Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPipeline 04 - Fall 2023T H E O TAY WATER DISTRICT • P R OUDLY SERVING E A ST C OUNT Y AND TH E S OUTH B A Y SINC E 1956 A NE W SLET TE R FOR CUSTOMERS OF T HE OTAY WATER DISTRICT FALL 2023 Dedicated to Community Service FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE OTAY WATER DISTRICT CALL (619) 670-2222 OR GO TO OTAYWATER.GOV The Pipeline Newsletter is published quartely by the Otay Water District and can also be found online at otaywater.gov. Copywright ©2021 Otay Water District.All rights reserved. Student Artists Highlight the Value of Water Through Art Six Chula Vista, El Cajon, and Spring Valley students are winners of this year’s Student Poster Contest for their focus on the value of water and the importance of using it wisely. The District awarded first-place through third- place winners of the elementary and middle school categories and were recognized at a District Board of Directors meeting. “The representation of water conservation and stewardship in each participant’s artwork is impressive,” said Eileen Salmeron, communications assistant and contest coordinator. “Through this program, we are confident that the young generations have a great awareness of the importance of taking good care of our most precious resource for the future needs of our region.” The winning posters were also entered in the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s art contest, where participating water agencies across Southern California compete to be featured in MWD’s 2024 art calendar. MWD selected posters by Sophia Garvida and Sofia Cardenas Loera from Otay Water District for its 2024 calendar. See all the winning posters at otaywater.gov/ poster-contest-winners-2023. • First place: Sophia Garvida, seventh grade, Bonita Vista Middle School • Second place: Andrian Oraha, sixth grade, Hillsdale Middle School • Third place: Alyssa Burkard, sixth grade, Hillsdale Middle School • First place: Elias Mendoza, fifth grade, Thurgood Marshall Elementary School • Second place: Katherine Soehn, sixth grade, Thurgood Marshall Elementary School • Third place: Sofia Cardenas Loera, fifth grade, STEAM Academy20 2 3 W I N N E R S Online BillPay has Upgraded! The District has upgraded its Online BillPay portal. Customers who were enrolled in Online BillPay before Oct. 2, 2023, are required to reset their passwords to access their accounts in the upgraded portal. Customers should have received an email with instructions. If you have not, please reset your password by using the “Password Help?” link on the home page at billpay.onlinebiller.com/ebpp/otay. No further action is required. Art by Sophia Garvida Register for classes and events at thegarden.org or call (619) 660-0614 x10 Become a Member Receive exclusive access, discounts, and amenities shared only by members. Enjoy a personalized garden experience when you choose one of four membership options. Visit thegarden.org/membership-2. Zoom Landscape Consultations Get your landscape project moving forward so you can enjoy more beauty and less water in your landscape. Receive advice from professional landscape designers or qualified pre-professional college students. Fee: $70 members; $85 non-members. Visit thegarden.org/consultations. Tour the Garden Docents guide groups through the Garden to foster an appreciation of the natural environment and inspire saving water and related natural resources. See a list of tour options at thegarden.org/garden-tours. Wellness Classes Register for weekly wellness classes, including yoga, cardio, strength, and core workouts, at the Garden. See a calendar of upcoming classes and admission fees at thegarden.org/weekly-classes. Ms. Smarty-Plants Education Programs Ms. Smarty-Plants™ offers fun & educational K-6 grade field trips to the Garden, school-site assemblies, and more. Students will learn about the magic of plants, the changing environment, and water capture. Visit mssmartyplants.org. Financial Water Assistance Program Extended Otay Deactivates Level 1 Drought Shortage Following a series of powerful atmospheric rivers that hit California earlier this year, the District deactivated Level 1 of its Water Shortage Contingency Plan in response to Governor Newsom’s executive order terminating the voluntary water conservation target called for in 2021. The District encourages its customers to continue making water-use efficiency a way of life. Prohibition on wasteful water use remains in effect. To see all prohibited actions, visit otaywater.gov/drought. Otay Preserves Its San Miguel Habitat Management Area The District’s San Miguel Habitat Management Area surrounding the vacant Salt Creek Golf Course in Chula Vista has experienced an increase in illegal entrance and the creation of trails, which has caused severe damage to native habitats and sensitive species throughout the area. The District is working to reduce the number of recreational trespassers (mountain bikers, hikers, dirt bikers, and ATV riders). We remind the community that the HMA is private property and not open to the public. Trespassing is strictly prohibited by law. Learn more at otaywater.gov/hma. The Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program, which offers a one-time payment to help pay your utility bill, has been extended until Dec. 31, 2023. The program is now accepting applications for ALL income-eligible households. Participants must have a past-due bill or current charges owed. Priority is given to those with past-due bills. Eligible households may now receive up to $15,000 in assistance. For details, visit otaywater.gov/lihwap. The HMA is comprised of high-quality habitats for sensitive plants and wildlife. Nan Sterman is a garden expert, author, designer, and educator. Nan leads international garden tours, is the author of several books, and hosts the show A Growing Passion on KPBS TV, waterwisegardener.com Nan StermanWaterwise Gardener Blueberries for San Diego Gardens Until recently, blueberries were impossible to grow in San Diego area gardens. Our growing conditions are the opposite of places where blueberry plants thrive. Blueberry fruits grow on deciduous shrubs (they lose their leaves briefly in winter) native to the understories of high rainfall, cold winter forests. There, soils are deep brown, rich in organic matter, and acidic. Blueberry plants grow in the soft light that filters through the foliage of tall trees. The air feels humid. Here, soils have little organic matter, and most soils are alkaline instead of acidic. Rainfall is low, the air is dry, and the sunlight is intense. A few decades ago, a new category of blueberry plants started to appear in local nurseries. These blueberries were bred to tolerate a wider range of growing conditions. Originally, these Southern Highbush blueberries were developed for commercial growers, but we home gardeners have benefitted, too. It’s important to remember that while Southern Highbush blueberry plants are tolerant of different growing conditions, they grow better and produce more when growing conditions closely resemble their native habitats. I find the best success when I grow blueberry shrubs in containers. In the ground, they struggle with our alkaline soils, and need constant irrigation. So instead, I fill large containers with acidic potting mix, fertilize with acidic fertilizers, and can water as much as the blueberries need without wasting water on nearby, dryer growing plants. Blueberry How-toPlan now to buy very young blueberry plants when the new crop shows up in the nurseries, around December and January. If you buy your plants as bare root or one-gallon size, first plant them into two-gallon or five-gallon pots for the first few years. After that, move each plant to a container at least 16 inches across and deep. In my garden, I grow blueberries in half wine barrels. Before you plant, decide on the pot’s permanent location and do your planting there. Once planted, large containers are quite heavy and almost immovable. Select a spot protected from midday summer sun, close to a water source, and as far from hungry birds and other critters as possible. If your pot has large drain holes, cover each hole with a square of window screen to hold in the potting mix and keep out crawling critters. My favorite blueberry potting mix comes from Dave Wilson Nursery near Modesto. They supply most retail nurseries with blueberry plants. Mix equal parts:• Small pathway bark • Peat moss • Azalea planting mix or acid planting mix made from “forest by products” (basically composted wood or sawdust). Combine as much volume as you need to fill the pot or wine barrel to the top, then add one handful of soil sulfur (powdered sulfur) per plant. Sulfur acidifies the growing mix. I toss in some acidic fertilizer and a handful of worm castings. Mix everything well. DO NOT • Put gravel, sand, styrofoam peanuts, wood, or any other kind of filler at the bottom of the pot. The mix must be uniform from bottom to top to avoid serious drainage problems. • Use a fertilizer that contains nitrogen in the form of nitrate. Nitrate kills blueberry plant roots. Once the container is full and everything is mixed, water to saturate the planting mix. Keep watering until water flows out of the bottom of the container. To Plant • Remove your blueberry plant from its nursery container. • Find the “dirt line” on the main stem. Where the stem changes color shows you how deep the plant was buried before. That is how deep it needs to be planted. • Plant the shrub into its new home, lining up the dirt line with the top of the planting mix. • Water well. • Mulch with straw or wood-based mulch. • Fertilize with an acid-based fertilizer once a month in the warm months. Stop fertilizing when the weather turns cool in October. Varieties to Choose Select a combination of early, middle, and late ripening varieties of Southern Highbush blueberries. Plant at least two plants of each variety per person. Varieties of Sothern Highbush blueberries to look for: • Sunshine blue – Fruit ripens early to late June. 150 chill hours, semi-dwarf shrub. Leaves turn fall colors. Self-fruitful. • O’Neal – Fruit ripens early May. Large, sweet fruit. 200 chill hours. Self-fruitful but a second shrub makes for a larger harvest. • Jubilee – Fruit ripens early to late May. 400 to 500 chill hours. Sweet, firm berry. Upright, compact bush. • Sharpblue – Fruit ripens early to mid-June. Almost evergreen. 200 chill hours. Fruits are the size of a dime. Tall plant. • Emerald Fruit ripens mid-June. 250 chill hours. Large to very large berries, very sweet. Self-fruitful. • Jewel – Fruit ripens in early June. 200 chill hours. Large to very large berries that are tangy sweet. Self-fruitful. • Southmoon – Fruit ripens early to mid-June. 200 to 300 chill hours. Excellent flavor. Vigorous, upright shrub. FOLLOW OTAY WATER ON... / SIGA AL DISTRITO DE AGUA DE OTAY EN... OTAY WATER DISTRICT – Board of Directors The Board of Directors meets the first Wednesday of the month at 3:30 p.m. in the board meeting room at 2554 Sweetwater Springs Boulevard, Spring Valley, CA 91978. The public is encouraged to attend or watch the live stream at otaywater.gov. PresidentMark Robak, Division 5mrobak@otaywater.gov Vice PresidentJose Lopez, Division 4jlopez@otaywater.gov TreasurerRyan Keyes, Division 2rkeyes@otaywater.gov Board MemberTim Smith, Division 1tsmith@otaywater.gov Board MemberGary Croucher, Division 3gcroucher@otaywater.gov FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE OTAY WATER DISTRICT CALL (619) 670-2222 OR GO TO OTAYWATER.GOV The Pipeline Newsletter is published quartely by the Otay Water District and can also be found online at otaywater.gov. Copywright ©2021 Otay Water District. All rights reserved. Estudiantes artistas plasman el valor del agua a través del arteSeis estudiantes artistas de escuelas en Chula Vista, El Cajon y Spring Valley ganaron el concurso de carteles estudiantiles por su enfoque en el valor del agua y la importancia de utilizarla de manera sensata. El Distrito seleccionó a los ganadores del primero, segundo y tercer lugar en las categorías de nivel primaria y secundaria. Los ganadores fueron reconocidos durante una reunión de la Junta Directiva del Distrito. “Estamos impresionados por la forma en que los estudiantes plasmaron en sus obras los temas de conservación y administración del agua”, mencionó Eileen Salmeron, asistente de comunicaciones y coordinadora del concurso. “A través de este programa estamos seguros de que las nuevas generaciones tienen conciencia de la importancia de cuidar adecuadamente nuestro recurso más preciado para las necesidades futuras de nuestra región”. Además, los carteles ganadores participan en el concurso anual de carteles estudiantiles del Distrito Metropolitano de Agua del Sur de California (MWD, por sus siglas en inglés). El MWD selecciona carteles de las agencias de agua participantes en todo el sur de California para incluirlos en su calendario de arte 2024. El MWD seleccionó los carteles de Sophia Garvida y Sofia Cardenas Loera, del Distrito de Agua de Otay, para exhibirlos en su calendario de arte 2024. Para ver todos los carteles ganadores, por favor visite otaywater.gov/ganadores-concurso-carteles-2023. • Primer lugar: Sophia Garvida, séptimo grado, Bonita Vista Middle School • Segundo lugar: Andrian Oraha, sexto grado, Hillsdale Middle School • Tercer lugar: Alyssa Burkard, sexto grado, Hillsdale Middle School • Primer lugar: Elias Mendoza, quinto grado, Thurgood Marshall Elementary School • Segundo lugar: Katherine Soehn, sexto grado, Thurgood Marshall Elementary School • Tercer lugar: Sofia Cardenas Loera, quinto grado, STEAM Academy GA N A D O R E S 20 2 3 ¡Hemos actualizado BillPay en línea! El Distrito ha actualizado su portal Online BillPay. Los clientes que se inscribieron en BillPay en línea antes del 2 de octubre de 2023 deben restablecer sus contraseñas o claves para acceder a sus cuentas en el portal actualizado. Los clientes ya han recibido un correo electrónico con las instrucciones. Si usted no lo ha recibido, por favor restablezca su contraseña en a través del enlace “¿Necesita ayuda con contraseña?” en la página de inicio en billpay.onlinebiller.com/ebpp/otay. No se requiere ninguna acción adicional. Arte de Sophia Garvida