Tag Archive for: Water Infrastructure

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

/in , /by

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

As Drought Ravages California, Biden’s Infrastructure Bill Could Help Store More Water

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby David Lightman and Dale Kasler

As California and the West suffer through an epic drought, President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans and Democrats have included $5 billion for Western water projects in their infrastructure deal.

The prospect of federal money comes as several big-ticket water projects are on the drawing boards in California — although many are still years from completion and probably wouldn’t get finished in time to help California with the current drought.

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Wildfires Threaten Urban Water Supplies, Long After the Flames Are Out

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Henry Fountain

Wrangling a 25-foot-long tube of straw up a steep hillside studded with charred pine trees, three volunteer workers placed it in a shallow trench that had been dug along the slope.

Locked in place with wooden stakes, the sausage-like tube was part of an effort to avoid a potentially large and long-term problem with the drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people to the east. The tube, with others above and below it, should help prevent the hillside, made unstable last fall by a large wildfire, from choking the water supply with sediment when the thunderstorms known as monsoon rains arrive as expected this summer.

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As the Drought Persists, Here’s How Phoenix is Prepared

/in , /by /AZ Big Media

Water is a precious resource in a desert city like Phoenix. Community members understand the importance of water conservation to keep the city thriving. Unlike other areas in the southwest, Phoenix is not in a water shortage. While the drought is serious, Phoenix is prepared.

Over 20 years into the current drought, Phoenix continues to have access to several water supplies, including Salt, Verde, and Colorado River, groundwater reserves, and reclaimed wastewater for crops and sustainable activities. Investments in infrastructure, strategic and innovative planning on behalf of city leaders, and long-standing water conservation programs are just some of the reasons why water supplies in Phoenix will remain in good shape.

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$630 Million Project Launches, to Replace Wastewater Pipes Under South Bay and Harbor Area

/in , /by /Daily Breezeby Donna Littlejohn

After more than a decade of planning, community meetings — and more planning — an ambitious $630 million effort to replace two aging underground wastewater pipes officially launched on Monday, June 21, as a two-story-high electric tunneling machine was lowered underground at the sanitation plant on the border of Carson and Wilmington.

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Drought Exposes Need to Upgrade Water Facilities

/in , , /by /AgAlert (California Farm Bureau)by Christine Souza

Severe drought highlights the need for greater investment to improve aging California water facilities, and increases calls for allocation of federal and state resources to tackle the problem.

A national coalition that includes the California Farm Bureau urged U.S. Senate leaders last week to take action to address the shortcomings of aging water infrastructure, and to include “a broad range of water uses” in any federal infrastructure legislation. At the same time, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators plan to invest at least $5 billion to address critical water needs.

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Opinion: Salton Sea Needs Bold Action, Not More Government Studies

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby David Bryant

Regarding the Salton Sea, Henny Youngman might say, “Take the pending disaster of the Salton Sea, please.”

Many in this Valley have never been to the big salty lake. Some of us of us love it, its bizarre creation, and its lumpy history. Photographers come from afar to grab images of the now fading graffiti that marked so many of the ruins bordering the western side of the sea. Not quite the site of an ancient civilization, that territory was home to lots of angry, broke, disoriented, and confident aerosol artists. It was a joy to see a free gallery of “edgy on the edge” of the big body of sometimes stinky water.

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