The San Diego City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to certify an environmental impact report for the city's nearly $3 billion plan to recycle wastewater into drinking water, and approved the plan itself.
Councilman David Alvarez, who heads the panel's Environment Committee, said "sustainability, an ability to control our own destiny a little bit better, to be less harmful and impactful on the environment through discharge -- for many reasons -- this program makes sense."
The City Council Monday rejected a plan to conduct a special election for this fall that potentially would have included Mayor Kevin Faulconer's plan to expand the San Diego Convention Center. "This isn't ready to come forward, it just really isn't," Councilman David Alvarez said about the convention center proposal. "Shovels can't be ready, and cranes can't be ready, because the land doesn't belong to the city."
Read MoreSan Diego City Councilman David Alvarez has asked Mayor Kevin Faulconer to boost code compliance funding this year so the department can proactively address substandard housing. He also asked the council's land use committee to explore a program that would put liens on properties until the owners clean them up.
Read MoreSan Diego has cleared six sediment-choked flood channels over the past year or so within its 133-mile network, while work continues in the Tijuana River Valley. However, San Diego Councilman David Alvarez said 25 channels are still at risk of flooding. The worst, according to a list provided by his office, are along Via de la Bandola in San Ysidro, Engineer Road in Kearny Mesa, Pomerado Road in Rancho Bernardo, and Washington Street in Hillcrest and Little Italy.
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