Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Water pipeline and facilities in Mission Trails Regional Park update
Posted by GrokSurf on March 10, 2010
Posted in Environment, Water | Tagged: Mission Trails Regional Park | Leave a Comment »
Let’s use the water we have
Posted by GrokSurf on March 9, 2010
“In this arid climate–our manufactured oasis–only 3 to 5 percent of the total water used is recycled water. This is despite the fact that we use 60 percent of all our water on outdoor uses, and 80 percent of all our water on non-potable uses. In California, 20 percent of the energy we burn is used to transport water, so that we can sprinkle potable water on our lawns.”
“We continue to blame Mother Nature and the Delta Smelt, but when it comes to matters within our own control our decision-making is poor…”
Click here to read the entire commentary from San Diego News Room
Posted in Environment, Water | Tagged: Purified recycled water, Water reuse | Leave a Comment »
Chile, nine days later
Posted by GrokSurf on March 9, 2010
Away from local topics briefly; this photo essay from Boston.com is worth viewing. Click the image to go to the whole series.
Posted in Environment | Tagged: Chile, Earthquakes | Leave a Comment »
Toxic cleanup near Patrick Henry High School will enter a new phase; end is in sight
Posted by GrokSurf on March 8, 2010
Del Cerro/San Carlos
The long holding pattern on cleanup of underground contamination discovered below leaky gasoline tanks removed after closing the Union 76 gas station at the corner of Navajo Road and Park Ridge Blvd. in 2002 is showing signs of change. At the time of discovery, soil samples taken from the pit where the storage tanks had been buried for 15 years revealed contamination levels 17 times higher than safety standards allow, according to this March 2009 San Diego Union-Tribune report.
The wells that were drilled into the street to vent and treat extracted fumes and liquid at the small decontamination unit on the station site are still being worked, and part of the athletic field at Patrick Henry High School remains closed, but it now appears progress is being made toward a final solution.
Bernie Rhinerson, Chief District Relations Officer for the San Diego Unified School District, says that the district is getting close to a final legal settlement with Conoco Phillips to pay for the construction cost of the appropriate underground drainage/mitigation system for the field. The current schedule is for the construction contract to be awarded in January 2011 and construction would take 4-6 months. After that there would have to be an establishment period for new turf and the estimate is that the field might be ready for use after September 2011 at the earliest.
 Corner station |
 Wells in roadway |
 Decontamination equipment on station lot |
 Looking towards closed area at Patrick Henry High School |
 Corner of field below gas station |
 Warning sign |
Posted in Environment, Land use | Tagged: Conoco Phillips, Del Cerro, Patrick Henry High School, San Carlos | Leave a Comment »
Adobe Falls open space views
Posted by GrokSurf on March 6, 2010
Fresh pictures from the area. My digital camera (Nikon D5000) has 720p video, but only manual controls and even on a tripod with vibration control turned on it is impossible to get smooth pans and zooms, so it looks pretty amateurish, but overall some nice shots anyway. Enjoy.
Most of the still photos in the video also in this Flickr slideshow.
Posted in Environment, Land use, Water | Tagged: Adobe Falls, Del Cerro, San Diego State University (SDSU) | Leave a Comment »
Judge signs final decision; SDSU expansion may proceed along Alvarado Creek and Del Cerro
Posted by GrokSurf on March 2, 2010
The local news media dropped its coverage of this in 2007, perhaps thinking it was over then, but now it’s really done. San Diego State University has a green light to proceed with its strongly contested Master Plan which envisions a 120-room hotel near Alvarado Hospital and the development of a large complex of residential housing for SDSU faculty and staff in the open space area at scenic Adobe Falls on Alvarado Creek near Del Cerro.
The final decision on the long-standing lawsuits challenging SDSU’s 2007 Revised Master Plan Environmental Impact Report was made by Judge Thomas P. Nugent. He signed the final decision on Feb 11, 2010, finding the revised EIR valid.
Check the Ongoing Topics page for future developments]
The lawsuits had been filed by Del Cerro Action Council, the City of San Diego, and others after the revised EIR was issued in 2007, consolidated into a single case, and argued since then until a proposed decision was issued on January 13, 2010. The most disputed issues were SDSU’s (CSU’s) responsibility for paying for mitigation of the environmental impacts (there’s apparently little obligation), and whether the Navajo community plan had been taken into account (it had, but doesn’t matter). Following the proposed decision, objections to it were made and heard, and now this final decision is the last word on the case. Background information is documented on this blog’s Ongoing Topics page. I won’t attempt to relate the variety of other details covered in the lawsuits, but I obtained a copy of the judge’s decision and reproduced it below.
Now that the Adobe Falls project appears ready to proceed, one open question regards the number of units to be built. Presently there is only one road providing access to the site (via Del Cerro Blvd.). If no alternate access can be provided to the site, a maximum of 172 homes will be developed. If an additional alternate access can be provided, up to 348 homes could be developed on the site. The only viable alternate access would be through property owned by the Smoke Tree Adobe Falls Homeowners Association which has vehemently opposed the new development.
Going forward, my interest is in understanding the fate of the Adobe Falls open space area and the city’s only year-round cascading waterfall. I will report new developments as I learn about them.
[Update Mar 4: In response to my question whether an appeal will be filed, Gina Coburn, Communications Director for the San Diego City Attorney's office wrote me: "Given the pendency of litigation, we are limited by what we will comment on. We will point out, however, that the City and Redevelopment Agency will appeal the Court’s denial of our writ. The lawsuit only addressed SDSU’s Campus Master Plan Expansion, and did not address any other separate redevelopment projects in the area." She added that her office will not comment on specifics of the appeal and that it cannot comment on what any other parties in the lawsuit might do]
Posted in Environment, Land use, Water | Tagged: Adobe Falls, Alvarado Creek, California State University (CSU), San Diego State University (SDSU) | Leave a Comment »
City Council to vote on recycled water pipeline
Posted by GrokSurf on February 21, 2010
North City Water Reclamation Plant
[Feb 24 update: The resolution was approved as part of a package of consent items during the meeting, which usually means no major objections were anticipated]
The San Diego City Council will vote on Tuesday whether to adopt a resolution approving the plans and specifications for the Carmel Valley Recycled Water Pipeline Construction Project and to authorize advertising for bids on a construction contract. Up to $4,730,000 would be approved to pay for the project (see City Council Docket Item 100).
The pipeline will consist of approximately 10,000 linear feet of 8-inch to 12-inch diameter pipeline to provide an extension to serve recycled water from the North City Water Reclamation Plant to the Meadows Del Mar Golf Course, Palacio Del Mar Home Owners Association and future customers in the western portion of Carmel Valley.
The project is to assist the City in carrying out Phase II of the 2000 Water Reclamation Master Plan which states the City will attempt to achieve the beneficial use of 50% of treated wastewater by the year 2010. That goal was related to the City’s EPA waiver from having to provide secondary treatment at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, the latest which was just renewed last October. That waiver committed San Diego to treat 45 MGD of wastewater by 2010 (note there’s a difference between ‘treated’ and ‘used’).
According to the 2005 Recycled Water Master Plan Update, the goal was to reuse at least 12 million gallons per day of water from the North City Water Reclamation Plant (the plant treats about 22.5 MGD, with the excess sent to Point Loma for disposal at sea). At the time of the 2005 update, the actual amount reused amounted to only 6 MGD. I haven’t learned what the current usage for 2010 is, but according to the 2005 Update, if implemented as described, the phased system expansions outlined in the reclamation plan would allow the City to meet the 12 MGD water reuse goal by 2010. Toward that end, the proposed pipeline project is estimated to supply approximately 300 acre feet of recycled water per year according to the city council docket (1 acre foot = 325851 gallons).
Supporting documentation for the Council agenda item: Inviting Bids for Carmel Valley Recycled Water Pipeline Construction Project (Carmel Valley Community Area. District 1.)
Posted in Environment, Land use, Water | Tagged: Carmel Valley, Meadows Del Mar Golf Course, North City Water Reclamation Plant, Palacio Del Mar Home Owners Association, Recycled water | Leave a Comment »
San Vicente Dam first phase construction 50% complete
Posted by GrokSurf on February 18, 2010
According to a construction update I received from the San Diego County Water Authority, excavation of the foundation on the hillsides adjacent to the dam, removal of concrete from the top and the face of the dam, and other work to prepare for raising the height of the dam 117 feet is over half completed and is expected to be completed this summer. However, completion of the entire project has been pushed back from the original estimate which was late 2012. Work is now expected to be complete in mid-2014.
P.S., I’ll be taking a tour of the project in early March and will take plenty of pictures for a future report.
Here’s a copy of the update (reprinted with permission). Complete background information about the San Vicente project can be found at SDCWA’s San Vicente Project website.
Posted in Environment, Land use, Water | Tagged: San Vicente Reservoir | Leave a Comment »
How to poison relations between Imperial Valley and San Diego
Posted by GrokSurf on February 14, 2010
While the decision to invalidate the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) simmers, an editorial in the Imperial Valley Press Online serves as a good reminder that even in San Diego (!) there are those who view California water resources selfishly and cynically (the QSA contains an agreement for water transfers from Imperial Valley to San Diego). The editorial observes:
…the North County Times in San Diego County recently wrote an editorial that was stunning in its lack of understanding of the dangers of a dried-up Salton Sea and its lack of interest in any region — or its people — other than its own. Of the judge’s ruling and a possible appeal, the paper said:
“Since we believe a higher and better use is to move the water conservation in the Valley (the essence of the deal) to the thirsty parts of San Diego County, we hope the appeal succeeds, the judge is overturned and the Salton Sea is ultimately left to dry up.”
I think San Diegans should be more appreciative that the people of Imperial Valley have made sacrifices to send much-needed water our way. At best, the North County Times editorial was thoughtless. If our attitude is ‘let them breathe dust’ they might as well have the stance ‘let them drink seawater!’ (the Poseidon plant notwithstanding).
Click here to read the entire opinion from Imperial Valley Press
Click here to read the offending North County Times opinion. To their credit, they printed a rebuttal to their editorial.
[Update Feb 15: Interesting timing--the KPBS "These Days" program will discuss the QSA today, apparently from the same angle that I used here. They wrote "Not only has the story been under-reported ... but calls to let the Salton Sea dry up are really provoking anger. An audio recording of the broadcast will be posted on their website.]
Posted in Environment, Land use, Politics, Water | Tagged: Imperial Irrigation District, Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), Salton Sea, Water transfers | Leave a Comment »
Mayor Sanders lowers his guard against San Diego’s indirect potable reuse study
Posted by GrokSurf on February 12, 2010
In 2007 Mayor Sanders vetoed the city council’s plan to conduct a feasibility study for indirect potable reuse (advanced purification of wastewater to potable standards). The city council overrode his veto, however, and project planning went forward. That project is now entering its Phase 2 stage.
Meanwhile in 2010, during an interview with the Voice of San Diego on Feb. 9, the mayor said he now supports the project. The San Diego County Taxpayer’s Association (SDCTA) posted this reaction:
I’m going to reserve judgement about the mayor. When he vetoed the project, the mayor was quoted as objecting for economic reasons. Now, project funding seems to be fairly secure, despite the city’s desperate financial situation, but additional funding will still be needed. As we can see, though, the mayor wasn’t exactly planning to formally promote the project here, he was simply being interviewed on a variety of topics, this happened to come up, and he made a diplomatic reply. So I’m not sure there’s great significance in his remark, at least not yet.
[note: Lani Lutar, president of SDCTA, informed me she contacted the mayor's office to verify a shift in his position prior to issuing their congratulatory letter]
As for the project, I strongly hope it will prove the possibility of making recycled water a significant portion of potable, not just irrigation, water for San Diego. If you haven’t seen it, please do look at my earlier essay Water reuse is imperative for a sustainable San Diego.
Posted in Environment, Politics, Water | Tagged: Purified recycled water, Wastewater, Water reuse--San Diego | Leave a Comment »
