The first time I went to Imperial Beach, California, I was
struck by the community’s kindness. I went to the pier first,
not knowing where to find people to talk to, only knowing that
the pier was an iconic fixture of the town. … At first,
the story was about the loss of this beach, a community space
to swim and gather. But as I spoke to more people, and felt how
genuine they were and ready to talk to me and direct me to
where to go next, it was almost overwhelming how far the
impacts of the polluted water in Imperial Beach reached.
San Diego Coastkeeper’s first annual report on Mission Bay’s
water quality shows persistently high levels of bacteria,
copper, and phosphorus in both dry and wet weather, often at
levels exceeding safe state water quality standards for public
recreation and a healthy aquatic ecosystem. … The environmental
watchdog’s initial 2024 Mission Bay Water Quality Monitoring
Report summarizes a year of monthly water monitoring data at
locations around Mission Bay. … Following their November
2024 notice of intent to sue (NOI), San Diego Coastkeeper and
the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation (CERF), represented
by Coast Law Group, have filed a citizen suit enforcement case
against SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc. and SeaWorld LLC
for Clean Water Act violations.
“I can’t imagine coming back to this,” said Albert Kyi, a
graduate student researcher at the University of Texas at
Austin, briefly looking up from his laptop and out the van’s
window. … The data the team was gathering was part of a newly
launched study tracking the health impacts of the Los Angeles
wildfires over the next decade. By traversing the 38,000 acres
that encompass the two burn zones in Altadena and the Pacific
Palisades along with the surrounding region, the researchers
hope to fill gaps in the data on air, soil and water
quality. Already, they have found cause for concern.
With a major storm approaching the Tijuana-San Diego region
this week, employees at a sod farm in the Tijuana River Valley
dismissed the possibility of any flooding now that an earthen
levee has been repaired. That same berm, which snakes along the
north bank of the Tijuana River, gave way nearly 14 months ago
leading to catastrophic flooding at the grass-growing
operation. … The International Boundary and Water
Commission, which oversees the land, took months to remove 650
tons of waste materials from the site. But repairing the
berm was the responsibility of West Coast Turf, the company
that leases the land from IBWC to grow sod. Workers spent
weeks filling in two gaping openings in the levee; their work
was finished earlier this month.
Millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled from a construction
site in Tijuana and found its way into San Diego County early
Sunday. The spill came after a few days of rain already flushed
the polluted Tijuana River Valley. … The international
collector is a new pipeline meant to deliver raw sewage to
wastewater treatment plants in the U.S. and Mexico. Tijuana
crews are currently installing a bypass to prevent sewage from
escaping while the new collector is put online. An IBWC
spokesman confirmed something happened early Sunday morning but
could not elaborate.
Irvine Ranch Water District was deeply saddened to hear of the
passing of former Board Member Mary Aileen Matheis — a valued
leader in the water industry, the Orange County community, and
in state and national professional and charitable circles. Mary
Aileen served as an IRWD Board member from 1988 to 2020,
serving four times as president and eight times as vice
president during that time. She was pivotal in the creation of
IRWD’s San Joaquin Marsh and its Campus, and in the development
of the District’s water infrastructure, water efficiency and
supply diversification efforts that has made IRWD an
internationally recognized leader in water-supply reliability.
(Mary Aileen Matheis was a long time board member of the Water
Education Foundation.)
SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Inc. is violating the Clean
Water Act by discharging pollutants from fireworks displays and
wastewater into San Diego’s Mission Bay, according to a new
lawsuit from environmental groups. The complaint, filed
Thursday in the US District Court for the Southern District of
California, alleges that SeaWorld’s discharges violate its
General National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit
for Residual Firework Pollutant Discharges and its NPDES Permit
for wastewater discharges. The fireworks displays at SeaWorld’s
San Diego park discharge debris, toxic metals, and other
pollutants that harm water quality, ecosystems, and public
health in Mission Bay.
A new multi-million dollar trash-collecting water wheel was
unveiled in Newport Beach Friday, the first-of-its-kind in the
state, to collect floating trash before it contaminates the
local harbors and beaches. City leaders said every year,
hundreds of tons of floating trash and debris enter Newport Bay
through San Diego Creek. The garbage eventually makes its way
to the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, Newport Harbor and
beaches. The $5.5 million Newport Bay Trash Interceptor will
supplement other cleaning efforts including trash booms, catch
basin collection systems and floating skimmers, city officials
said.
Twenty-five more Pacific Palisades residents who were affected
by January’s deadly brush fire have joined a lawsuit against
the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power over the disaster. A lawsuit filed on behalf of 23
residents in January accuses the city and department of having
a failed water supply system in the coastal community that was
ravaged by the blaze. On Wednesday, an additional 25 plaintiffs
were added to the complaint. The lawsuit alleges LADWP designed
a water supply system that would not have enough water pressure
to fight an urban wildfire. It also says the Santa Ynez
Reservoir, which is located atop Pacific Palisades, had been
empty since February of last year, leading to more difficulty
in accessing water during the firefight.
Water rates in San Diego are set to rise, and many residents
and business owners are voicing their frustrations. On Tuesday,
the San Diego City Council voted 6-3 to approve a 5.5% water
rate increase, with additional hikes expected in the coming
years. … San Diego Water Authority representatives
told the council that rate increases are necessary due to
higher costs for imported water, wage increases for workers and
infrastructure improvement projects.
Residents and businesses in Pacific Palisades will be able to
safely use water this week, Mayor Karen Bass announced
Thursday, touting the milestone as a sign of the speed of
efforts to rebuild the devastated neighborhood. The “do not
drink” notice will be lifted Friday, the two-month anniversary
of the deadly Palisades fire, after engineers and experts at
the L.A. Department of Water and Power confirmed the absence of
contaminants in the water supply. Bass credited DWP crews for
working seven days a week to restore and flush out toxic
substances from the water supply, drawing a comparison to the
November 2018 wildfire in Paradise, where the do-not-drink
advisory remained in place until May 2020.
The Army Corps of Engineers colonel responsible for releasing
water from two California reservoirs at President Donald
Trump’s direction in January knew that it was unlikely to reach
the southern part of the state as Trump had promised, according
to a memo obtained by The Washington Post. The agency carried
out Trump’s directive, which came in the wake of catastrophic
wildfires in Los Angeles County, on short notice on Jan. 30,
though it would normally require days to coordinate. A memo
written four days after the release, obtained by The Post
through a public records request, shows how federal officials
rushed ahead with the plan to release irrigation water despite
objections from the state’s elected officials and some local
farmers.
Veolia Water North America-West, the federal government’s
contractor tasked with maintaining its wastewater treatment
plant at the U.S.-Mexico border, is the subject of a new
lawsuit alleging failure to contain crossborder sewage. On
Monday, the Coronado Unified School District sued the plant
operator and its former manager, Mark Wippler, marking the
first time a school district joins local municipalities,
environmental groups and homeowners that are suing and
previously sued the international engineering company and
federal government. San Diego-based Frantz Law Group, which
opened a mass tort case late last year over similar claims, is
representing the school district. It’s unclear whether other
South County school districts may join or follow suit.
Researchers from San Diego State University are launching the
second phase of a survey as they study the effects of pollution
on Tijuana River Valley residents. For decades, the Valley has
been plagued by untreated sewage flows that originate in
Mexico. The Tijuana River not only carries the effluent, but
also large quantities of chemicals and other pollutants into
the U.S. side of the border and the Tijuana River Valley. In
recent years, the contamination has gotten worse as Tijuana’s
sewage infrastructure has collapsed and is constantly sending
millions of gallons of raw sewage north of the border. On a
daily basis, the stench can be overwhelming.
The Los Angeles Fire Department did not inform the city’s
Department of Water and Power until mid-February that more than
1,000 fire hydrants needed repairs, despite being aware of the
issues months before. According to city records and officials,
the Fire Department discovered the damage to the hydrants
during inspections in the months before the Jan. 7 Palisades
fire, which destroyed thousands of homes. … The lapse in
sharing inspection records came to light Feb. 12, when KCBS-TV
reported that the LAFD had compiled a list of 1,350 fire
hydrants requiring repairs.
Lead pipes were banned in the United States in 1986. But dozens
of Inland Empire school districts still had lead showing up in
their drinking water in the past decade. California published
its final report on lead in school drinking water in 2020. At
that time, 18 of the Inland Empire’s four dozen districts and
other education agencies had lead in campus drinking fountains
or sinks, according to the State Water Resources Control
Board’s last listing. … After testing, all these districts
fixed the problems by replacing pipes, shutting off drinking
fountains and adding filters to sinks. Still, many Inland
students in recent years likely drank water with lead levels
higher than the recommended standard.
Perched atop craggy bluffs in a beachside city north of San
Diego, a railroad line offers passengers a sweeping view of the
Pacific Coast. But the ground beneath it is crumbling. No one
denies the problem, but a fight over how to solve it highlights
a broader challenge, and a worrisome reality, for California
residents: how to adapt to climate change that threatens
coastal living, a way of life that has long defined the state’s
identity, from its economy to its culture.
Advanced Industrial Services, Inc. agreed to pay $29,736 after
a driver for the company dumped 150 gallons of
petroleum-contaminated wastewater into Grimes Canyon Creek near
Fillmore. The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office
announced the settlement Friday after the case was investigated
by both the DA’s office and California Department of Fish and
Wildlife. The company was also ordered to comply with permanent
injunctive terms prohibiting the unlawful disposal of petroleum
products, the DA’s office said in a news release.
The Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District will take
advantage of lower rates to pre-purchase Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California imported water. The EVMWD board
voted 5-0 February 13 to execute a purchase agreement with the
Western Municipal Water District for 3,835 acre-feet (one
acre-foot is approximately 325,850 gallons) of MWD supply.
EVMWD is not a direct MWD member but purchases MWD imported
water from Western. The recent wet water years (a water year is
from July 1 through June 30) have allowed for higher MWD
storage levels, but the decreased demand for water has reduced
MWD revenue.
Admiring the beautiful view of the ocean, Shelly Moore looks
beyond the surface, having trained her eyes to see the problems
hidden below. On her quick walk outside, she notices the
glass and plastic bottles peeking from under the ocean along
the Long Beach marina. It’s a reminder of the 11 million metric
tons of plastic the California Ocean Protection Council
estimates enter global oceans every year. Although as the
executive director of the Moore Institue for Plastic Pollution,
she said the effort to change that starts at home. … That is
exactly what she and her team at the Moore Institute for
Plastic Pollution Research are doing, taking a rather
microscopic view of the problem.
