GrokSurf's San Diego

How your water rates subsidize golf courses / Voice of San Diego : “San Diego was under a court order to produce reclaimed water because of a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the sewage dumped in the ocean off Point Loma that doesn’t meet federal standards…But the city didn’t have many customers, and it needed them…So the price of reclaimed water was cut almost in half.”

(note: the accompanying graph caption “irrigation water rates” seemed it should read “drinking water rates” but VoSD tweeted me that “The comparison we used is to the rate the city charges its irrigation-only customers. It provided fairest contrast to reclaimed.” Still, to me if the article’s thrust is that drinking water users are subsidizing reclaimed water users, that label should at least say “rate for potable water used for irrigation”)

WATER: Conservation, recession cause wave of rate hikes / North County Times : “Along with worrying about whether they’ll have enough water during the state’s fourth year of drought, agencies are increasingly worrying about running out of money. And customers are being asked to make up the difference.”

Water runoff fixes could be costly / SignOnSanDiego : “The annual cost for the whole program could spiral past $60 million within two years…[t]hat leaves Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City Council with two main options: continue tapping the general fund or take the politically perilous route of trying to raise fees. Neither the mayor nor City Council President Ben Hueso responded to interview requests.”

Calexico officials worry about sewage, clean water after quake / KPBS : “Officials estimate 1.3 million gallons of sewage a day pass through the pipe. Since Sunday, more than 200,000 gallons have poured into the New River, which drains into the Salton Sea.