dams, Desalination Projects Likely to Be Withdrawn Due to Lack of Money and Signatures

/in , , /by /Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

Despite California’s drought, a proposed statewide November ballot measure to speed up the construction of new dams and other large water projects — and provide billions of dollars to fund them — has fallen short in its fundraising goals and is likely to be withdrawn by early next week.

The initiative would require that 2% of California’s general fund, or about $4 billion, be set aside every year to expand water supplies. Those could include new dams and reservoirs, desalination plants, recycled water plants and other projects such as upgrading canals and pipes. The measure also would streamline permitting for those projects.

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Federal, Local Officials Kick Off Millions in Repairs to Friant-Kern Canal

/in , , /by /The Sunby Daniel Gligich

Local and Federal water officials and lawmakers celebrated the groundbreaking of a massive project on the Friant-Kern Canal on Tuesday, marking the start of the canal’s restoration.

Coming in at $187 million, the first portion of the massive effort will restore capacity within the canal in a 10-mile portion that has been affected by subsidence: the sinking of the canal’s bottom from groundwater removal.

With 33 miles of the Friant-Kern Canal in total that have sunk due to subsidence, Tuesday’s groundbreaking kicks off the first phase of the Friant-Kern Canal Middle Reach Capacity Correction restoration project.

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The U.S. Can’t Control the Tijuana Sewage Faucet

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer

The United States and Mexico disagree on the source of a weeks-long sewage spill at the border, but an investigation into the cause demonstrated what those working on the border already know — the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego is in desperate need of repair. 

As of Friday, U.S. officials at the International Boundary and Water Commission — a binational agency that works on border water treaties — believed the millions of gallons of raw sewage that escaped the border wastewater system earlier this month came from a crack in a big concrete pipe in Mexico called the International Collector, which carries sewage from Tijuana wastewater mains to the U.S. treatment plant. (That pipeline is old and by now has surpassed its useful life, according to a 2019 report by the North American Development Bank.)   

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