Tag Archive for: Water Infrastructure

Opinion: State Should Help Fund Local Water Resilience Projects

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Gary Croucher and Sean Bigley

On July 8, Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded two earlier drought emergency declarations to cover 50 of the state’s 58 counties. In May, he directed state agencies to consider easing requirements for reservoir releases to conserve water upstream, and to make water transfers easier. Both are needed.

Notably, the governor’s emergency proclamation did not impose water conservation mandates. Instead, Gov. Newsom is leaving water conservation to each region — a smart and necessary approach that incentivizes regional investments in water supply.

Emergency conservation orders address short-term water shortages, but don’t move us toward the long-term goal of drought resilience. That requires strategic investments in local drought-resilient water supply projects, costs mostly borne at the local level.

The state recently took a step in the right direction by approving $3.5 billion in budgeted funds for water projects, but the details of how that money will be used are still being worked out. It is important that funds are directed to local drought-resilience projects. That would go a long way toward accelerating the 21st-century water solutions we need.

Consider our two regions: Sacramento and San Diego. We both have dry summers, but our water supplies are very different.

San Diego’s water comes from locally developed and imported water sources. Sacramento’s supplies come from nearby rivers fed by snowmelt and groundwater. That’s why we’ve chosen to solve our water supply challenges very differently.

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Bill Aims to Spend Billions to Fix Nation’s Aging Dams

/in , /by /AP Newsby Michael Casey

Lawmakers in Congress on Friday introduced a bill that would pump tens of billions of dollars into fixing and upgrading the country’s dams.

The Twenty-First Century Dams Act, introduced by Democratic U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, proposes to spend nearly $26 billion to make the repairs that would enhance safety and increase the power generation capacity of the country’s 90,000 dams. It also calls for removing any dams that have outlived their usefulness.

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Opinion: California Isn’t Running Out of Water; it’s Running Out of Cheap Water

/in , , /by /California WaterBlogby Wyatt Arnold

A California water myth which becomes especially pernicious in droughts is that California is “running out of water” (Hanak et al. 2009). Viewing California’s supply and demand pressures in terms of fixed water requirements perpetuates this myth and invariably places undue attention on building additional supply infrastructure. Instead, managing water as a scarce resource suggests a balanced portfolio of water trading, investments in conveyance, smart groundwater replenishment, and demand management. With such a balanced portfolio, 1) California’s water supply situation is not broadly dire, and 2) California’s vast and interconnected water infrastructure and groundwater resources can minimize most problems from the state’s highly variable climate.

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Water Authority General Manager Issues Statement on Governor Newsom’s Expanded Drought Proclamation

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July 8, 2021 – Sandra L. Kerl, general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority, issued the following statement on today’s expanded drought declaration and proclamation of a state emergency by Gov. Gavin Newsom and his call for Californians to voluntarily reduce water use by 15%:

“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.”

Information about the Water Authority’s water-use-efficiency programs is at www.watersmartsd.org/.

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Opinion: Water Act Would Keep Water Clean and Affordable

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Alexandra Nagy

California has a long history of treating public water as a commodity instead of a human right and entrusting it to industries that fail to manage it responsibly. Water is a public trust resource that needs protection. The federal Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (WATER) Act would put water systems back in the hands of the people who depend on it for life and livelihood.

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Major Renovations Begin on Anderson Dam Tunnel Project; Reservoir Can’t be Used for 10 Years

/in , /by /KTVUby Elissa Harrington

Major renovations will begin Wednesday on the Anderson Dam tunnel project in Santa Clara County. The project will require the reservoir to be drained – and it will be unable to be used for 10 years.

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Some 200 California Projects May Be Funded by Infrastructure Bill

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jennifer Haberkorn

The House on Thursday approved an approximately $715-billion transportation infrastructure plan that would build and repair roads, bridges and rail systems around the country.

The bill forms the House’s framework for President Biden’s infrastructure plan. While the proposal is likely to change during negotiations with the Senate as it progresses toward Biden’s desk, the bill includes $920 million specifically targeted to projects throughout California.

The most expensive California project, at $25 million, will be pre-construction work on a transportation hub in San Diego. Major projects in Los Angeles include a Metro transit line through the Sepulveda Pass and improvements to existing transit in the Vermont Corridor.

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Water Project in Mission Trails Park More Than 50% Complete

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

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Mission Trails FRS II water project is now more than halfway complete.

The project will upgrade the Water Authority’s untreated water system in Mission Trails Regional Park. When finished in 2022, the upgrades will provide more reliable water delivery to treatment plants that serve the central and south sections of San Diego County.

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Opinion: How Budget ‘Trailer Bills’ Get Misused

/in , /by /CalMattersby Dan Walters

To understand a sharp-elbows squabble that’s developing behind the scenes in the state Capitol, one must first understand “pumped-storage hydro,” a way for electrical energy to be stored.

In its simplest form, water stored in a reservoir is released to generate power as it flows into a second reservoir at a lower elevation. Later, when the electrical grid’s need for power diminishes, the water is pumped back into the upper reservoir so the cycle can be repeated when demand increases.

It’s not a new technology; in fact it’s been around for more than a century although never more than a marginal factor in global power generation.

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FRS II-water project-Mission Trails Regional Park-water infrastructure

Water Project in Mission Trails Park More Than 50% Complete

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The San Diego County Water Authority’s Mission Trails FRS II water project is now more than halfway complete.

The project will upgrade the Water Authority’s untreated water system in Mission Trails Regional Park. When finished in 2022, the upgrades will provide more reliable water delivery to treatment plants that serve the central and south sections of San Diego County.

Construction began in March 2020 just as the coronavirus pandemic began. As an essential infrastructure project, construction on the water project continued during the pandemic.

The project includes construction of a new 5-million-gallon underground covered tank, flow control facility and pipeline connections. The largest component of the project is the building of the underground tank called a flow regulatory structure (FRS II) which will be used to balance flows in the aqueduct system.

Roof pour begins on water project

One June 11, the pouring of concrete to create the roof for FRS II began. FRS II will be the second underground water tank in the park – both work to efficiently move water through the region.

Construction efforts are also underway to build the new flow control facility. Once construction is complete, the work area will be graded to its previous contours and revegetated with native plants – many seeded from plants within the park itself.

New construction activities have begun about a half mile north of the FRS II. This most northern construction site will be used to connect the water flowing through the Water Authority’s pipelines to the FRS II.

Some trails closed for construction safety

To keep trail users safe, some trails are closed through early 2022 when work is complete. Signs are posted to clearly mark the closures, detours and provide a map to find alternative routes. In addition, the Water Authority created an interactive map showing the location of the closed trails. Go to www.sdcwa.org/mission-trails-FRS to view the map and learn more about the project.

Mission Trails FRS II water project construction

Construction crews formed and poured the walls of the Flow Regulatory Structure in December 2020. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority