San Diego regional water news roundup Feb 8-15, 2012
Posted by George J Janczyn on February 16, 2012
( A selective roundup of San Diego regional water news reports. Click headline to read full story at originating website.)
|
How would you like a $3,600 water bill? / U-T San Diego : “Residents of the Alvarado Estates subdivision above Mission Valley are protesting a sudden spike in their water bills in the last months of 2011 — in one case a 13-fold increase. Officials with the San Diego Public Utilities Department said the hikes can’t be explained by any of the typical reasons…” |
San Diego considers raising water rates — again / KPBS : ““I would hate to say to the public this is a study to decide rate increase,” [PUD Director] Bailey said. “We want to know what will be the future costs and do we have a structure in place to cover those costs.”” |
|
|
As ‘yuck factor’ subsides, treated wastewater flows from taps / New York Times : “San Diego’s success, 12 years after its City Council recoiled from the toilet-to-tap concept, offers a blueprint for other districts considering wastewater reuse.” |
Sewage spill closes Camp Del Mar Beach / Camp Pendleton Patch : “A sewage spill caused by a traffic collision sent 10,000 gallons into the Santa Margarita River Sunday morning, according San Diego County health officials. Officials estimated that 18,000 gallons of sewage spilled, and crews were able to recover 8,000 gallons.” |
|
|
Water supply update / San Diego County Water Authority : “San Diego has been lucky to enjoy great weather this winter, with moderate rainfall. But dry conditions throughout the state could have an impact on our region’s water supply.” |
San Diego avocado production challenged / Fresh Plaza : “Avocado groves used to be all over San Diego County hillsides and valleys. A drought brought mandatory water cutbacks a few years ago, forcing many farmers to get rid of 30-percent of their trees.” |
|
|
New General Manager of Helix Water District recalls roots / La Mesa Patch : “When Carlos Lugo was chosen among five dozen candidates for general manager of the Helix Water District, he didn’t think of the history he made—becoming the first Latino chief of an agency that traces its origins to the 1880s.” |
Taxpayers Association sides with Water Authority in lawsuit / San Diego Source : “The San Diego County Water Authority is suing the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Apparently when a virtually autonomous public agency feels wronged by another virtually autonomous public agency, the only recourse is the courts. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association’s staff did an in-depth analysis of data…chose to endorse the legal action.” |
GrokSurf's San Diego 
Burt Freeman said
Comment re the New York Times article on SD water potable reuse:
Unfortunately, in spite of local celibrations about publicity for the San Diego Water Purification Demonstration Project, the NYT article is misleading and full of omissions that have not been pointed out in any of the ~100 article comments.
At the risk of sounding like George’s broken record, here is some of the record of problems:
The article implies that SD has IPR in use; in fact, one out of several tasks of a demonstration project has been completed showing what everybody knows; sewer water can be purified to potable standards. More important tasks, to estimate cost and show that water can be sequestered in surface waters of San Vicente Reservoir, remain. When all of the tasks are completed the findings will be presented to the SD City Council for disposal. Hopefully the Council will evaluate the findings in order to determine whether IPR is a cost-effective local source of a significant amount of water conservation.
None of this is recognized in the NYT article; it goes on to report on the Orange County aquifer augmentation program. As we know, the “I” in IPR is technically very different for the Orange County system from that proposed for San Diego, as is the infrastructure.
Oh well, just details!