Environment

More Water Coming To San Diego

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published April 30, 2009 at 12:12 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The San Diego County Water Authority, state and federal water agencies will celebrate the lining of the All-American Canal in Imperial County this Thursday morning. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce says the project is intended to boost San Diego water supplies.

After more than a year of construction, a 23-mile long section of the canal is now lined with concrete.

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The lining is designed to conserve water that was lost to seepage in the past.

The water authority funded most of the project in exchange for the rights to the water saved by the lining.

Ken Weinberg is the authority's director of water resources.

He says the water provides a vitally needed, reliable supply at a time when regulatory restrictions and drought are limiting other sources.

"This supply is coming on line when we need it most which is during a drought when we're in shortage allocation," Weinberg said. "So we're going to have about 77,000 acre feet of supply between the All-American Canal Lining and the previous Coachella Canal lining."

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Weinberg says together the linings of both canals saves enough water to supply 112,000 homes each year.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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